After the latest SCOTUS ruling redefining the limits of constitutional law and granting POTUS absolute, UNQUESTIONABLE, immunity for official acts, it’s hard not to believe that this whole thing was a setup. I’m talking about the Trump presidency sum total. The Heritage Foundation along with a not-so-secret cabal of donors is to blame.
Go back to 2000 and Gore v. Bush. SCOTUS essentially flexed their power to decide an election. While most of the general public was keen to move on without questioning their motives, the Heritage Foundation saw an opportunity. Stack the courts with enough judges thinking the same way, and you’d never lose an election ever again! So they used 8 years of GWB’s presidency to get John Roberts installed as Chief Justice and set aside their blueprint for conservative domination.
My timing is likely off, but it’s about the end result, so bear with me:
First—unlimited dark money for campaigns and ensuring the “free speech” rights of corporations and billionaires to dominate unions and the ordinary American’s (Citizens United; McCutcheon v. FEC; Janus etc.) While the goal may have been to ensure a limited set of cronies control over the conservative agenda and candidates for all positions, it had a beneficial side effect. It effectively crippled grass roots progressive liberals from challenging the Democratic Party’s moneyed class as well. Of course, Barack Obama was the exception who slipped through, which is why Heritage Foundation/JBS went full panic Tea Party mode almost immediately.
Second—attack the voting rights of poor (largely black) Americans (Shelby v. Holder; Abbott v. Perez; Husted; Rucho etc.), to ensure a populist uprising against their moneyed overlords would be thwarted. Now elected officials can choose their voters and purge those who don’t vote for them at will, while ensuring that only the candidates who bend over backwards for the donor class are funded (and not some idealistic liberal or conservative spouting on about actual policy!)
Some of these decisions were rendered after Trump was already in office and had cemented the Heritage Foundation’s majority—so what of Trump himself? Well, let’s just say he was a means to an end. A “useful idiot”. Why was his candidacy allowed to prevail in the GOP primary? Why did all his opponents bow and kiss the ring in the end? Because they knew it was all a sham.
Trump was put in power to test the limits of democracy and the court system. It was seen as inevitable that he would run afoul of the law somewhere, somehow, because he just couldn’t help himself. Whether or not he was just a self-serving narcissist or compromised foreign asset was immaterial—he was a test run to see how the 3 branches of government would respond to his errors. His donors and handlers [i.e. Bannon] didn’t really care whether he gained a second term or ended up in jail—he was ultimately expendable. He was meant to test and expose the strengths and weaknesses of the state to check him—and once exposed, those strengths could be checked and weaknesses exploited by the Heritage-stacked courts. That’s where we are today.
So with today’s decision in Trump v. United States—it isn’t Trump who won. It’s the Heritage Foundation and the donor class moving to the 3rd stage of the battle plan. After they are already assured of getting their candidates funded and elected, they now have the blueprint to absolute power. So remember, it’s not about getting Trump a second term (that’s a side benefit.) It’s all about the true authoritarian they want to install after Trump.
Edit: I primarily refer to Heritage Foundation but that includes everyone from the Federalist Society, John Birch et al up to and including their latest offshoot, the “American Accountability Foundation”. The Enemy is Legion, and hides behind many names.