Opportunity and Peril

On the surface at least, the 2026 midterm elections have produced a political earthquake. This screenshot of the digital NYT front page as of 8am on November 4 conveys the theme:

These unpleasant facts remain unchanged:

• Trump is still president, with the core powers of his office untouched.
• ICE remains funded through at least early 2029.
• Federal security forces--civilian and military--continue to carry out his orders, including flagrantly illegal ones like waging an undeclared and Congressionally unauthorized war against Iran and detaining American citizens without charge.
• State certification of completed and still pending House and Senate races still lies before us.

Assuming the election certification process ultimately validates Democrat's take over of Congress--and I believe that certification will happen, with perhaps some temporary drama between now and January 2027--what comes next seems relatively clear:

• Democratically-controlled House and Senate committees will investigate regime abuses, hopefully on a scale that will rival, if not exceed, the Watergate and Church Committee inquiries.
• Trump will veto any measure that attempts to even moderately curb presidential power.
• To preclude further Justice Department abuses and Defense Department unconstitutional war-making during the balance of Trump's term, Democrats will have to be willing to block appropriations for DoJ and DoD, perhaps for months. I remain deeply skeptical of their willingness to do so, even with full control of Congress and more than ample reason to do so.
• The 2028 presidential contest essentially starts today.

To that end, the only thing any of us loyal to the constitutional Republic should be looking for is a presidential candidate who states clearly that they understand and are committed to radically reducing the power of the presidency in domestic political affairs, and above all the elimination of presidential control over the Department of Justice and the abolition of the Department of Homeland Security.

So far, no prospective presidential nominee of either party has signaled an understanding of the need to do this, much less pledged to work with Congress to make it happen.

Twice in the space of the last 50 years, two presidents have conspired to subvert the constitutional order. Nixon escaped jail, and I strongly suspect Trump will escape it as well. It's past time that Americans realize that we need no "national daddy" or "national mommy"--Arthur Schlesinger's "imperial presidency" has metastasized to become the cancer on the Constitution and thus the Republic. That cancer must be excised if the Republic is to last at least another 250 years.