As long as you are still interested in Donald Trump’s comments, you have noticed that they are more and more extreme.
Historian Michael Beschloss was concerned about this on Tuesday on the NBC network and warned his fellow citizens in a brutal manner: “This is what authoritarians do. This is what fascists do.» Trump behaves like an authoritarian leader, a fascist.
Among the threats of revenge recently mentioned by Trump, there is this desire to hijack the government to punish those who blocked his path.
The Supreme Court will consider a case on Wednesday that could make its task much easier. This would be another step towards questioning the separation of powers and the independence of government agencies.
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More than just a case of fraud
It is therefore today that the nine judges will study the case Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy.
Pinned for numerous violations by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the federal regulatory and supervisory body of financial markets, George R. Jarkesy Jr. questions the constitutionality of everything the process, including the very existence of the agency.
With a favorable verdict in federal court, Jarkesy now hopes that the highest court will confirm his victory. It is no longer a question of his dishonest manipulations of tens of millions of dollars, but rather of the legitimacy of the SEC.
The SEC was created by an act of Congress after the crash of 1929. It was then desired to enforce new laws in order to stabilize the market and protect investors. We took the opportunity to define insider trading.
To win his case, our man puts forward a theory that no one took seriously until recently. Right-wing activists claim that by creating agencies like the SEC, Congress is overstepping its rights.
Shake the columns of the temple
For those who still believe that American democracy would withstand a second term for the reality TV star, the judgment in this case will be decisive.
If Jarkesy wins, it is not just the SEC that would go out the window, but a whole series of independent agencies whose objective is to protect citizens. Add to these disappearances the hard blow to the power of the Congress. The president would definitely benefit from the situation.
For an authoritarian leader, a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court would constitute the fulfillment of a fantasy, a potential politicization of agencies and reduced powers for the legislature.
Already in June 2022 I shared my concerns for American democracy in a text entitled This is how democracies die. A year later, I remain undeterred, American democracy is going through a dark period, probably the most worrying since the beginning of the 20e century.