Ex-Bush official says Trump is handing Democrats a loaded weapon — and MAGA will regret it
A former Republican State Department official is warning that President Donald Trump's reliance on executive decrees and rule-breaking will eventually be turned against his own supporters — and that the satisfaction MAGA feels now is, at best, "a sugar high."The warning came from Kim R. Holmes, a former Assistant Secretary of State and historian, in a post amplified by conservative attorney Gregg Nunziata. Holmes argued that the norms Trump is shattering will not stay broken in his favor."Every single rule broken, law violated, and norm transgressed by exclusive presidential decree or action will now be thrown back at us from the other direction," Holmes wrote.He faulted Trump for governing through reversible directives rather than durable legislation, writing that even when the president "addresses a legitimate problem, he does so not by arranging the passage of permanent laws...but by lazily using presidential directives and 'memos' that can be reversed the minute another president enters the White House."Holmes cautioned that Trump's base may be operating under a dangerous illusion."His supporters may delude themselves into thinking that he or someone like him will rule forever," Holmes wrote, suggesting Trump "may be counting on this sentiment to stay in power, as a pathway to a new kind of authoritarian rule."But power, Holmes noted, is temporary. "He will not stay in power forever," he wrote, predicting that supporters "will then discover the cost of such complicity, when in all this edgy rule breaking is turned against them."He anticipated the standard rebuttal — that progressives were already weaponizing the rules — and dismissed it as shortsighted."It may feel good now, but it is at best a sugar high," Holmes wrote. "Before you could at least legitimately complain that the rules were being broken. No more."The post built on a thread that drew in prominent conservative voices. Holmes was responding to commentator Erick Erickson, who had simply replied "Yes" to a warning from the user Chris, who posts as @chriswithans."Do you hear that, MAGA Republicans?" Chris wrote. "What's going to stop the next Democrat president from firing half the civil service when they take power again? Imagine 300,000 federal government employees permanently 'laid off.' For good. Are you happy now. Is this what you wanted."That post, in turn, responded to former U.S. attorney and legal analyst Barb McQuade, who warned about the implications of the Slaughter case for the federal workforce."The Slaughter case, overturning precedent, returns us to a spoils system where a president can 'clean house' every four years, destroying our professional, independent civil service," McQuade wrote.The chain of reaction — spanning conservative insiders, legal experts, and Trump critics alike — underscored a growing argument that the expansion of unchecked executive power sets a precedent neither party may be able to contain once the White House changes hands.
