Scholar argues Trump presidency revealed concerns over founding document
A Brown University professor argues in his new book that Donald Trump’s presidency and potential reelection act as a “threat to democracy” and reveal the “dangers of the Constitution.”
“The main argument of the book is that the traditional checks and balances don’t work, and that impeachment and the Supreme Court have failed to check rogue presidents,” political science Professor Corey Brettschneider (pictured) told the Brown Daily Herald.
He said the American government “could have failed from the beginning” and warned “it could be that we’re at the moment where American democracy doesn’t survive” in the interview with the student newspaper, published Sept. 6.
Brettschneider criticized the Senate’s failure to convict Trump during his impeachment, stating: “We wouldn’t be facing the threat to democracy that we’re facing now had he been convicted.”
He argued Trump’s presidency reveals structural issues within the Constitution itself and added that the goal of his book is to fully reveal “the dangers of the Constitution.”
The professor teaches constitutional law and political theory at Brown. His book is titled “The Presidents and the People: Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought to Defend It.”
“Imagine an American president who imprisoned critics, promoted white supremacy, and sought to undermine the law to commit crimes without consequence,” states a description on Brown’s website.
In an interview with WNYC, the professor called the Constitution a “dangerous document” and said many presidents have used it to “undermine democracy.”
Brettschneider told the Herald student newspaper the capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, was part of a plan to “take advantage of the weakness of the Electoral College” and that Trump and his legal team tried to exploit the 12th Amendment’s ambiguity to challenge electoral votes.
“Americans tuned in to the January 6 committee. They see Trump’s threat to democracy in the current moment,” he said.
“It’s not enough to just oppose Trump. It’s about reclaiming a right to dissent, to equal citizenship and the idea that no person — even a president — is above the law.”
The scholar’s new book outlines several “assaults on democracy” by five different presidents including John Adams, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Woodrow Wilson, and Richard Nixon, according to its online description.
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