“A Republic, if You Can Keep It” Is Dangerously at Issue These Days

During my career as Professor of Political Science at Drake University, I created a course called “The Political Theory of the American Founding.” We read and discussed the Declaration of Independence, of course, along with the Articles of Confederation, Madison’s Notes on the Constitutional Convention, both the Federalist Papers and the Anti-Federalist Papers, and Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, among other things.

This was a heavy reading load—just ask the students—but it was animated by a respect for the genius of the Founding Fathers even if they tolerated the evil of slavery. (Actually, some in attendance at the Constitutional Convention attacked slavery but most opponents recognized that any attempt to ban it outright at the start would have been a deal-breaker for southern states. The opponents expected slavery to die out over time and were willing to tolerate it as the price of getting the new Constitution up and running.)

It is that respect for the design of the Constitution, and not a partisan viewpoint, that makes the apparent willingness of President Trump and his administration to blow through Constitutional norms and principles so discouraging and even depressing. You don’t need to be a liberal or a Democrat to oppose MAGA excesses—just look at a recent editorial in National Review, the lodestar of American conservatism, that questions Trump’s attacks on federal judges.

Recall the old claim that the greatest crimes against people have been committed in the name of God. I would suggest that the greatest crimes against, or at least violations of, the Constitution have been committed in the name of the Constitution.

Consider this Trump claim: “I have an Article II, where I have to the right to do whatever I want as president.” He talked this past week about a “rogue judge,” but his critics are more concerned that he’s a rogue president. Consider his talk of running again in 2028 despite the prohibition of the 22^nd amendment.

Note how MAGA people are now calling for action—impeachment or worse—against federal judges that nullify various Trump policies and actions. These MAGA folks seem to think that there is no legitimate opposition to Trump; any opposition to him is apparently itself unconstitutional, a truly frightening viewpoint. See the argument from Bill Kristol, longtime Republican but Never-Trumper, that authoritarianism is winning.

Too many Republican members of Congress seem to have accepted or even willingly embraced this claim, even though they would be the first at the ramparts if a Democratic president made it. And such Republicans evidently expect the judicial branch to accept that claim as well.

My principal concern in all of this is the near collapse of Congress. Legislators are supposed to represent and work, first and foremost, for their constituents. They are independent political figures, not employees of anyone in the executive or judicial branch. And when Republican officeholders are advised (here and here) not to do in-person town halls due to constituent protests, that is an avoidance of accountability.

Democrats as usual are in a civil war over their political identity, but many Republicans act as if they were employees of The Trump Organization living desperately in fear that they will be told “You’re fired.” Alternatively, they seem willing to turn themselves into political eunuchs. See this recent New York Times article, “Under G.O.P., Congress Cedes Power to Trump, Eroding Its Influence,” as well as this in Axios.

Accountability presupposes the possibility of not being re-elected. In that sense, as soon as an officeholder decides not to run for re-election, he is henceforth free of any electoral control. More significant nowadays, though, is the erosion if not disappearance of electoral competition. Due to factors such as partisanship and gerrymandering, we now are faced with way too many one-party districts and states.

At the state level, for example, political analysts talk about trifectas—one-party control of the governor’s office and both houses of the state legislature. According to Ballotpedia, there are currently “23 Republican trifectas, 15 Democratic trifectas, and 12 divided governments where neither party holds trifecta control.”

At the Congressional level, the Cook Political Report states that at present barely 10% of House seats will be competitive in 2026: 175 Democratic districts and 191 Republican districts are considered solid and 18 Democratic districts and 11 Republican districts are considered likely one-party. That totals 395 out of 435 House races (90.8%) that will not be competitive. Hence the greater fear of being “primaried” in your own party than being challenged by the other party in the general election. This is Trump’s leverage against his fellow Republicans.

Thus, I am increasingly alarmed by the Trump administration’s actions to smash through constitutional norms and guardrails without opposition from Republican officeholders, but it could not continue to do that without the support of the MAGA faithful, the ordinary Americans who enable such actions by all of them. That is what is not just alarming but especially disappointing—there are significant numbers of Americans who, whether out of malice or lack of understanding, are willing to undermine the Constitution in the name of what they think is the Constitution.

The Civil War aside, then, Benjamin Franklin’s legendary admonition at the end of the Constitutional Convention is even more concerning than ever: we were given “a republic, if you can keep it.”

Feel better now?

I will not post a column next week but will resume the following week. Many thanks for your support.

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