The Trump Card: American Constitutional Crisis, Roman Dictators, and the Neoimperial Presidency is a political and legal analysis of the grave, sui generis risks that a black swan event like a Trump presidency would likely pose to the status quo norms of American constitutional politics. The Trump Card explains how the populist rise of Trumpism and common sense blowback of Trumpophobia have converged to form a brutally honest sociopolitical mirror that reveals inconvenient truths about our society if we care to glance. Although the soul of our 1787 Constitution is vibrant in the post-9/11 world, its once robust system of checks and balances on our executive branch has weakened during the Cold War and War on Terror. From Truman to Obama, American presidents have often acted and orated like a Roman dictator would in selected policy domains, freed from the constraints of congressional authorization or concerns of judicial review. Today, America is still a de facto superpower in our globalized, interconnected world. Sure, we can elect Donald Trump as president - that's what democracy is all about. But, can the four corners of our Constitution tame a President Trump once the unlimited, unaccountable powers of the American presidency are at his fingertips? If former President George W. Bush was able to lawfully commit torture in Guantanamo Bay and President Obama was allowed to lawfully order the secret targeted killings via drone strike of American citizens in Yemen without due process of law, what will a President Trump be capable of? In democracy, we, the people, rule ourselves. The Trump Card urges American citizens of all stripes to vote with conscience on November 8th. In this election, we must entrust the sacrosanct keys to the Oval Office in a president capable of defending the rule of constitutional law and embracing the global responsibilities that attach to the global exercise of American power. Our unfaltering fidelity to these commitments as a society is the only way to make our Union more perfect. It is the only way to make America great again.
About the Author: Rajeev S. Sreetharan is a lawyer, writer, and human rights activist. Coming of age in the West, Rajeev's cultural roots to the East and his traumatizing experiences in Sri Lanka's armed conflict continue to influence Rajeev's unique perspective on American constitutional politics. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland.