Saturday March 15, 2025 the USA ceased to function as a constitutional democracy. For the first time in modern US history a sitting president openly defied a direct federal court order-and nothing happened. No enforcement. No consequences. A legal ruling was passed and the White House simply ignored it.
Inside the White House the decision was not about law- it was about power. A federal judge ruled against the administration. The debate inside Trump’s team was not whether the ruling was legal, but whether they could get away with ignoring it. They decided they could. And they were right. The judicial branch- a supposed equal branch of government was exposed as powerless. Courts do not have armies. They rely on compliance. But a court that cannot enforce its rulings is not a court- it is a suggestion box.
Republicans in congress have impeachment power, but they are afraid of MAGA or are a part of the coup. Many voters see the unconstitutional acts committed by the executive branch of our government, but they believe the lies spewed by the president or they just don’t care-they think it affects others, not them. But it does affect them. It will affect them even more as voting rights are chiseled away, as Social Security and Medicare are cut, as their retirement savings dwindle- all for tax cuts for billionaires. All of this was foretold in Project 2025- a document Republicans have been working on for 50 years to give the president almost unlimited power with Republicans in control. Make no mistake-this is a coup on our government.
Vicki Dorrell
Ludington
Correcting inaccuarcies in Readers; Forum submissions
In the weeks since the inauguration of President Trump on January 20, it is remarkable how many local letter writers have attempted to discredit Mr. Trump and his Administration. In this letter I would like to correct what I view as distortions and misstatements in recent letters to the Readers’ Forum.
First of all, the United States is not a democracy in the sense that Democrats use the word. It is a constitutional representative republic. This is so because the Framers of the Constitution in 1787 were well aware that every democracy will eventually fail and fall into anarchy or dictatorship. Hence our representative form of government, the indirect election of the President through the Electoral College, and the purposely difficult process of amending the Constitution.
What happened on January 6, 2021, was not, as Ivan Peterson asked (Daily News, March 14), a “bloody coup attempt.” It was a riot. In his speech that day, Mr. Trump called on his supporters to protest peacefully. The FBI admits they had paid informants in the crowd that day. Did they incite the riot? Further, video and eyewitness evidence show that some Capitol police let protesters into the building. The only person killed that day was Ashli Babbitt, shot dead by a Capitol policeman who was shielded from punishment by the powers that be. Further, the prosecution of the protesters/rioters was cruel and vindictive, and the recent pardons and commutations were a necessary redress of this.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) actually originated in 2014 as the United States Digital Service (USDS) under President Obama. An existing agency was renamed and repurposed – that’s why there were holdover employees from USDS who resigned rather than work with Elon Musk and his team of computer experts. So much waste, fraud and abuse in federal spending has already been discovered that critics of DOGE have placed themselves in the paradoxical and unenviable position of, in effect, defending waste, fraud and abuse.
Tariffs are a useful bargaining tool in international trade. Much of the recent frenzy about tariffs was the consequence of hysteria and not waiting for results. In the case of Mexico and Canada, both export much to the US, yet their exports amount to only a small fraction of US imports. In other words, as important as their exports to the US are to their respective economies, they have no leverage against the US.
America needs the minerals – especially rare-earth minerals – of Greenland, and just as importantly needs to deny access to those minerals to Russia and China. In point of fact, President Truman attempted to purchase Greenland in 1946, but Denmark turned down an offer of $100 million in gold.
In the recent election in Greenland the two pro-independence parties together won a solid majority of the vote. It may well be that in due time Greenland will declare its independence from Greenland and subsequently be annexed by the US, much as Texas was in 1845.
The purchase of Ukrainian mineral rights would be the best guarantee of peace in the region, as the presence of US investment, equipment and mining personnel would be a powerful deterrent to future Russian aggression. Unfortunately, some European Union leaders want to increase military aid despite the danger of escalation into a wider war.
President Trump received a mandate on November 5, 2024, carrying both the Electoral College and the popular vote and winning in all seven so-called “swing” or “battleground” states. Kamala Harris and the failed policies of the Biden Administration were repudiated. As a result, today the Democrats are rudderless, lacking a messenger or a message. Resistance, obstructionism and the repetition of tired old slogans will not work. Neither will the use of disparaging labels – calling Trump “another Hitler” or calling his supporters “Nazis,” “Fascists,” or, as President Biden did, “garbage.” Americans are past that kind of rhetoric, which has been tuned out by those who voted for Mr. Trump. Dominated by the party’s left wing, the Democrats are increasingly irrelevant and are in danger of becoming a fringe party of coastal elites.
James L. Cabot
Ludington
Silence is not a solution
I cannot be quiet anymore, we are more than our political party, we are Americans. This division and firings are affecting our lives now and recovery will take years to fix. This should not be happening just to save money — we are hurting all except the rich. Ok let’s say I am baking 25 cakes for a fundraiser. I skip the sugar and baking soda to save money- only to be stuck with cakes I can’t sell and therefore no profit made since they did not rise.
Yes, there are places to cut to save money, but they need to do it through audits, research, and making sure these cuts will not cause more harm than good. Remember the Hippocratic oath, “First do no harm”. Sometimes it is also better to remember the Golden Rule: “In everything, do to others as you would have them do unto you.” — Matthew 7:12
Congressman John Moolenaar doesn’t show his face at his town halls unless they’re in front of constituents that agree with everything he is doing.
Napoleon Bonaparte is a person that Trump likes to compare himself to, but he forgot two of the quotes that Napoleon said, “Do not fear those who disagree with you; fear those who disagree but are too afraid to speak.”
The second is, “The world suffers a lot. Not because of the violence of bad people, but because of the silence of the good people.” The latter, if the GOP Congress believes they are good people, then they should not be silent and they should show up at their town halls instead of being cowards.
Everyone should be fearful of today’s Republican Party because they don’t care who they hurt if they keep their jobs. The American People should be mad as hell about tariffs that drive up the cost of goods because they become a tax that the American consumer must pay on goods.
Warren Buffet said that Tariff’s is “an act of war to some degree”. Even President Reagan knew that tariffs in the long term are not good for the economy. Then again today’s Republican Party is far different from Reagan’s GOP.
Trump only cares about good television ratings/viewership of whatever he is the star of in this new reality television series where he is the President. Wake up before our government becomes a permanent oligarchy television game show.
Linda Wolven
Ludington
