Powerful Democrats Call On The Powerless To Save Democracy

On Monday, the Supreme Court granted near-total immunity to Donald Trump, ruling in a 6-3 decision along ideological lines that he is exempt from prosecution for any criminal act conducted as part of his “core constitutional powers” as president.

In the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts said that the former president has “presumptive immunity from criminal prosecution” for acts “within the outer perimeter of his official responsibility,” but no protection from prosecution for “unofficial acts.”

Not surprisingly, the majority did not specify what constitutes an official act in Trump’s federal election interference case, kicking the proverbial can down the road and back to the lower courts for further litigation — a gift to the twice-impeached convicted felon found civilly liable for sexual abuse. According to legal experts , there is now no chance that the case will go to trial before the upcoming presidential election, leaving the door open for Trump to end the prosecution or possibly even pardon himself if he retakes the White House.

In the wake of the high court’s bone-chilling ruling — which not only irrevocably reshaped American democracy as we used to know it but, as Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her scathing dissent , made the president a “king above the law” — sitting Democrats did what they do best: nothing.

In what has sadly come to be expected of the so-called defenders of democracy against a dictator-celebrating demagogue, liberals in power fecklessly called on those of us terrified for the future of our country to simply vote.

On social media, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) released a video statement in which he called the Supreme Court’s ruling an “astonishing decision” that “flies in the face of our founding principles.”

“That might very well be the end of our republic,” he warned, before pointing out the painfully obvious fact that “our country is in grave danger.”

“What’s clear is that the first and last line of defense for our democracy will be the ballot box, not the courts,” he continued. “This November, we must put an end to Trump’s dictatorial ambitions once and for all.”

Senate Democrats managed to somehow be even more condescending and with far fewer words, tweeting after the ruling , “H-O-T-T-O-V-O-T-E!”

Thanks, guys. Super helpful.

In a truly “not sure which is worse” scenario, other Democrats simply responded with silence. Neither President Joe Biden nor Vice President Kamala Harris immediately addressed the ruling. Instead, Biden’s account on X, formerly Twitter, was busy sending out apparently prescheduled tweets detailing how hard his administration is working to “lower surprise travel junk fees,” among other things.

Biden did eventually deliver remarks on the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling shortly before 8 p.m. Eastern time, urging the American people to do what the Court “would not” do and “render a judgment” about Trump.

“The American people must decide if Trump’s embrace of violence to preserve his power is acceptable,” he said. “The American people must decide if they want to entrust ... once again the presidency to Donald Trump, now knowing he’ll be more emboldened.”

While the lack of action or urgency is equal parts concerning and enraging, the spineless response from sitting Democrats is also not surprising. Liberals in positions of power have a tainted history of meeting unprecedented moments of corruption with lukewarm statements and regurgitated campaign promises hinging on voter turnout.

After the Supreme Court overturned its 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, Democrats relied on the ire and fear of voters to try to restore a constitutional right to abortion. The party could have pushed to expand the court — a move that Biden claimed would effectively “politicize” the court, “maybe forever” — but instead simply urged those of us now forced to carry unwanted or dangerous pregnancies to term to show up at the ballot box.

And we did: Americans have voted in favor of abortion access every single time it has appeared on a ballot since Roe was overturned, and Republicans still managed to enact 80 abortion care restrictions in 2023 alone. Now we’re told that Biden and other Democrats are all that stand between us and a nationwide abortion ban, in part because progressives have failed to do anything but send emergency emails asking for $20 campaign contributions.

Even in last week’s disastrous presidential debate, in which Biden failed to adequately advocate for abortion rights, the president promised voters that if reelected he would restore Roe, raising the question: What exactly are you waiting for? You’re the sitting president, so why not do something … now?

Democrats have done much of the same when facing attacks on marriage equality. After the Supreme Court in 2022 not-so-subtly signaled a desire to roll back LGBTQ+ rights, including the ruling that solidified marriage equality, sitting Democrats delayed a vote to protect same-sex marriage until after the November midterms that year.

The same can be said of any number of legal precedents that the Supreme Court has considered and ultimately dismantled. That includes the disastrous Chevron doctrine decision , after which House Democrats promised to “continue to stand on the side of everyday Americans,” whatever the hell that means.

Even now, given that the president has much more power than he did a week ago, Biden has said that he will continue to “respect the limits of presidential powers” — meaning he’ll keep showing up to a violent shoot-out of the Republicans’ making with a teeny-tiny squirt gun.

The Democrats’ patronizing message is clear: Instead of finding it within themselves to meet this moment by flexing any kind of legislative or executive muscle, they’d rather place the monumental task of defending democracy on the shoulders of an overworked, underpaid, gerrymandered electorate already hamstrung by their rank passivity.

Expand the court! Hold hearings! Impeach the clearly corrupt, insurrectionist flag-displaying, “gift” taking judges! Test the new power of the presidency by bulldozing Biden’s extremely popular campaign promises through Congress as part of the executive branch’s “official” acts that give Biden a “Mario super star power-up” level of immunity!

Just please, for the love of all things egalitarian, stop standing on your moral high ground while the rest of us drown, leaving the job of preserving our democracy solely up to us as we attempt to weather another rogue wave.