By Donald A. Collins | 29 August 2022
Church and State

As my readers know, I have consistently highlighted Trump’s long-term lying about the institutions that make our democracy function.
Of course, our democracy is far from perfect. Exaggerating imperfections however can greatly harm our key institutions when they get evilly undermined with lies.
All 3 branches of our Federal Government are now so affected by the destruction of one of our two major parties in just one term of the Trump Presidency.
One, our Executive Branch, was uniquely and systematically undermined by the slanderous Trump Presidency. After leaving office and skipping the Biden inauguration, Trump and his GOP supporters have instigated continuing threats against keeping the delicate balance of power that our founders brilliantly codified 246 years ago.
Under our Constitution as amended, our great democracy, even badly flawed from its beginnings with slavery, now racism, which prevails in lethal form today, managed to survive the Civil War.
Now we are engaged in a new civil war, “testing whether this nation or any nation can” withstand the vicious vitriol to which it is now being subjected from Trump and many of his elected and unelected GOP cronies.
Read Washington Post columnist Joe Davidson’s August 27th Op Ed here.
Perspective: GOP attacks go beyond FBI and elections to delegitimize government https://t.co/tkB17dTpft
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 24, 2022
The dangerous intensity of GOP rhetoric as Davidson writes includes such examples as when “Trump fanned that flame when he shared on social media an article titled ‘The Fascist Bureau of Investigation’—an incredible act by a former President”.
No wonder Biden used the term “semi-Fascist” as applied to Trump’s behavior.
Don’t fail to read all of Davidson’s piece.
Is Davidson biased? Well, as you read, “Columnist Joe Davidson covers federal government issues in the Federal Insider, formerly the Federal Diary. Davidson previously was an assistant city editor at The Washington Post and a Washington and foreign correspondent with the Wall Street Journal, where he covered federal agencies and political campaigns”.
In short, he’s a seasoned veteran political observer who has worked for top newspapers with very different editorial views.
Legally slander means making false statements about an individual with the intent of damaging his or her reputation.
Confronted by our treasured 1st Amendment to our Constitution’s 10 bill of rights, almost nothing one says limits that right of free speech.
However, the official US Court web site comments on our speech freedoms, which you can read here.
One freedom listed here certainly seems to apply to the kind of slanderous statements NOT permitted.
Does the below Court No-no quote apply to the GOP statements from Davidson’s above piece about the FBI and other US government institutions?
Under Freedoms of speech not permitted, the US Court site says:
Freedom of speech does not include the right:
To incite imminent lawless action.
Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444 (1969).
While I am not a lawyer, the above certainly seems to apply to Davidson’s examples. You can read what freedoms are protected and those which are not here.
Source: https://t.co/Lc7b4dn5qK pic.twitter.com/6TKIihJtL2
— Kym Grosso (@KymGrosso) January 10, 2021
In short inciting violence and hatred based on no evidence reminds one of shouting fire in a crowded theater.
And that’s what Trump’s MAGA strategy has focused on all along.
Now a major question will be: Does our fragile democracy have public servants with the strength to indict and convict, based entirely on the evidence, this arrogant felon who is guilty of multiple major crimes?
Alternatively, will his and his supporters’ slanderous attacks on our primary institutions lead to real suppression of our democratic principles by violence by our failure to stop them at the ballot box? Recall Hitler’s push to power in 1933 involved use of violence and intimidation. Trump’s rhetoric has instigated those techniques already!
Then there is Trump’s successful attack on another of our 3 major Federal branches, the Supreme Court.
After the Supreme Court’s withdrawal on June 24th of women’s Constitutional rights to abortions under Roe, the first such case in our history, Trump was the one who packed the Supreme Court with right wing religious jurists, whose views were abhorred by a substantial majority of American voters. The November elections will reveal the political impact of that decision, but many fear other restrictions to human freedom are planned for the next term.
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, women surged in signing up to vote in some states. The rise is particularly notable in states where abortion rights are at risk. https://t.co/Ps9zlCXAxv pic.twitter.com/l9tq20guup
— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 26, 2022
I am far from confident that most of our citizens will abide inflation, gas prices, and this constant GOP slander and misinformation (many of them—but not Trump and his insiders—still believe in the Big Lie) to allow our democracy to survive, imperfect yet unique in human history, just as it did after our Civil War ended in 1865!
More damning evidence appears here:
For many Americans who are tired of the COVID crisis, inflation and Trump’s cancerous lying, Joe Biden’s overall sterling performance even now gets a lower than it should voter response.
One question: Would the Trump GOP do better? Are their only programs if elected focusing on taking away spending for vital services and—as Roe’s loss so sadly now proved—basic individual freedoms?
Will our voting rights when manipulated by MAGA GOP state election officials entrench Trump’s authoritarianism grip on our republic?
If you believe Trump’s impact on all 3 main branches of our Federal Government was negative, your vote at the midterms in November will be crucial in answering those above questions!

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“From the Dissident Left: A Collection of Essays 2004-2013”: https://t.co/lkC2t3E1A9 pic.twitter.com/bQsL2mLBcO— Church and State (@ChurchAndStateN) November 1, 2021
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