“The Constitution did not imagine what we are seeing.” —Columbia law professor, in this rundown of Trump’s horrific lawlessness, 15 days in. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/u... - ThreadSky

bgrueskin.bsky.social • 18 days ago

“The Constitution did not imagine what we are seeing.”

—Columbia law professor, in this rundown of Trump’s horrific lawlessness, 15 days in.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/us/trump-federal-law-power.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

Comments

gretagroots.bsky.social•17 days ago

Our Constitution seems to be a piece of paper

placitas03.bsky.social•17 days ago

Honestly, I learned nothing from that article that I didn't know already.

jjurek.bsky.social•17 days ago

This is on the GOP. And nothing will be done to stop this.

serious-bichon.bsky.social•17 days ago

The constitution is a glorified HOA charter. The fault is on the thousands of men who ensured that the constitution would always ensure that a wealthy white minority maintain permanent power.

If anything it’s working as intended

n8mills.bsky.social•17 days ago

NYT ran opinion pieces by ex-mossad zionists to defame Palestinians and justify the genocide, enable Trump's return to the seat of power. But sure, let's allow them to try and live that down.

lovetogolf1.bsky.social•17 days ago

He doesn’t have to follow any laws he already got away with an insurrection he’s a convicted felon and didn’t suffer any consequences Instead he became a king and no one is stopping him from the madness he’s inflicting on this country

californiaamy1.bsky.social•17 days ago

Gift article, please? i canceled my subscription.

mattmillburn.bsky.social•18 days ago

Founders didn't imagine the majority of Congress surrendering their power to the president, so he has absolute power.

smokeythebearesse.bsky.social•17 days ago

If the Constitution is the contract that created our Union, and it is repeatedly broken by 1 administration, then how can there legitimately be a USA?

Aren’t we defacto dissolved as a Union?

wildermoss.bsky.social•17 days ago

The constitution was written when people read complete news stories from a variety of small independent newspapers, people stayed up on local and national news and discussed it all regularly. People have stopped reading, stopped paying attention to local news, stopped discussing events.

oldspot.bsky.social•17 days ago

Where has this person been since 2015?

armthewhales.bsky.social•17 days ago

Today would be a good day for the New York Times to call on President Trump to resign for the good of the country and the world.

mi-forest.bsky.social•17 days ago

Too much of our government has relied upon those holding office behaving honorably without any legal teeth to remove/punish those in obvious violation ...
especially when you have one of the two political parties completely willing to break laws for power and control!

i-magnus.bsky.social•17 days ago

Even though there are some questions about the legitimacy of this election, I still remember a lot of people who refused to vote for Kamala even to stop Trump which might be the most grievous unforced error in human history.

victoriousyankee.bsky.social•18 days ago

The entire country works on good faith.
The dirty magas do not operate on good faith.
It’s why that filthy unAmerican trash is not welcome in our home.

I view maga the same way I view Al Quaeda or the nazis… as animals.

nobsbarb.bsky.social•17 days ago

The constitution did not imagine it because back in they day a criminal deviant would have been strung up right next to his cohorts at the very first inkling of a coup.

profsjw.bsky.social•17 days ago

Republicans & its rightie media supporters have been honing this attack on the Constitution for several decades. It's now part of the GOP's DNA. And the MSM is so used to ignoring it that one wonders if it will pay attention in any serious way now.

smokeythebearesse.bsky.social•17 days ago

If the Constitution is the contract that created our Union, and it is repeatedly broken by 1 administration, then how can there legitimately be a USA?

Aren’t we defacto dissolved as a Union?

profsjw.bsky.social•17 days ago

Dissolving, certainly; breaking apart; soft Civil War 2.

tja19.bsky.social•17 days ago

I think what our forefathers did not anticipate was the complete collapse of Congress in its legislative role. In short, I don't think they anticipated the moral and political cowardice that has infected the majority of Congress, leading to its complete capitulation to the executive branch.

pingl.bsky.social•17 days ago

Only around 1400 days left… maybe

nikkig123.bsky.social•16 days ago

Trump did say "you'll never have to vote again". How many times have Americans fluffed off those kinds of comments only to discover, after it's too late, that he means what he says. Good luck good people of America. Don Jr next then Barron. LOL!

inwpublicdefender.bsky.social•17 days ago

The Federalist papers did, but those writers presumed not only that people of good conscience would prevent it, but also that there would me more of us with good consciences than bad actors. With the authoritarian GOP
in control, that’s not the case.

damondarlin.bsky.social•17 days ago

Oh, I think they did see it. Check out “The Federalist.”

caspercdn.bsky.social•17 days ago

The writers of it were white men, some of whom had slaves.
So … ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

warriorgal.bsky.social•17 days ago

Every member of the Rethuglican party has violated their oath of office.

kj311.bsky.social•17 days ago

We were warned and they refused to listen!!!!!!!!!!!!

kj311.bsky.social•17 days ago

And the house of representatives and senate are complicit to the whole thing!!!!!!!!!!

okguy.bsky.social•17 days ago

But there’s a simple solution enshrined in the Constitution. Impeachment, conviction, and then removal. So let’s not act like the constitution has no mechanisms to counter a lawless president, it does. It’s up to our elected officials to use what’s readily available to protect our democracy.

larosalaw.bsky.social•17 days ago

They could not have envisioned that the system they worked earnestly putting together could be thwarted by people voting against their true interest...not understanding the consequences...

mkwilson27.bsky.social•18 days ago

Sure it did! Biden just failed to enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

yarnlover.bsky.social•16 days ago

Trump follows Musk's orders so we'll. He'll be a good little figurehead.

kproud.bsky.social•17 days ago

thanks to scotus, he thinks he can because of scotus.

haylibop.bsky.social•18 days ago

Countries rely on our leaders having a decent amount of noble intent

zenrider.bsky.social•18 days ago

Clearly that’s a mistake. Until now it generally worked. Having a DOJ that couldn’t close the deal to put a criminal in jail and a Supreme Court with a few corrupt justices, this is what we get.

salongroupnyc.bsky.social•17 days ago

“The constitution only banned a foreigner to be eligible to be president but did not prohibit one to stage a coup and then run the government”
Jonathan Turley

fanofwalt.bsky.social•17 days ago

Mr. Lincoln imagined it.

He warned our undoing would only come from within.

https://youtu.be/WeMRx0Tz8OQ?si=gs0nzR_zaIyLH9kk

panthersfan-afr.bsky.social•17 days ago

No kidding.
Also didn't imagine that we'd nominate & elect a convicted felon who fomented an insurrection and broke our history of a peaceful transfer of power.
Failure of imagination on all sides. And I plead guilty. Trump 2.0 is far more horrifying than I feared.
God help us!!!

panthersfan-afr.bsky.social•17 days ago

📌

rebjreed.bsky.social•17 days ago

What a time to be in law school. By the end of this academic year the administration will probably have banned all law books and servers containing the laws.

souldance.bsky.social•17 days ago

The Supreme Court right wing paved the way for him—

jeb232.bsky.social•17 days ago

No but Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, John Roberts, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Barrett did. With some help from Leonard Leo.

artistrandy.bsky.social•18 days ago

We have got to remove the naivety of good faith actors with a variety of controls
added. I could not even start to know what, where and how to do this, but if there is a way of wording and implementing it. I hope there are some of the good guys working on it.

windowswatcher.bsky.social•17 days ago

He is Wife Shopping

flipturns.bsky.social•18 days ago

homelessrobot.bsky.social•17 days ago

I assure you it did.

ellakay11.bsky.social•17 days ago

Cancelled New York Times, Wall Street journal and Washington post
DEI changes/ drops
never go in a McDonald’s, Walmart, Target, just a few boycotts you can encourage

suzilouden.bsky.social•18 days ago

How fkn ironic! The NYT, like all msm is complicit! They are partly to blame for enabling the Mango Maniac!!!

scmmoose.bsky.social•17 days ago

Everybody saw this coming, BOTH SIDES SAW THIS COMING

Half the gov. Did not

offdamountain.bsky.social•17 days ago

Did the times wake up since they were thrown out of briefings?

dpretj.bsky.social•17 days ago

Pretty sure they did, which is why they created the separation of powers and three co-equal branches of government. What they didn’t foresee was the other two branches in cahoots.

ronp25.bsky.social•17 days ago

And the New York Times just helped usher in this fucking madness
Are they stupid?
Are they impartial?
Are they cowards?
Take your pick!!

grandmaof6.bsky.social•17 days ago

Yea they did, they just didn’t expect the political party associated w/it would cheer on and help it along. We’re now a “shit hole” country. And if any regular American thinks they’re going to benefit from all this, it’s designed for billionaires.We will all be one party,the party of under valued

turdblossom.bsky.social•17 days ago

WHY USE MANY WORD WHEN FEW WORD DO TRICK.

UNCONSTITUTIONAL

po58.bsky.social•17 days ago

I think the founders did imagine what we are seeing. comments about voters and impeachment are on topic.

wasatchu.bsky.social•17 days ago

How would you fix it? If it happend once, it could happen again. Time for a new Constitution? Any idea how long it might take a few Constitutional scholars to cobble together a Constitution for the 21st century? Use Canada and/or South Africa as models? Ignoring the process in the Constitution,

wasatchu.bsky.social•17 days ago

2. would a national referendum work for approval? My understanding is they did think there was a danger from a demogog (Senate and Electoral College), but no one forsaw Emo and his ability to grab the heart of the government. Grab it and squeeze. Project 2025 has had 50 years in development. This is

wasatchu.bsky.social•17 days ago

3. not altogether an accident. Emo is a surprise. Not a pleasant one. If you ignore the law, what controls are there? What options do we have? Can the States do anything? Can anyone? How do you pull a person from a cult? Maybe 20 of them?

50thparallel.bsky.social•17 days ago

What the fuck exactly do the House, Senate, and Supreme Court do these days?

grammat-10.bsky.social•17 days ago

Thank you Supreme Court

healingin2025.bsky.social•17 days ago

What’s that? The Republican Party ceding its checks on the Presidency? Conservatives cheering on executive overreach?

darwinwoodka.bsky.social•17 days ago

what's the point of getting a law degree anymore when all that matters is loyalty to Trump and what the SCOTUS says the law is?

Rule of law is gone, why pay taxes even when it goes to Elon Musk? What's the point?

fatfreddieskat.bsky.social•17 days ago

I think the Constitution assumed there would be at least a few republicans with balls.

drvickyharris.bsky.social•17 days ago

Yep. It did. You done got yourself a king anyhoo.

andrewd1.bsky.social•17 days ago

That’s why the Democrat States must file a case to halt all Trump’s EOs, pending determination of a breach of the Constitution’s guarantee to protect States from insurrection and maintain a Republican Form of government. Article IV Section 4 and the 14th Amendment

That’s bringing guns to a gunfight

ricksgamemisc.bsky.social•17 days ago

Because the Constitution did not expect that the various built-in safety systems would be summarily ignored.

manuelportakal.bsky.social•17 days ago

Project 2025 was not a secret now everyone somehow shocked that they are implementing it

megabeth18.bsky.social•17 days ago

Finally

dadbeastlarge.bsky.social•17 days ago

Who among us is REALLY surprised?! Really? If you're surprised, I'm not sure what to say. Your interpretation of what's been happening for the last 2 years is waaaaaaay off.

jtoburen.bsky.social•17 days ago

Yes - it did, but the framers naively assumed that Congress would not willingly give up its own power. And not just a few but the ENTIRE majority and some of the Dems too. This is complicity and failure of duty at unbelievable levels. These people will bear the shame of history.

philstevens19.bsky.social•17 days ago

YES. The framers wrote a process for removal from office for EXACTLY this scenario. What they couldn’t imagine are the people lining up to lick Donald’s shoes absolutely clean.

quixj.bsky.social•17 days ago

Two years after the Constitution was ratified, the founders witnessed the French Revolution with blood running in the streets. They were by no means naive by then.

rockwils1.bsky.social•18 days ago

smrs333.bsky.social•17 days ago

why haven't impeachment papers been filed?

darwinwoodka.bsky.social•17 days ago

Raskin has already talked about it, so probably soon

mydoggyruss.bsky.social•17 days ago

The Founding Fathers never anticipated that one party would systematically and deliberately destroy public education, producing morons who would vote for a moron. Nor did they anticipate news media lying and sanewashing said moron. Or that an AG would not prosecute a criminal for his crimes.

jerrobrizzo.bsky.social•18 days ago

Why should he? His cabinet and Congress are in his pocket and the Supreme Court in its infinite wisdom said that any official act of a president is legal. Those who wanted to hold him accountable moved slowly and fearfully until the public chose to put a criminal back in power. What is left?

jerrobrizzo.bsky.social•18 days ago

To be clear, I'm responding to the last sentence in the quote, where Trump feels little need to feel constrained by the law.

nightingveil.satan.social•17 days ago

The original Constitution was framed to only support wealthy white men in power.

But! It was meant to be adapted over time to meet the needs of the country, which we did. And not following those changes is why this is a mess. A mess the NY Times helped cause...

smarternow.bsky.social•17 days ago

MAGA folk, who never listened in history class find this entertaining.

ejausten1.bsky.social•17 days ago

It is time for the third impeachment.

cencalmike.bsky.social•17 days ago

You will have to wait until 2027.

pkaetrei.bsky.social•17 days ago

I disagree. There was nothing more serious to them than protecting the Gov from a king or wanna be king. They spent 10 years thinking of every outcome possible.
I don't think they thought the entire controlling Senate would be working to destroy it.

sarahann.bsky.social•17 days ago

15 days?!?!

ravenna321.bsky.social•17 days ago

How far are nonTrumpy GOPs going to let all this go? Is there a line in the sand? Are they that spineless? They're watching the rise of America's Hitler (not my words, Vance's) with the power to stop him. Do they think it'll go well for them under his absolute rule?

darwinwoodka.bsky.social•17 days ago

Please, there are no nonTrumpy GOPers

ravenna321.bsky.social•17 days ago

I think they all are, at this point, but only in private

emily404.bsky.social•17 days ago

Will it hold? Are there enough reasonably informed citizens to uphold it? (I grew up when High Schools had a Civics Class as part of the basics. Not required any longer.)

thebabe2.bsky.social•17 days ago

NYT! Now you speak up? It’s almost too late.

darwinwoodka.bsky.social•17 days ago

NYT is a fucking joke

yosemitespam.bsky.social•17 days ago

Hey UK. Your PMs seem to resign an awful lot. How you do that?

followmal.bsky.social•17 days ago

📌

4seasonstl.bsky.social•17 days ago

And even if it did, it’s not like Trump would care.

marsisblu.bsky.social•17 days ago

And neither obviously did the thumb suckers on the US Supreme Court whose job is(supposedly) to be the final say about what the Constitution says. (Obviously I have nothing but contempt for those frat twats)