My stated faith in our constitutional government to withstand direct assaults on its very existence remains strong … but today I want to briefly examine the existential threat that poses a significant threat to the democratic principles to which we adhere.

Readers of this blog have seen me refer to Gerald Ford’s declaration that “our Constitution works,” a statement he made moments after assuming the presidency after Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace. President Ford was correct to make that declaration, as the crisis that forced Nixon out of office spoke volumes to the resiliency of the Constitution’s balance of power.

The court system ultimately had the final say in the Watergate scandal, declaring that Nixon’s attempt to cover up what he knew about the firestorm could not last. The Supreme Court ruled the president had to turn over the tape recordings of him telling the CIA to cover it up.

It was “game over.”

Fast-forward more than 50 years and we have another individual seeking to usurp power from Congress, defying the federal court system and actually fomenting the notion that the Constitution’s 22nd Amendment limiting the president to two elected terms could be tossed aside.

This is real stuff, man! It is, as they say, a big fu**ing deal!

I will not sell short the current president’s aims. It is clear through his repeated public statements and his actions since taking office at the beginning of the year that he intends to exact revenge on his political foes. He has loaded his Cabinet with yes men and women. And he has bullied the Republican majority in Congress into becoming a cabal of cowards unwilling to stand their ground against these blatant and bald-faced efforts to take power out of their hands.

He seeks to rig congressional elections to ensure a greater GOP majority in Congress. Look at what he is doing in Texas, demanding the Legislature to redraw congressional boundaries to make them more suitable for Republicans. The GOP majority in Austin, to its enormous discredit, has rolled over. It has let the MAGA morons call the shots.

This assault is being launched on multiple fronts. In the end — and there is an end to it — I believe the assault will fail because the Constitution, as designed, will hold up. It will beat back these efforts to water it down. It will withstand the assault that Trump and his cowardly gang will launch.

I have said it once again. I know that saying something won’t make it happen. Our shared belief in the system, though, can help sustain it against the existential threat posed by the tinhorn despots like Donald Trump.

My belief in our system of government is as strong as ever, despite the myriad challenges being mounted against it by the likes of Donald J. Trump, the MAGA morons, DOGE and Elon Musk.

I feel it’s important to make that declaration now as we enter the summer months. Trump will continue to push our system to its limit. He will seek greater executive power than the U.S. Constitution allows. He will continue to scrawl that signature of his on executive orders. He will seek to undermine the checks and balances written into the nation’s governing document.

However, I am going to maintain my faith that the judicial system the founders created will rise to the occasion and determine that the “rule of law” is more vital to our nation’s well-being than the machinations of a tinhorn tyrant.

How do I come to that conclusion? We are beginning to see evidence of Trump appointees to the federal bench relying more on their fealty to the Constitution than to the nitwit who placed them into their lifetime jobs. Why, even a member or two of the nation’s highest court appear willing to administer what could be the death knell to the liar in chief’s tariff tantrum.

I have held a longstanding belief in the founders’ wisdom when they crafted the Constitution after winning independence from the British Crown in 1781. They built a foundation with the intention of expecting it to be challenged. Indeed, we have gone through four presidential impeachments, four Senate trials of presidents, the Great Depression, two world wars, a civil war, and myriad crises of varying significance over the span of 250 years. We have amended the document 27 times in an effort to create a “more perfect Union.”

The Constitution has withstood all of that. It remains the pillar of our nation.

I am going to rely on the Constitution to do its job as Americans challenge what passes for the wisdom of the current president and his cabal of sycophants.