This Is What Constitutional Failure Looks Like

 Our founding fathers, in their infinite wisdom, not only created three coequal branches of government as a system of checks and balances, but made the Constitution a living, breathing document that could be amended to ensure not only that things they did not conceive of at the time could be properly addressed, but also so that law and order, peace and harmony may coexist at once. This deliberate adaptability ensured that the system could survive both unforeseeable challenges and foreseeable abuses of power. This flexibility was not an accident; it was a safeguard against both ignorance and ambition. When needed, the legislative branch could enact checks and balances within each of the three coequal branches to ensure that each branch works properly. In other words, no branch was ever meant to operate on trust alone, but on enforced restraint. The Constitution assumes human fallibility, and it is precisely that assumption that gives the system its strength. Other countries, having been ruled by buffoons, tyrants, and madmen, our founding fathers labored arduously to ensure that these United States, functioning under the plans set forth, would never suffer a similar fate.

In the 246 years since the penning of that great document, we have had several close calls because there was a kook, a crook, or a charlatan at the head of one of those coequal branches. These moments were defined not merely by flawed individuals but by corruption, demagoguery, or incompetence that tested the system’s limits. Each crisis was a stress test of constitutional design. The question was never whether such figures would arise, but whether the system could contain them. However, the design of the Constitution proved effective, and democracy ultimately survived.

Unfortunately, at this time, the president is an idiot who is intent on running the country as an authoritarian madman, so the executive branch no longer functions. By “no longer functions,” this means the executive no longer restrains itself, respects norms, or submits to accountability. Power exercised without self-restraint is not leadership; it is domination. Unchecked authority is the precise danger the framers sought to prevent. Not to worry, this is where the two remaining branches come in. But somehow, this authoritarian imbecile has convinced the majority of both houses of Congress to cower to his will, not merely through fear, but through willful abdication of constitutional responsibility, choosing loyalty over duty. In an almost dystopian fashion, the Senate, charged with Advice and Consent, approved the confirmation and installation of Pam Bondi, Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hegseth, Kristi Noem, Sean Duffy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., John Ratcliffe, Doug Burgum, Scott Bessent, Russell Vought, and Mike Waltz, each summarily unqualified in his or her own way, so the legislative branch no longer functions. A legislature that refuses to check power does not merely fail—it actively enables abuse. A legislature that refuses to check power is not dominated; it is complicit.

This same madman, with an assist from the Senate Majority Leader, was able to add three questionably qualified justices to the Supreme Court, together with the two existing right-wing wing nuts and a barely competent chief justice, resulting in a 6–3 ultra-conservative majority. The issue is not that the Court rules, but that it no longer serves as a neutral arbiter or commands public legitimacy. When legitimacy evaporates, rulings become exercises of force rather than law. Authority without legitimacy is indistinguishable from coercion. So although most of the lower courts function, the Supreme Court does not, and the judicial branch only functions partially.

But still not to worry, the very first amendment to the Constitution guaranteed freedom of the press, which, if used properly, could almost be a fourth coequal branch. But because newspapers are owned by rich guys, and rich guys don’t like to pay taxes, and those rich guys who own those newspapers have decided that it’s okay if Trump is a madman, we’re only going to report on the fun side of Trump. And the un-fun stuff, we may mention with a giggle and add, “both sides do it.” This is not a failure of journalism in the abstract, but of ownership and incentive. When profit replaces truth as the guiding principle, accountability sublimes. So, the Fourth Estate no longer functions.

When the executive ignores restraint, the legislature abandons oversight, the judiciary loses legitimacy, and the press abandons truth, the system does not bend—it collapses. No constitutional architecture can survive universal institutional surrender. This is not politics as usual. This is a constitutional crisis.

I'm just saying.