Heaven help John Thune — he may be the primary bulwark against President-elect Trump’s authoritarian impulses
I’m sure it was in elementary school that I learned about a singular element in our democratic system that made it difficult, if not impossible, for some dictator or king to take charge. I learned we had a system of checks and balances that would serve our democracy well, and they have, for all these many years.
And then there was the election of 2024!
The country has elected a president who has repeatedly proven to be “above the law.” Although being convicted by a jury of his peers of 34 felony counts in the
And when you look at all the other instances where he has been charged with one crime or another, you see the same pattern of stall, appeal; stall, appeal. He continues to claim it’s all a Democratic-inspired “witch hunt,” and the line of lawyers in his service is long and exhaustive. He has paid more for lawyers in the last year than you or I will make in a lifetime (or maybe he hasn’t paid them).
As he assumes the presidency, some charges against him have been dropped, others are in limbo, and everyone expects they will literally go away as he enters the White House. Even if they should follow him, there is always an appeal to the final court of the land, a Supreme Court that he “packed” when in office previously, and one that has already granted him presidential “immunity” (whatever that means). One can only guess what “immunity” will mean as his new presidency develops.
I’m sorry to say that one of the checks on presidential power is no longer functional. Especially with at least two of the Supreme Court justices having their own personal ethical challenges, a majority questioning a “dictator on day one” is highly unlikely.
So then there is Congress, the second branch of our government. The election put both the House and the Senate in the hands of a Republican majority. We can expect the Congress to approve the program of the president and support his efforts to turn the country around. The crunch will likely come when the president begins to seek retribution on his enemies; or perhaps as he demands loyalty for his administrative choices from the members of his party in the House and Senate.
Don’t doubt that Donald Trump keeps score!
All of which brings us to congressional leadership. Sen. John Thune was elected the Senate majority leader. Although he was not supporting Trump initially, he changed his mind as the possibility of assuming this new office evolved.
His election by his Republican peers is a hopeful sign that we won’t have a full fledged dictatorship as Trump assumes office. Thune was not the in-coming president’s first choice. Perhaps because he couldn’t assume complete loyalty; like maybe Thune had a mind and will of his own.
Sen. Thune and I have our disagreements. He doesn’t often vote the way I might wish. But in all the years he’s been in the Senate, I’ve had no reason to question his integrity; nor his willingness to work across the aisle for the good of the American people. All of which makes his job as a new administration comes to power all the more difficult. I do believe his will be the most difficult responsibility in our government; the last best hope for integrity, as a country believing in checks and balances and the separation of powers.
Trump will want it all! And Thune may be the only possible bump in the road. One hopes the Senate will take its “advise and consent” role seriously and not intentionally “recess” so Trump can nominate who he will without any challenge.
The appointments so far are challenging. Even Republicans in Congress gasped at the suggestion of Matt Gaetz as attorney general. And they ought to be concerned about Pete Hegseth heading the Defense Department. Good grief! A Fox News host to oversee the largest employer in the United States, with 770,000 employees and 2.1 million service members?
It’s evident from the Trump picks for his administration that the primary qualification he wants is loyalty. No more disagreeable generals like Mark Milley! No more questioning staff like John Kelly! No more folks in the White House calling him a fascist!
This time around, unless the Senate assumes its advise and consent responsibility and objects, it will be a White House full of loyalists.
Heaven help Sen. Thune!
Carl Kline of Brookings is a United Church of Christ clergyman and adjunct faculty member at the Mt. Marty College campus in Watertown. He is a founder and on the planning committee of the Brookings Interfaith Council, co-founder of Nonviolent Alternatives, a small not-for-profit that, for 15 years, provided intercultural experiences with Lakota/Dakota people in the Northern Plains and brought conflict resolution and peer mediation programs to schools around the region. He was one of the early participants in the development of Peace Brigades International. Kline can be reached at carl@satyagrahainstitute.org. This column originally appeared in the Brookings Register.
Photo: public domain, wikimedia commons
