Trump is pushing America to its limits — who will push back?

The Hill

14-04-2025

Imagine a man with an insatiable appetite for real estate. He has devised an ingenious way to acquire it. In each building he visits, he pulls the fire alarm. There is no fire, but when the occupants evacuate, he takes control of the building and claims ownership.
If the actual owners object, his high-priced lawyers argue that possession is nine-tenths of the law. He threatens to use violence to defend his occupancy. In case after case, the legitimate owners concede. With this tactic, the man builds and rules an empire.
This analogy illustrates President Trump's strategy for amassing unprecedented powers over federal and state governments, cherished cultural institutions, law firms, universities and other parts of American society. He repeatedly declares crises where there are none, to give himself the extraordinary authorities that Congress, the courts and the Constitution allow a president to exercise during crises. He is using the tactic to continue his Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection by other means.
Now, social media sites are filled with rumors that Trump will utilize a 'nuclear option' on Apr. 20 by invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807, a law the Brennan Center for Justice notes is 'dangerously vague.' The act would allow Trump to use the military to suppress 'rebellion,' curtail free speech and assembly, and enforce his orders.
Why April 20? In January, Trump directed the Homeland Security and Defense secretaries to study the situation on America's border and recommend whether he should invoke the act. April 20 is the due date.
The rumor has not triggered significant alarm because conspiracy theories are rife online. However, Trump has alluded several times that he might deploy the military inside the country. He has suggested using active and National Guard troops to fight urban crime, 'the enemy from within,' and ' radical left lunatics.' His former Defense secretary, Mark Esper, has warned that we should take Trump seriously.
In addition, Trump has nearly normalized the use of executive orders by 'flooding the zone' with them. Many are being reviewed by the courts. They include a variation we can call the 'executive extortion order,' where he cuts off federal funds, rescinds contracts and security clearances, sanctions clients of some of America's most prestigious law firms, and even forbids them access to government buildings.
Several firms have capitulated by offering Trump millions of dollars in free services, promising not to act against him or, in the case of universities, discouraging protests on campus. Each capitulation emboldens Trump to push the envelope further.
Some lawsuits have reached the U.S. Supreme Court. It has ruled in his favor, a signal that the nation's highest legal authority is capitulating to totalitarianism, too.
Another troubling sign is that Trump's moves to suppress dissent are metastasizing through the states. According to The Guardian, officials have introduced 41 bills across 22 states since the start of the year to expand criminal punishments against peaceful protests. Five federal bills would create harsh prison sentences and fines for college students, anti-war protesters and climate activists. The fingerprints on these anti-democratic bills are often evident, like one that would send protesters to prison for up to 20 years if they 'disrupt' planned or existing gas pipelines.
Finally, thousands of Americans have taken to the streets to protest Trump's actions. As welcome as these demonstrations are, Trump can use them as a pretext for claiming that a rebellion is underway.
In case Trump's fire-alarm tactic is not obvious, there are examples.
By the end of the Biden administration, the U.S. economy was the envy of the world. Nevertheless, Trump claimed falsely that President Biden had handed him an ' economic catastrophe and an inflation nightmare.'
Trump invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 and imposed worldwide trade tariffs that crashed the stock market and the retirement savings of millions of Americans. He claimed tariffs would 'increase our competitive edge, protect our sovereignty, and strengthen our national and economic security.' Instead, most economists say Trump's tariffs will raise consumer prices and trigger a global economic recession.
Meanwhile, Trump's DOGE exercise is cutting the social programs that could help lower-income families cope with the financial security he is causing. Trump claims that foreign rapists, criminals, mental patients, drugs, cartels and gangs are invading America. Yet when Congress and the Biden administration reached a rare bipartisan agreement to improve border security last year, Trump instructed Republicans in Congress to kill it so immigration would remain an issue he could use against Biden.
Since taking office, Trump has issued orders to revoke birthright citizenship and 'repel, repatriate, or remove migrants' from the country. He invoked the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century law used rarely and only during wartime. The Supreme Court has affirmed his right to use it. Citing the act, the administration deported 238 immigrants to an infamous Salvadoran prison without due process. A CBS News investigation found an 'overwhelming majority' of the deportees have no apparent criminal convictions or charges.
On Feb. 14, Trump declared a national energy emergency so he could do 'whatever you have to do to get out of that problem. ' However, there is no problem. The United States is the world's biggest oil and gas producer, but Trump wants to achieve more 'dominance' by speeding up infrastructure permits and expanding production on public lands.
If America had an emergency, the government's logical response would be to push for rapid deployment of renewable energy resources. They are cheaper, cleaner and indigenous. Instead, Trump wants to rescind federal investments in clean energy. Meantime, the real emergency is America's long oil addiction. It has triggered wars and recessions, environmental blight, fatal illnesses and global climate change.
Clearly, Trump's response has nothing to do with an energy crisis, but it could have something to do with the $96 million that the oil and gas industry gave to his presidential campaign.
The Brennan Center has identified 150 extraordinary powers that presidents can claim to address true emergencies. In Trump's mind, no issue is too small, no affront too petty, and no liberty too cherished for attack by executive order. Even paper straws have not escaped his wrath. He is wielding his contrived powers not only against government and civil society but also against cherished cultural assets like the Smithsonian Institution and the Kennedy Center.
Again, the only active insurrection in the United States — the only affront to security, democracy, morality and liberty — is the one Trump is executing. Knowing what we knew after his January 6th rebellion, it was an extraordinary mistake to entrust him with the tools of the presidency again.
Every government official in the United States, every civil servant, judge, Cabinet officer, military officer and soldier, regardless of political leanings, swears allegiance to the Constitution rather than to presidents. This president is pushing America onto a bridge too far. If oaths mean anything anymore, our collective duty is to stop Donald Trump from forcing us to cross it.
William S. Becker is co-editor of and a contributor to 'Democracy Unchained: How to Rebuild Government for the People,' and contributor to Democracy in a Hotter Time, named by the journal Nature as one of 2023's five best science books. He previously served as a senior official in the Wisconsin Department of Justice. He is currently executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project, a nonpartisan climate policy think tank unaffiliated with the White House.