By way of being forewarned, note that this will not necessarily be the most uplifting thing I’ve written in a while, but so be it. Sometimes uncomfortable things need to be said out loud.
I have a theory: The current president is actively looking for ways to increase his power. Well, that’s not a theory…that’s an actual fact based on current events (including ignoring court orders... see below). The theory part is the degrees to which he will go in the exercise of that power. To that end, there are two scenarios that concern me.
First, the stripping of fundamental rights from non-citizens should concern all of us.
Why? If the administration can say to a student visa holder that you don’t have a right to an attorney if they are charged with an offense…or to be even told what that offense is in the first place…then the only thing that is stopping that from happening to me or to you is our citizenship. What if the administration decided that they could strip citizenship from someone? There’s an actual process for this, which can be found here:
https://www.usa.gov/renounce-lose-citizenship
An important point noted on the above linked website: You can be stripped of your citizenship for reasons of Treason.
What if the administration sought to streamline the process of denaturalization for reasons of treason?
Second, the administration could use the Insurrection Act to suspend basic freedoms.
You can read more about the Insurrection Act here…
(note that this article
was published before the last presidential election)
The Act could be used as part of a system of mass deportations. It could also be used as a pretext to suspend or delay elections. Would the courts generally allow this? Probably not but see above: The president and his proxies have shown a willingness to ignore court rulings, including those by the United States Supreme Court. This isn’t just a “Steve Albert feels this way” kind of thing…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/23/judges-trump-court-rulings
Finally, I will note this: I loathe conspiracy theories, and as a general rule, I do not trade in them. A review of my writing over the years (since 2008) will prove this to be true. However…and this is a very big however…conventional wisdom and respect for precedent have flown away from us in the United States today. We have a “might (power) makes right” president who has shown an eagerness to use whatever means are necessary to boost his power and upend constitutional checks and balances. Note that the United States Congress is complicit in that second point (“…checks and balances”), with some buying into the argument that, since he won the last presidential election, he effectively has the right to do whatever the heck he wants.
Lord, I so want to be wrong about all of this, but mark my words...actions born out of anger and a desire for power rarely result in a good ending for anyone.
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