Saturday, May 3rd, 2025 (schwartzreport.net)
Author: Stephan A. Schwartz
Source: Schwartzreport
Publication Date: 3 May 2025
Link: It is Going to Be More Complicated to Remain a Constitutional Federal Republic Than Many Seem to Realize
Stephan:
Last Friday ASO Communications and Research Collaborative published a polling memo of data collected by Data for Progress just days before – 18-21 April. It showed that just as the country approaches Donald Trump’s 100th day in office 52% of likely voters across the ideological spectrum somewhat or strongly support impeaching him for a third time, including 84% of Democrats, 55% of Independents, and even 20% of his fellow Republicans.
It is clear that Americans seem to be awakening to the Trumpian Republican coup, as this poll about impeaching Trump (for a third time) demonstrates. The public non-violent demonstrations taking place across the country in Red states and Blue, small and big cities show this expression of public outrage. There is a growing resistance to the fascist coup Trump, the oligarchs, and the Republicans in Congress are trying to carry out. Massive non-violent demonstrations by people young and old of all parties are essential to achieving wellbeing fostering change. This is how Mahatma Gandhi achieved independence for India without a war; how one of the most powerful nations in the world at that time was compelled to surrender its most cherished colonial possession. This is how Nelson Mandela was able to end apartheid in South Africa, without massive violent civil conflict. This is how Martin Luther King convinced a 1960s Southern Texan Democratic President to sign the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965.
But restoring America to a functioning democratic republic is going to be much more complicated than just demonstrations, as critical as they are. To be Constitutionally valid it is going to require a series of steps many, including members of Congress, do not seem to fully understand.
I think it is going to take more than a decade to repair the damage that the Trumpian authoritarian coup has already done to the United States, both internally and internationally. But none of that will really start until the Trump policies and executive orders end. The first question is: would Trump really be convicted and removed from office, as he was not the last two times he was impeached? But there is an even bigger problem beneath that question. To understand it one must understand the Constitution and the chain of command, even though the Constitution describes the process very clearly.
If Trump were removed from office, J.D. Vance would become President. If J.D. Vance were impeached and convicted, Mike Johnson, the Speaker, would become President. Here is the sequence of succession as it is described in the Constitution and on the official website of the United States government:
“If a U.S. president cannot carry out the duties of the office, the responsibilities are passed to another government leader in a specific order.
“The president of the United States may be replaced if he or she:
- Becomes incapacitated
- Dies
- Resigns
- Is unable to hold office
- Is removed from office
“The U.S. Constitution and the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 outline the presidential order of succession. The line of succession of cabinet officers is in the order of their agencies’ creation.
- Vice President
- Speaker of the House
- President Pro Tempore of the Senate
- Secretary of State
- Secretary of the Treasury
- Secretary of Defense
- Attorney General
- Secretary of the Interior
- Secretary of Agriculture
- Secretary of Commerce
- Secretary of Labor
- Secretary of Health and Human Services
- Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
- Secretary of Transportation
- Secretary of Energy
- Secretary of Education
- Secretary of Veterans Affairs
- Secretary of Homeland Security”
What that is saying is that because of the way Trump and the Republican Party have filled all those posts everything would just become one incompetent MAGAt ideologue replacing another, and the destruction of the American economy and democracy would continue, or become even worse.
There is only one solution that I can see. Until the 2026 election is held millions of Americans, and I mean millions, must demonstrate non-violently daily; and when the 2026 election occurs voters must vote enough Republicans out of Congress so that the Democrats can hold a strong majority in both the Senate and the House. Then a Democrat would be elected as Speaker. After that Trump and Vance could both be impeached, convicted and removed from office. Both, I think, should also go to prison, but that is secondary. When they are removed from office, the Speaker, now a Democrat would then become President. With a Democratic President and Congress, Associate Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito should both be told to either retire or be impeached. Then two genuine Constitutional jurists should be appointed to replace them, in order for the Supreme Court to be restored to a properly functioning judiciary. Only then could the work of restoring the wellbeing of America, its democracy, its economy, and its stature in the world seriously begin.
This may sound like a partisan argument, but it is not. If we are to preserve our Constitution and remain the constitutional federal republic the Founders intended these are the steps that must be taken. As the story goes, when the Constitutional Convention of 1787 was ending, Benjamin Franklin was leaving the Pennsylvania State House. Elizabeth Willing Powel, the wife of Philadelphia Mayor Samuel Powel called out, “Doctor Franklin, what sort of government have you given us”? Franklin responded, “A republic madam, if you can keep it”.
Can we?
