Frank's Musings

The Constitution’s Remedies for Autocracy



The interview with his Syrian friend that Eliot Ackerman reported in the October 9, 2019 NYT, identified the real attraction that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has on President Trump.  The strategy of Erdogan may be to recapture the glory his country once had as the center of the Ottoman Empire which controlled vast amounts of the Middle East and of Eastern Europe.  There is nothing that excites Trump’s admiration more than the freewheeling reputation of a successful autocrat.  Erdogan seems to share the same self-image, as do Putin, Kim Jong Un, Bolsonaro, and Xi Jinping.  They are the stars in Trump’s firmament.  Can the U.S. Constitution prevent him from realizing his ambitions?  Of course, not.  It is only a piece of paper.



The Constitution does not only outline limits on the actions of our elected officials.  It states the principles that we as the citizens of a self-governing republic assert by choosing to live here.  That means that when we elect a President, we expect him to perform his duties as proscribed in the Constitution.  If he is unqualified or indisposed to act accordingly, it is we who have also failed to honor our code. 



Fortunately, there are two remedies available in the Constitution for the ailment that has sickened our government.  Impeachment and conviction, though, is highly unlikely, given the unprincipled self-centered careerism of the U.S. Senate’s Republican majority.  The second option requires that citizens recapture the urgent desire of our Founding Fathers to insulate our affairs from the abuse of an autocrat.  The ultimate power of the ballot box can be mobilized to end an abusive, even if not criminal, presidency.  There is only one important issue in the 2020 general election—the restoration of adherence to the principles of the Constitution.