So on Monday we got to hear what an extremist group of justices thought about the powers of the presidency. Considering that at least 2 of the majority members are paid by the Federalist Society, and the same 2 are open supporters—if not participants—in the shameful events of January 6, I don’t think the actual decision was a surprise to anyone:  presidents can be kings.

It’s clearly a political decision from a court that no longer thinks its decisions have to have any meaningful legal basis.  Words are thrown together and supported by bizarre citations in what feel like fever dream transcripts. Things that we know are not true are repeatedly declaimed as reality. It’s like we’re through the looking glass:

‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’

‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’

‘The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.”

I always end up back with Lewis Carroll during times when logic and reality are called into question.

I also felt a sense of déjà vu with this ruling and it took me a bit to realize what I felt like—I felt like I did after Dobbs was released—the taunting basis for the rulings, the improbable claims based on wish casting, and the desperate grasp for power.

Both decisions were meant to make people angry AND depressed. These decisions are meant to depress voter turnout, and if you’re on social media, you can see the paid and unpaid GOP water carriers hard at work. And I am sick of having to deal with the fallout from TFG’s tenure. These are stupid, clownish villains, and damnit, we deserve better villains.

Now Monday’s decision won’t affect people in the same direct way that Dobbs did. Presidential immunity probably isn’t going to be something we will encounter in our day to day lives, but it will be a Sword of Damocles over our heads if TFG were to be reelected. And of course if he were to be reelected, the decision would be a day to day reality.

But we’re still in a crisis right now and while earlier I felt kind of lost and didn’t know how to get a foothold, it seems now that the triage process is pretty straightforward. First, TFG must not be elected. Second, the Democrats need to hold the Senate and take the House back, or at least hold one of them. The long term goals (retaking state houses for fair redistricting, improving state ballot access, etc.) are a lot more work but they are impossible until the first 2 goals are done.

The extremists in the GOP caught the car in 2022 when Dobbs was handed down. The car has been backing over Republicans for the last 2 years. Today the extremists caught another car. We all know what to do. Abortion and democracy are now explicitly on the ballot. Time to get back to work.

Here’s a song about driving that I had almost forgotten about: