Trump spreads fear to control all US powers: Can anyone stop him?

WashingtonA month ago, federal workers who had been targeted by the new Trump administration's cuts insisted on anonymity for fear of retaliation and asked to use alternative communication platforms. claiming a "technological fear". Currently, in the United States, two international students have already been arrested for participating in the pro-Palestinian protests last spring, a Georgetown University researcher has been arrested for his position on Gaza, and a French researcher has been denied entry to the country for having critical messages about the president on his cell phone. The fear campaign is spreading throughout American society as Donald Trump seeks to crack the limits of his power.

Actions such as the arrest of international students at Columbia University for their political speech or the mass dismissals within the administration have ended up in court. The judiciary has become on the main line of defense in the face of executive branch attempts to overstep its authority. This week, on the same day that a federal judge ruled that the closure of the international cooperation agency USAID was probably "unconstitutional," Trump escalated his war on the courts with a call to remove the judge who had ordered the blocking of the flight that deported more than 200 Venezuelans to El Salvador. The Trump Justice Department has been avoiding disclosing the time the plane took off, and the judge insists on knowing it to determine whether the president violated a court order.

Trump's call to initiate a impeachment against the judge prompted even the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, conservative John Roberts, to speak out on the case. In an unusual move, Roberts contradicted the president's wordsThe intervention of the Supreme Court's chief justice is an indicator of the magnitude of the storm. "Trump's two months in office, during which he has attempted to push the limits of his power in every direction, is the greatest challenge the Constitution has seen in the history of our country, save for the secession of the southern states at the beginning of the Civil War. Aside from the Civil War, we have had nothing remotely similar to it," warns the professor of Supervision.

Trump's failure to comply with the court's order is the latest of many actions by his administration that are aimed at pushing the country to the brink of a constitutional crisis and putting the rule of law under strain. The question now is: what are the president's checks and balances? "The clearest tool to curb a president when he oversteps his power is theimpeachmentTrump has already been subjected to two impeachments and survived. And He probably has the feeling that he'll survive again. For checks and balances to work effectively, many actors need to intervene. And many of these actors aren't intervening," explains Georgetown University political science professor Hans Noel.

The only thing that can remove the president is Congress, and as Noel points out, Trump's absolute control over the Republican Party makes the legislature practically subservient to the executive branch: "Right now, the Republicans who control Congress seem to be more interested in Trump's agenda than in the prerogatives of Parliament." An example of this subordination is last week's vote to avoid a government shutdown, where the hawks party prosecutors swallowed their objections The Republican bill, out of deference to Trump, is being approved. The certification of controversial secretaries like anti-nurse Robert Kennedy for Health and former Fox host Pete Hegseth for Defense is another example of Trump's control over his congressmen.

Delegitimizing the judiciary

In parallel to the impeachmentIf Trump begins to disobey the orders of federal judges, the cases will ultimately end up in the Supreme Court. "And if the Supreme Court determines that it really must comply with the orders of the lower judges, then it will have to enforce them. And if it ignores that, then we enter a different scenario, where this represents a tipping point," explains Noel. The political scientist does not believe that Trump's campaign to delegitimize the judiciary will reach the point of disobeying the Supreme Court, but it does seek to erode the current powers of the federal courts.

Indirectly, if Trump takes all his judicial disputes to the Supreme Court, he is already disempowering federal judges as the main emergency brake. "Taking them to the limit, to the Supreme Court, will give him more leeway to deploy his agenda so that the cases take longer to resolve, and when the Supreme Court issues its ruling, the consequences of his actions will barely change," explains Noel.

There is another factor to consider within Trump's assault on the democratic system: the ruling on presidential immunity. As much as Trump is committing a crime by violating judicial authority, his actions as president enjoy immunity. "But there is one person who piloted the plane, and others who loaded the plane. So lower-ranking officials can be found in subordination, and they will be. And if administration officials understand that they themselves could be fined and could go to jail personally if they violate court orders, the president could have constitutional difficulties." But Trump has the presidential pardon: what happens if he decides to use it on his subordinates? "He can pardon criminal convictions, but he can't pardon civil insubordination. That's why I think civil insubordination will be one of the most important powers of the courts in these cases. This formula means they are subject to personal penalties until they comply with the rule. For example, daily fines," explains Super.

Noel points out that one element to pay attention to in determining whether Trump is successful in cracking the system of checks and balances It's the Supreme Court. "If in some of these legal cases where it's quite clear that Trump is overstepping his bounds, the Supreme Court says he really does have the power, it would mean that the three justices Trump appointed and the other three conservative Supreme Court justices are sufficient to prevent the high court from fulfilling its role as a check on the executive branch. Trumpism would have taken control of all branches of government, and no one would have any control over him. And we must be aware of that."

The political scientist finds it difficult to establish the line where Trump would be considered to have managed to crack the system of checks and balances, although he acknowledges that "there are people who already consider that Trump has crossed it." The Yale philosophy professor and author ofErasing history: How fascists rewrite the past to control the future, Jason Stanley is one of those people. "Trump is moving very quickly. He's building a personal dictatorship, starting with a culture of fear. He's already broken the law. Once they started arresting people with legal status in the country [green card] for their opinions (which is illegal) what makes you think they won't arrest American citizens for their opinions too?"

On Friday, Trump was hinting on Truth Social about deporting to El Salvador the people who are carrying out attacks on Tesla cars in protest against the new administration and Musk. for what they are doing to Elon Musk and Tesla. Maybe they could serve their sentences in El Salvador's prisons, which have become so famous recently for their pleasant conditions!" he wrote.

Total control over the Republicans

Outside of the institutions, another expected obstacle would be opposition from within the Republican Party. Critical voices were still heard during the previous administration, holding him back. Vice President Mike Pence was key in stopping Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election. During the assault on the Capitol, Trump pressured Pence to not certify Joe Biden's victory. Pence disobeyed, and Trump has made him a target of threats from Trump supporters. "It's not just that you lose your job. It's that if you don't do what he says and aren't within his inner circle, it scars you for life. So the United States is operating as a one-party state. Republicans are doing whatever Trump wants," Stanley explains.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the only figure within the administration who was not completely aligned with the Trump agenda. In fact, Democrats voted for him during the Senate certification of his position in the hope that he would act as a brake. Rubio has swallowed his principles – he was a great hawk against Russia—and is relegated to second place while envoy Steve Wiktoff has taken the lead in negotiations for the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

The Democrats' minority in both chambers also doesn't give them much room to maneuver. Although they are a minority in Parliament, they still have the ability to stop actions on the Republican agenda. For example, Trump has ordered the closure of the Department of Education, but it needs a supermajority in the Senate, which necessarily goes through the Democrats. Therefore, they still have some mechanisms to activate. "The difficulty that the Democrats have right now is that they are struggling to define what their message should be and how they should oppose it. They campaigned in 2024 saying that Trump is a threat to democracy and they lost. So I think many of them think that perhaps this is not the strategy they should use. And they are still looking for how."

Beyond the institutional countervailing powers and how they respond to Trump's attacks, Stanley highlights the campaign the president is waging against schools and universities. "One of the many symptoms of an authoritarian government is the attack on schools and universities, which people often forget but which authoritarian regimes always accomplish," the philosopher points out. What worries Stanley most is that Trump's actions are not generating large mobilizations in society. "There aren't any big protests, so it doesn't look hopeful. I don't see this ending anytime soon, and if Trump is still alive in 2028, he'll be the next president. If he's not alive, it won't be a very fair system," he says. Stanley, a US citizen, admits to planning to leave the US.