The Democrats can’t lay a glove on Trump – because they lack what Australia has

Let’s take Tuesday of this week in Washington. Donald Trump trashed the 20-year-old free trade agreement with Australia and launched punitive tariffs against an ally who runs a huge trade deficit with the United States – exactly what Trump is demanding from every country. But Australia is not good enough for Trump.

Within hours, Trump doubled his steel and aluminium tariffs against Canada, then took them back down again. Nevertheless, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said these tariffs are “worth it” even if they lead to a US recession.

Trump then appeared in the White House driveway with Elon Musk, who is running scythes through government agencies even as he has billions of dollars of government contracts, to tout Musk’s Teslas, which are losing market share as his popularity plummets. As that photo op was occurring, half the staff of the Department of Education received an email that they were not to report to work the next day. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the department will be shut down.

Trump keeps getting away with everything. He continues to flood the zone with a firehose of atrocities and soiling of the Constitution. Trump’s edicts are replacing laws passed by Congress. He is overwhelming America’s political system of “checks and balances” and “separation of powers” that are supposed to guard against an authoritarian chief executive.

Democrats are shouting but they are not taking the fight to Trump to stop him.

Trump has issued dozens of executive orders repealing government policies he campaigned against, with a special focus on deporting immigrants, eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs and ending transgender sports. Musk has been empowered to wield his chainsaw to slash programs and people while seizing control of the data systems throughout government agencies. An unelected Musk is unilaterally shutting down programs enacted into law and funded by acts of Congress.

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It is not as if Trump has the mandate he claims. Republican president Ronald Reagan, in his second-term victory in 1984, carried 49 of the 50 states and 58 per cent of the popular vote. Last November, Trump did not crack 50 per cent. But Trump has taken his election win further than Reagan ever dreamed he could when it comes to making government smaller, cutting taxes and axing regulations with abandon. Trump is not just going after waste, fraud and abuse in government programs, but ditching tens of thousands of people. He is making good on his pledge to exact retribution against his perceived enemies in the Justice Department, the FBI and the CIA. They have been fired. The former prosecutors who sought Trump’s indictments are under criminal investigation.

While there are dozens of challenges in courts to stop what Trump is doing, it will take months to check his exercise of power on firing public servants, Musk’s intrusion into government data, the hostile pursuit of immigrants, halting government agency expenditures, and much more.