When historians look back to this time in history, what will they see? In terms of accountability, of precedent, of actions, inaction, what congress did, what they did not, what they should have, as historical vision is always 20/20, and ultimately determining what future presidents may do, say, try, and that is the reason why we should be vigilant and conscious, and concerned of what future consequences’ of inaction, of action or otherwise may have.

This president pushes the boundaries every day, with the assistance of his sycophantic enablers in the Senate and all the other departments he’s installed his weak men, with his secretary of the treasury, Mnuchin refusing to release his taxes, and in turn basically ignoring the law. Barr is merrily making the role of the Attorney General the personal lawyer of the president, as his actual lawyers sue every entity that may have any financial documents pertaining to Trump and his sleazy corrupt business dealings worldwide, and in effect preventing them, temporarily, from releasing anything they may have.

One of the weak men he relied on to cover up his messes went to jail on Monday, Michael Cohen, which should come as a warning bell to those who may choose to do his bidding – actions do have consequences, however they may not come right away.

All of us, myself included, can get caught up in our disgust at the president as the piece of crap he is, but what consequences will that piece of crap leave for future presidents to take advantage of? What effect to the republic, to democracy, to the constitution and the role and power of the president of the United States?

These are important, and in some ways perhaps one of the first lessons from this administration is that the system has some fragility, some soft spots, and that democracy is a system of government with many inherent weaknesses. The founding fathers had the future in mind, as well as the past, and within the context of a time and place where they watched as monarchs served the needs of merely the few, often ignoring the needs of the many, and to the past they looked for inspiration, and as such America is a mishmash of many sorts of governments, a constitutional federal representative democracy.

A common definition of “republic” is, to quote the American Heritage Dictionary, “A political order in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who are entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them” — we are that. A common definition of “democracy” is, “Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives” — we are that, too.

The Washington Post | Is the United States of America a republic or a democracy? | By Eugene Volokh, May 13th, 2015

As is often the case, it is those perceived weaknesses themselves, those areas that are most pliable, that bend, that give it its strength and ability to consider the needs of the many, rather than just those with enough wealth to hand over in order to have their own needs take precedent. The checks and balances, the oversight of The House of Representatives to look after those interests is a paramount role and should not be set aside so that we can all just get along.

Certainly discord can be very destructive force to any country, but to ignore the presidents actions of obstruction, to ignore his loyalists willingness to protect his generous arse, his “Roy Cohns”, the minions who enable his corruption and corrosive tendencies, is to set precedents for future presidents to push farther at the restraints on their power, and to undermine the role of congress to protect the people from a despotic president drunk on power.

We should not forget, and as uncomfortable as it may be, as much focus this takes away from other pressing issues, this oversight role is one of the very foundational elements that makes America’s democratic republic unique, it is the means by which the government has been set up to protect itself from authoritarian dictators, from those who would return the role of president to that more akin to a monarch – this itself is what is being challenged.

The actions of this president are becoming bolder, more authoritarian, and he even tweeted this last weekend that his term should be extended by 2 years, and the rumbles from various factions that have voiced concern of this president’s ability to spin the narrative to suit his greed for power, all point in one chilling direction, and must be curtailed, must be reined in, must not be allowed to go unchallenged.

This is all pretty much exactly what I had warned my father about way back in the late fall of 2015 when he said he would vote for Trump if he could. I had responded at the time that the rumpTus’ wealth would not protect him from becoming corrupted, and that a man such as himself would be even more of a threat, since he already seemed to be the very embodiment of how absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Oh, but what do I know?

Though, I guess we are way past I told you so’s, and there is a bad taste in my mouth from this one, as it was an insight I had hoped to be wrong about, and certainly did not actually believe at the time would ever really come to fruition.

But, here we are, with a president who throws aside all manner of oversight, focused instead on protecting his own interests, rather than those of the people.

The very nature of American government was never a clear straight path, agreed upon by the founding fathers, but rather it was a contested path, a back and forth, a question of degrees, of changing times and needs, up until the present day, and I imagine for years to come. It is to this thought of “years to come” that I am concerned.

{…} James Wilson, one of the main drafters of the Constitution and one of the first Supreme Court Justices, defended the Constitution in 1787 by speaking of the three forms of government being the “monarchical, aristocratical, and democratical,” and said that in a democracy the sovereign power is “inherent in the people, and is either exercised by themselves or by their representatives.” And Chief Justice John Marshall — who helped lead the fight in the 1788 Virginia Convention for ratifying the U.S. Constitution — likewise defended the Constitution in that convention by describing it as implementing “democracy” (as opposed to “despotism”), and without the need to even add the qualifier “representative.”

IBID

So as we watch The House push for accountability, and the White House push for none, keep in mind the precedents doing nothing could set, think of the future, think beyond this one deranged narcissistic leader to who may come after, and what they may try to pull. They need to establish a clear boundary, clear consequences, clear deterrents to others who may try to destroy American democracy from the inside.