Relying On His Advisers To Contain Trump Sows The Seeds Of A Future Constitutional Crisis

I have spent a lot of ink on how Republicans have whittled away and subverted our democracy over the last few decades. David Frum adds to that when he makes the important point in an article today that the refusal of Congress to rein in Trump and instead rely on the cabal of Mattis, Kelly, Tillerson, and perhaps others to "contain" Trump and "keep him in the middle of the road", as Bob Corker puts it, is, in its own way, a threat to our democracy as well.

As Frum sees it, the reasoned response of the national security apparatus to Trump's erratic and destructive behavior may be keeping us out of World War III but it is laying the groundwork for a future constitutional crisis. Frum points to the fact that many of Trump's orders have essentially been ignored. The ban on transgender service in the military has morphed into the Secretary of Defense determining whether those troops would effect military readiness. Trump has issued military threats against North Korea and others only to have the military and cabinet officials assuring us and our adversaries that the threats are not real. And, as Corker noted, this is not a good cop, bad cop scenario but actual efforts to restrain the President and signal to our enemies and our allies that the President himself does not speak for the United States.

Frum asks some very pointed questions such as "By what methods is the president being contained? Is he, for example, being denied sensitive information by agencies that remember how he blurted a closely guarded secret to the Russian foreign minister and the location of U.S. nuclear submarines to the president of the Philippines? Are allies and potential adversaries being signaled that presidential statements do not actually represent the policy of the United States government?...To what extent does the president remain in the military chain of command? It seems incredible that the military would outright defy a presidential order. But not hearing it? Not understanding it? Not acting on it promptly? Holding back information that might provoke an unwanted presidential reaction?"

We already know that Kelly has limited some of the information that used to get across the President's desk. According to Frum, White House officials believed Pence made a mistake telling Trump he was going to the NFL game this weekend because Trump turned that into another attack on the NFL players and forced Pence to perform the stunt of walking out when players kneeled during the anthem. The idea that some in the White House feel that Pence should not be informing the President of his whereabouts is actually pretty frightening and shows how Trump can turn even the most mundane information into an albeit petty incident. As Frum notes, denying the President information may be expedient today but it lays the groundwork for future subversion of other presidents who may be perfectly fit for office in the future.

Rather than relying on a coterie of advisers to ensure that Trump does not go off the rails and take us and the rest of the world along with him, Congress should do its job and use the remedy for an unfit President as laid out in the Constitution, that is removal under the 25th Amendment. But Congressional Republicans have no appetite for taking on the monster they have helped to create. Their inaction is potentially sowing the seeds for a future Constitutional crisis.