When George Washington was inaugurated as the nation’s first president, the ceremony broke with a line of precedent dating back thousands of years. Before his inaugural address, he took a simple oath to defend the Constitution that had been ratified the prior year. The former general did not ascribe his new role to his military might or the providence of a higher power. There was no crown laid upon his head, no anointing his brow with holy oils within the Senate chamber; it was a secular affair that celebrated the ability of mortals to decide their own future.
While no scepter or orb was placed in his hands, President Donald Trump’s inauguration was more of a coronation than this country has seen in its history.
While no scepter or orb was placed in his hands, President Donald Trump’s inauguration was more of a coronation than this country has seen in its history. He is returning to the White House as many elites scramble to show their support. They shower him with praise and tribute in hopes of avoiding the retribution he has promised for the enemies who dare oppose him.
On one level, it’s easy to see why so many have been so quick to placate Trump’s ego. After his failed scheme to retain power upon losing the 2020 election, there was a rush to disavow him or at least hold him at arm’s length. In her ruling on his attempt to avoid consequences for his plotting, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan wrote in 2023 that Trump’s “four-year service as commander in chief did not bestow on him the divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens.”
But the Supreme Court overruled Chutkan’s decision last year, with the conservative supermajority instead finding an absolute criminal immunity for many of his actions as president where none previously existed. “In every use of official power,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned in her dissent, “the President is now a king above the law.”
That ruling was just one sign that the end of monarchical divine right may have been prematurely announced. Checks that would normally be in place to safeguard against a rogue president have been abandoned. Congress, meant to be a co-equal to the executive, has seen impeachment twice fail to end his presidency and prevent him from running again. The Supreme Court allowed his placement on the ballot, in opposition to the words of the 14th Amendment that should have barred him from holding office.
Now, Trump stands ready to gather even more authority unto himself, siphoning it with little outcry from the lawmakers who the founders assumed would act to jealously guard their privileges. He has shown his willingness to rob the power of the purse from the House and place it under his thumb. The Senate has (so far) refused to allow Trump to simply name his Cabinet via recess appointment but stands poised to confirm even his least qualified nominees. Though congressional Republicans have hardly been consistently united, their squabbles over strategy are only a potential delay, not a rejection of Trump’s centrality to their party’s present identity. It is not ideology, but their loyalty to one man — and fear of his reprisals — that they rally around.
Key external forces that could sway a president have also opted to follow the prevailing winds and plant themselves by his side. Many of the richest and most influential people on the planet have shown themselves as particularly eager to show their fealty. The Silicon Valley overlords who have gathered in Washington to fete him are galling in their collective spinelessness. It is as though the earls and barons of England, whose lands were the economic engine of the kingdom, had promised King John their undying devotion rather than forcing him to sign Magna Carta to rein in his excesses.
It is incumbent, then, that any American with the capacity to challenge Trump does so rather than acquiesce to his march to tyranny.
It is incumbent, then, that any American with the capacity to challenge Trump does so rather than acquiesce to his march to tyranny. Elected Democrats must embrace their position as opposition party and fight him without fear of calling down his wrath. Media figures who promise to speak truth to power must do so without worry about how those truths will be received. Unfortunately, in both camps, there is already a trend toward yielding to him as a force of nature rather than treating him as the flawed and faltering figure he truly is. It is only in the act of placing Trump in a unique category, beyond the laws of politics and society, that reality seemingly bends around him.
With so many of the powerful few choosing to follow the tide as his gravitational pull brings them closer into his orbit, it falls on the assembled strength of the masses to stand in opposition. Far from the sweeping mandate that he has claimed, Trump remains unpopular with half of the country as millions continue to reject his policies. With a Republican trifecta firmly in charge in Washington, the nation’s problems are now their problems. And an impatient, narrowly divided public has shown itself to be fickle, more than willing to discard the status quo figure in favor of whichever candidate promises change.
Perhaps the country will weather the storm of another four years with Trump at the helm. To do so, though, will require holding firm against the idea that he is invincible and unstoppable. There is nothing inevitable about Trump succeeding in his attempt at kingship. He is a corrupt and corrupting force whose wild flailing should not be mistaken as strategy. There are no supernatural forces backing him, no divine retribution he can call down or everlasting curse he can lay on your family. He is a man both powerful and foolish — two traits that combine to make him dangerous — but a man all the same.
