Most Americans are superficially familiar with the Declaration of Independence, especially its opening affirmations that we are all created equal and endowed with unalienable rights. But the entire document is worth reading now that the country is struggling against a would-be king.
In its entirety, the declaration reads like the articles of impeachment Congress should consider today. Most of it describes 27 ways in which the 13 colonies believed King George III and the British Parliament were violating their liberties. It is interesting how many describe what Donald Trump is doing now.
For one thing, it says “He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.” Trump has repeatedly violated laws — for example, by firing hundreds of thousands of civil servants against their statutory protections and abolishing agencies created by Congress. The Supreme Court encouraged this by ruling that former presidents are immune from prosecution for unlawful acts they commit while performing official duties. Unfortunately, the court provided little guidance on how to define “official.”
“He has forbidden his Governors,” the declaration continues, “to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.”
Trump uses executive orders to preempt state laws. Last April, he accused states of “extortion” for passing laws limiting pollution that causes climate change, and ordered the Justice Department to stop states from enforcing them. He has blocked congressionally appropriated federal funds for states with diversity programs and other policies he doesn’t like.
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“He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly,” the declaration says, “for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.”
Trump has not “dissolved” Congress or state legislators, but he has threatened the careers of lawmakers whose “manly firmness” in opposition to him he doesn’t like. He has pick-pocketed Congress’s purse by impounding or redirecting congressional appropriations.
