A Weaponized “Continuity of Government”
There are various soundbites, clickbait headlines, column inches and video streams filled with those on the political left waxing philosophically about the threat President Trump represents to “institutional norms” in his second term.
You know exactly the reason why. It is not a surprise to see media and bureaucratic defenders of the FBI, DOJ and Intelligence Community throwing out wild accusations and fears of what President Trump and his cabinet might do.
For the sake of this outline, let us quickly revisit a key inflection point when these “institutions” were given power over We The People.
During the rushed debate over the Patriot Act, was when we first heard political officials talking about the importance of “continuity of government.”
Many of us recognized what these DC voices were describing was a construct of a post-911 government that would exist and maintain itself without the elected representatives of WeThe People.
The intelligence gathering and homeland security system put into place after the Patriot Act was passed, is a bureaucratic administrative state without the presence of elected officials controlling the apparatus. That leads to the following question:
How can a constitutional republic function without elected officials in control of it?
That question is at the heart of our current situation.
That question is at the epicenter of this “new American democracy” that no one seems to understand.
The simple answer is it cannot.
We have been fighting this three-headed IC monster (DHS, DNI, DOJ-NSD) ever since.
This reality the underlying predicate behind why Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the Special Counsel charges against Trump. This reality is also the underlying framework behind why the Supreme Court recently reaffirmed the plenary power of the President with control over the executive.
In the post-9/11 system that was created by the Patriot Act, our Constitutional Republic was inextricably fractured, placing systems and silos in charge of government under the auspices of “continuity of government.”
From that moment forth, elected representatives no longer held authority or oversight *over* the national security apparatus. Instead, the Patriot Act flipped the actual system of democratically elected representative government.
The RESULT: Our elected officials became subservient to the institutional interests of unelected agency officials. As Senator Schumer calls them “the six ways from Sunday” coalition.
This reality empirically surfaces with people like former AG Bill Barr saying the President does not have unilateral authority over the DOJ. Also, the Lawfare approach and narrative that a President is not the arbiter of governing power. Both statements are constitutionally false, as affirmed by SCOTUS – Thank God.
This is the root of the cancer that was always present, silent and lurking in the background institutions prior to 9/11. After the Patriot Act passed, that cancer fully metastasized and entered the bloodstream of American governance.
What was previously a slimy bag of institutional snakes, kept in place by a tenuously worn nylon bag – sewn from the remaining fabric of our constitution, was released by the Patriot Act.
Everything thereafter, including the constant bites we suffer from the unleashed weaponization, is a consequence of that moment.
That’s the root of our modern political reality.
This became the “new American democracy,” where the unelected officials and administrators within institutions hold power.
Under this Patriot Act framework, representative government [executive branch, legislative branch and even the judicial branch] are subservient to those who use the shield of national security. This outcome is the direct consequence of creating a system for the “continuity of government.”
ABSORB IT!
Then, suddenly, everything about the domestic enemy we confront gets really clear.
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Thankfully, the Supreme Court has now given indications they understand what has taken place.
The Supreme Court recently affirmed that only the President of the United States has the authority to control the Executive Branch. As a direct and consequential outcome, only the President of the United States can remove the core issue that has corrupted our constitutional intent.
Every element vested in the “continuity of government” as a manipulation of the constitution is now aligned to defend itself against the plenary threat President Donald Trump represents.
We have one chance.
Read the SCOTUS opinion, not from a point of view of President Trump, but from the point of view of what does this allow him to do in his second term, and what invisible straightjackets did it remove that were a threat during his first term?
While impeachment is a political process within the Legislative Branch, and the Supreme Court is extremely hesitant to overstep their role therein, the High Court did put this sentiment clearly into the opinion about immunity: …“The President is not above the law. But Congress may not criminalize the President’s conduct in carrying out the responsibilities of the Executive Branch under the Constitution.”…
Congress may not criminalize the conduct of the President simply for carrying out his core executive branch duties.
Removal of Executive Branch officials is a core duty, an official act, carrying absolute immunity. The president has the ability to transform or eliminate executive branch agencies and institutions.
That newly affirmed reality is exactly why the Deep State and Lawfare crowd are very alarmed.
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