One way that Trump could make himself
‘Dictator for Life’

For students of history, it’s abundantly clear that Trump’s ultimate goal is to become a dictator like so many of his heroes. We should be grateful that he’s too old to really nail down the power of a dictator for himself. Hitler was just 50 when he became the dictator of Germany. Trump will be 78 if he wins in November to get the power he would need to be the dictator of the United States. Of course, his heirs could step in and establish a dynasty. Rather than just being a dictator, he and his heirs would probably rather be kings.  

But it would be more complicated than just issuing a proclamation. He tried that the first time and was slapped down by the few people who still believed in democracy. Mike Pence comes to mind. Even Hitler had to get his doormat parliament to ratify his absolute power. The culture of the rule of law in the United States is strong enough to require a bit more than that.

Here’s one way Trump could make it happen. I’m not giving anything away here. They used to teach this stuff in high school. First, we have to review how we got to the place we’re at now.

The first thing to understand is “judicial review” and what’s really in the Constitution. One problem that Trump might have to overcome is the Supreme Court. Since 1803 in Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court has arrogated to themselves the power to decide what the Constitution actually says.

In that case, the Chief Justice of the Court, John Marshall, was faced with a dilemma. His political enemies, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, had won the election. But his political ally, John Adams, had appointed a lot of their own people to key positions in the government just before losing power. Unfortunately for Adams and Marshall, the actual paperwork had not been delivered. Jefferson and Madison decided to simply ignore the appointments using that flaw as justification. Russian dictator Josef Stalin once justified his brutality against Catholics by asking, “How many army divisions does the Pope have?” Jefferson could have made the same observation about Marshall and the Supreme Court.

Master political strategist that he was (he continues to hold the record as the longest serving Chief Justice), Marshall invented the concept of “judicial review” right out of thin air to turn the election loss into a “win”. Three Chief Justices before him had made do without  having “judicial review” to turn the Court into a powerhouse branch of government.

Marshall’s Court gave the appointments to his enemies, but as justification, they struck down a law passed by Congress as unconstitutional. Jefferson and Madison, who really just wanted the appointments as spoils of victory, ignored the Court’s ruling since they already had what they wanted. Between 1803 and today, the power of the Supreme Court to decide what the Constitution says, has made the Supreme Court a co-equal branch of the United States government. The Court could be a serious impediment to Trump’s dictatorial aspirations.

Trump could overcome this problem by simply creating a doormat Court (he’s mostly there now) and telling them to reverse Marbury v. Madison and the whole concept of judicial review. If “judicial review” was eliminated, then the power to decide what the Constitution really means would flow back to the administrative branch – that is, to Trump himself. And if we have learned anything about Trump, it’s that his decisions are like a light switch. They can be turned on and off in seconds depending on his needs at the moment.

There are a couple of things that make this a clear path to a Trump dictator. The first is that there is nothing in the Constitution that justifies what Marshall did. Right-wing “originalists” have shouted for centuries that government should never do anything that isn’t justified by the Constitution. (Except where it’s inconvenient, of course. Congress hasn’t declared war since WWII but Article I of the Constitution clearly gives that power exclusively to Congress. We get involved in more and more wars all the time. Bombing the whole Earth into a smoking cinder could be done by the President now without a declaration of war.)

What the Supreme Court created, the Supreme Court can destroy. They did that just recently when they took away women’s right to control their own bodies by reversing Row v. Wade. They could do it again with judicial review.

The second thing that Trump could do is “pack the Court” with enough doormat members to get anything he wanted. Congress has changed the membership of the Court before. A doormat Congress (again, we’re very close to having one now) could do that again too.

So, everything Trump would need has already been done before. After accomplishing these things, Trump could rule like Hitler.