Will Trump touching Social Security make us all mad?

FILE PHOTO – The Social Security Administration office is seen in Mount Prospect, Ill., Oct. 12, 2022.(AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

The Constitution’s first three articles spell out the powers of the executive branch, Congress and the courts.

But the presidency has been able to keep a spineless Republican-led Congress – one that has ceded its power of the purse to the White House – under its thumb.

That leaves the battle between Trump law vs. the rule of law. And Trump keeps testing how much he can get away with in an unabashed power grab.

If and when the law budges and gives an inch, the executive branch takes a mile.

It makes the US, as it approaches its 250th year as a democracy, the place where democracy is battling for its life.

This week, President CFDT34 (Convicted Felon, Donald Trump, 34 counts, as we must not forget) is trying to justify his use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, last invoked in World War II to incarcerate innocent Japanese Americans.

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That’s right, they weren’t dangerous aliens, but Americans of Japanese descent. More than 120,000 Japanese Americans were impacted, including over 66,000 American citizens.

This time, Trump’s using the law to enable a brazen round up of undocumented immigrants, including members of a Venezuelan gang labeled as terrorists.

The problem is the 1798 law assumes our country is at war, and the US is not at war with Venezuela. Still, the law gives the power to essentially drop all due process for those caught in this web. Trump has used it to arrest people at will without even revealing their identities or legal circumstances.  But we’ve all seen the video clips of those chained men, their heads shaved, being led like animals into an El Salvador prison. Charges? Who knows?

But the images are intended to send a chill throughout society.

With CFDT34’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, you can be next. No matter what circumstances.

It can happen. We know from our Japanese American brothers and sisters. Who needs a declaration of war?

We can submit as a country to this psychological terror and side with Trump. But then, by our actions, or inaction, we’ve made him king.

That shouldn’t happen in a democracy.

Judges like James Boasberg are trying to stay loyal to the rule of law by asking Trump’s Department of Justice  for more details on the arrests and the deportation of Venezuelan immigrants last Saturday.

It’s a reasonable check, but Trump was so incensed by Judge Boasberg, he called for the impeachment of judges who disagree with him.

It prompted Supreme Court Justice John Roberts to make a rare public statement.

Roberts said: “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”

Clearly, a guardrail was being set by the SCOTUS Chief Justice. And it was intended for one man.

But will Trump listen?

Nope, the assault continues. Keep in mind, the judges involved in this case are not liberal activists posing as legal scholars.  Boasberg is an elitist who went to Yale and Oxford, with appointments to judgeships under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Neither he nor Roberts are considered flaming anything. With the exception of being flamers for the rule of law.

None of this should be a problem if this were just one instance  of executive branch overreach.

But the first two months of Trump has been an all-out assault on the norms of American government, on multiple fronts all at once.

There are nearly 40 court cases where judges are holding steady for the rule of law against an overly aggressive Trump.

The effect? Heads are spinning, then rolling, throughout the country. Massive layoffs of thousands all over the government have taken place already, including at the Department of Education. But since every action is a test, Trump’s norm is to go for the max, then pullout. Example: Trump said the Department of Education would be eliminated this week, but then cooler heads prevailed. It is now only to be reduced in size. But the monies appropriated by Congress, what happens to them? By law, the executive branch can only cripple, not end the Department of Education. Only Congress can do that by law.

You don’t have to call it a crisis, but democracy isn’t the same when it’s based on one man’s whim – where things are fluid, until there’s some reprimand.

Sort of like dealing with an unruly 2-year-old who believes he’s King.

The results? Trump law, where the principal asks, “What can I get away with?”

The beneficiary being the American people? Don’t kid yourself.

It’s all for Trump.

Now he’s touching the third rail – Social Security

The Social Security Administration reportedly has put out a memo designed to appease the whim of Trump.

Think he can’t touch Social Security?  He has now.

The memo outlines the end of filing for new claims or to make changes to Social Security accounts by phone. People have to go into the field office under the new plan. Identity protection was cited.

This is no small directive, as it makes SS more difficult to maneuver for older people. The move would flood the field offices, especially after a reduction in  staff by 7,000. Cutting off phone changes makes Social Security as hard to maneuver as the DMV.

It’s the irony of the Department of Government Efficiency. By cutting to the bone, it actually makes government less efficient. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy that feeds into people’s dislike of a government when you cut the face of the agency – customer service. The Social Security system before Trump was remarkably accessible and maneuverable. Trump’s cuts send us back to when it wasn’t.

More than the price of eggs and gas, this hits many Americans right where they live. Their monthly paycheck.  It also enables Trump to strike at the SSA in an insidious way. We shall see if field office lobbies are  overwhelmed with people, causing delays and errors that create distrust and disrespect for government.

Meanwhile, Trump will use this opportunity to raid what he can from SS to pay for the tax cuts he wants to give his wealthy oligarchs.

But he’s touching Social Security in ways that might help lawmakers and others rediscover a spine and speak out against an unprecedented political and ethical devolution in America.

That makes the SS move potentially a massive miscalculation for Trump. He’s already talking about Medicaid cuts. Messing with Social Security, could be the thing that sparks a form of People Power in America.

Emil Guillermo is an award-winning journalist, commentator and humorist. He writes for the Inquirer.net’s US Channel. He has written a weekly “Amok” column on Asian American issues since 1995. Find him on YouTube, patreon and substack.