Why can't we pay attention to what the president of the United States of America says regarding the constitution AND vote?
I have seen too many people say to ignore Mr. Trump's promise to end birthright citizenship and go vote. I do not see why the two should be considered mutually exclusive.
Mr. Trump is the Head of State, Head of Government, Commander and Chief, and the de facto leader of his party. He is important, to say the least. What he says matters. People listen to him and act upon what he says.
We know from the past that Mr. Trump has not handled the writing of Executive Order well enough to do what he claims he intends for them to do, but perhaps he is more able and learned than some give him credit.
I am not sure where people get the idea that the three branches of government are "coequal." I know it is not a Lockean idea; and honestly, I see it as self-evident that where there is privilege, there is superiority. Hopefully, if it comes to be, the Supreme Court will interpret the Fourteenth Amendment as it is plainly written, but conservatives are clever gaslight-ers and have no shame in judicial activism when it suits them. Nevertheless, Mr. Trump reveres President Andrew Jackson, who is reported to have said after the decision of Worcester v. Georgia, "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!"
I listen to Ezra Klein's podcast on occasion and he sometimes likes to remind his listeners that this time is neither the 1960s nor the 1860s. I am not wholly convinced we will make it to 2060, given the current path we are on, and it does not take much to start a constitutional crisis.
Even if our institutions and the people who serve in them hold strong, as I hope they will, these things take time to settle and only the Lord knows what will happen if and as we go through the midst of it. Whatever you are feeling right now, your emotions are valid and you have a right to express them.
In conclusion, midterm elections are in some ways a referendum on the president, though he is not on any ballot. I hope that those who can will exercise their right to vote with the intentions of perfecting our union and not destroying it.
