A really good question

“So… what’s to stop Joe Biden from having Seal Team Six kill Trump right now?”

This was the question my adult son asked. We were talking about the catastrophic decision SCOTUS handed down this week in Trump v. United States (an apt title).

I was washing paintbrushes in the kitchen sink as he emptied the dishwasher.

Friends, I have been trying to write an Unruly Quaker about anything other than SCOTUS this week, because I figure maybe folks are tired of hearing about it.

But I can’t not write about it. Which is basically the reason I write at all: I can’t not.

Cartoon I’ve had on a succession of microwaves in a succession of dwellings since 1992. (DIY-laminated with clear packing tape.) © 1992 by BS Mueller

How to answer Sam’s question?

As Sam and I talked about SCOTUS, I glanced at the above cartoon, taped to our microwave.

I’m a mix of the two folks in the cartoon. I can hold it together in a crisis, but I’m an anxious worrier by chemistry and nature. Long-term, I’m the “Burn Everything” guy.

Or, more precisely, I’m the “It’s time to freak out” guy.

I long to be the “Remain calm” guy. And sure, yes, let’s be calm and chill.

AND.

And. The thing is, it would be difficult to overreact to this SCOTUS decision.

I’ve been mulling it over and doing my due diligence. And I had a dream about it — the prophetic kind of dream that in my house we call a “DREAM dream.” I feel like I have some clarity on the need to write this down. That it’s as bad as you can imagine, and possibly worse.

But you don’t have to take my word for it.

Here’s what Sonya Sotomayer had to say about Trump v. United States in her dissent.

Sotomayor’s dissent is worth reading in its entirety. It’s here, starting on page 68 of the PDF document. (Justice Jackson “agree[s] with every word” of Sotomayor’s “powerful” dissent, and adds her own, which is more about the “nuts and bolts” of the paradigm shift. Justice Jackson’s dissent starts on page 98.)

Justice Sotomayor’s dissent is powerful.

It is important, clear, cogent, and morally correct.

I will super-duper try to pare it down here. But again, read the whole thing. Emphasis here is mine:

“The Court now confronts a question it has never had to answer in the Nation’s history: Whether a former President enjoys immunity from federal criminal prosecution. The majority thinks he should, and so it invents an atextual, ahistorical, and unjustifiable immunity that puts the President above the law….

“The main takeaway of today’s decision is that all of a President’s official acts, defined without regard to motive or intent, are entitled to immunity that is ‘at least … presumptive,’ and quite possibly ‘absolute.’

“In sum, the majority today endorses an expansive vision of Presidential immunity that was never recognized by the Founders, any sitting President, the Executive Branch, or even President Trump’s lawyers, until now. Settled understandings of the Constitution are of little use to the majority in this case, and so it ignores them.

“Today’s decision to grant former Presidents immunity for their official acts is deeply wrong.

“Looking beyond the fate of this particular prosecution, the long-term consequences of today’s decision are stark.

“The Court effectively creates a law-free zone around the President, upsetting the status quo that has existed since the Founding.

“This new official-acts immunity now ‘lies about like a loaded weapon’ … for any President that wishes to place his own interests, his own political survival, or his own financial gain, above the interests of the Nation.

“The President of the United States is the most powerful person in the country, and possibly the world.

“When he uses his official powers in any way, under the majority’s reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution.

“Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune.

“Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune.

“Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune.

“Immune, immune, immune.

“Let the President violate the law, let him exploit the trappings of his office for personal gain, let him use his official power for evil ends. Because if he knew that he may one day face liability for breaking the law, he might not be as bold and fearless as we would like him to be. That is the majority’s message today.

“Even if these nightmare scenarios never play out, and I pray they never do, the damage has been done.

“The relationship between the President and the people he serves has shifted irrevocably.

“In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law. …

“With fear for our democracy, I dissent.”

Whew. Let’s all take a deep breath. In for four. Hold for four. Out for four. Repeat.

Back to Sam’s question: What’s to prevent Biden from ordering Seal Team Six from assassinating Trump?

Biden can’t, but only because —

SCOTUS would not stand for Biden to execute Trump. Because Biden’s a Democrat and they like Trump.

SCOTUS is shaping the laws to bend to the will of Project 2025: a strong man in the White House and dismantling of the administrative state, and yoinking power away from the Congress.

So Trump, or another Republican, can order Seal Team Six to do whatever he wants.

It’s bad, y’all. And I’m all for mindfulness and Zen and I don’t want to tell you how to feel but also I’m not sure people are freaking out enough.

Let me put it this way:

Think back to November 2016. Presidential election. Trump v. Clinton. Despite everything liberal commentators said about Hillary winning, you’re watching the results and … Trump is ahead. It’s getting really late. You have to work in the morning. You go to bed. You wake up, turn on the news. Trump has won the election. He will be the next president of the U.S. Do you feel sick? Mad? Upset? Nauseated? Sad?

This Supreme Court decision is worse.

Now think back to when the Dobbs decision, overturning Roe v. Wade, was leaked. And then made official. Were you upset? Furious? Disgusted? Worried? Sick?

This Supreme Court decision is worse.

Because this decision fundamentally restructures our government.

Literally, with this ruling, the only thing Trump did wrong in trying to overturn the 2020 election and leading his followers to insurrection was … he didn’t use the military.

If Trump had mobilized the military for a coup, it would have been considered the purview of the president.

He would be immune from prosecution.

Oh, come on. It’s not THAT bad, is it?

Isn’t it?

Sotomayor thinks it is. So do Justices Kagan and Jackson. And so do other smart folks.

After this year’s presidential election, will we ever have another one?

Certainly we will never have another “fair” election (as far as “fair” goes, with all the gerrymandering that has already happened). Because whomever is president —so long as it’s Trump, or another Republican who SCOTUS supports— can stage a military coup.

Look, I’m not here to say that the United States has been great up to this point.

It was founded by men who owned human beings as chattel slaves and who didn’t allow any women to vote and there were and continue to be all sorts of other things wrong with the U.S. government and it’s project of Empire.

(We did have a brief glimpse of what we could have been during the early Reconstruction Era … and then white supremacy came back with a vengeance.)

But at least we had elections.

At least Nixon had to resign after Watergate.

That’s done now. It’s over.

Like Justice Sotomayor, I pray that I overstating the potentialities. I pray that the nightmare scenarios don’t happen.

And yes, I worry too much. Yes, I’m have anxiety and mental health stuff and blah blah blah. And yet. I have a track record with seeing this kind of stuff pretty clearly.

Am I always right? Of course I am.

Ha. No. My memory especially is a mess with menopause - don’t rely on me to remember an errand, or a small task.

But the big stuff? Hm. I guess we’ll see.

Want to know my secrets for my track record so far? They aren’t big secrets. All you have to do is:

• read (unvarnished) history

• notice things

• listen to what these jokers say — jokers like Trump and Steve Bannon and Scalia and Thomas and their ilk — and take them at their word

• do not listen to liberal commentators, like the bulk of folks at The New York Times and The Atlantic who basically refuse to believe what is in front of their eyes and instead they offer you a butterscotch candy and soothing words to try to make you feel better

• listen to young people and campus protest movements

• read and listen to smart people with strong moral compasses who know what they are talking about and have a good track record of calling things out

So. Is it all doom and gloom? What can we do?

Um, I’m not going to blow smoke up your ass. It’s pretty bad, friends.

We can take to the streets and we can protest — and if Trump wins, guess what? He can order the military to shoot us protesters dead where we stand.

He would be immune from any criminal repercussions for doing so.

Unless we do something really big, right now while Dems have the White House and the Senate - impeach the six Justices who signed this decision; and pack the Court; and enact legislation that would nullify this decision - well.

Do you think Joe Biden or the majority of Dems have the will to do those things? Have they done them in the four years of opportunity they’ve had to shore up this fragile so-called “democracy”?

Yeah. No.

And if Trump doesn’t win? Do you think Biden has it in him to do ^^ that list in the next four years?

Yeah. No.

Here’s what we can do.

We can identify and recommit to what matters to us. Does justice matter? Mercy? Generosity? Love?

Discern and recommit NOW, because this ride might get bumpy. Clarity will be important.

We can cultivate community.

Community is what will see us through any and all hard times. Communities of mutual care, and support, and resistance. Who keeps us safe? We keep us safe.

We can be honest and clear about what’s happening.

Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt, and it isn’t going to help.

We can find / return to sources of renewal.

For me, this is equal parts solitude and prayer that taps into the wellspring of all being; and being together with loved ones - laughing, crying, eating, dancing, telling stories, all that jazz.

We can read and research and plan.

See to what movements have been successful and listen to folks with experience.

We can be attentive to the beauty in the world around us.

The birds. The clouds. The trees. The water. The sky. Notice. Breathe. Renew. Know that they surround us and will continue to be here long after we’re gone.

Another comic that forms the fabric of our home - a Calvin and Hobbes I cut out of the newspaper in high school.

We can build our muscles of resistance.

White folks are especially bad at this. We tend to get rull tired, rull quick. Learn from resistance movements elsewhere. Read your liberation theology or your history books or listen to your music from places in the world that have resisted oppression for a long damn time and continue to live in joy and strength and tears and fear.

We can figure out what we can contribute to a movement.

Ideally it’s something you enjoy and/or feel called to do. Resistance will need all of us: Artists. Musicians. Health care providers. Babysitters. Teachers. Carers. Gardeners. Chefs. Farmers. Carpenters. Facilitators. Builders. Guides. Storytellers. Historians. Counselors. City Planners. All of us have gifts; let us bring our gifts and our full selves to the circle.

We can care for each other.

Read stories to our children. Tend to our elders. Play with our dogs. Check on the beavers in the marsh. See if the hatchlings in the mailbox have fledged. Make dinner for our friends.

Well friends, Happy (?) July 4th.

My suggestions for celebrating this U.S. Independence Day wherever you are on this planet:

— Introduce yourself to a new-to-you neighbor. Cultivate community!

— Break a law. There’s no reason to follow laws that are unjust just because they are laws. Start building your rebellion muscles.

— Connect or gather with someone/s you love. Animal, human, anyone will. Over the phone or in person. Just be present in that connection.

— Read or watch (re-read or re-watch) Frederick Douglass’ “What to the slave is the Fourth of July?” Remember there has always been need for moral, justice-based resistance movements. Look to the past for guidance. Then:

— Close your eyes and envision a beautiful future. What does it look like? Healthy planet? Circles of care? Everyone having a voice? It’s no fun to fight for justice if we don’t have a vision of freedom and liberation in mind.

XOXO

And hey - extra hugs and gratitude to y’all who have renewed your paid subscriptions. Your support means the world to me. We are all in this together, under the love and care of The Great Cosmic Echidna. May she shower you with blessings.