Musings on America's Fall from Grace, and What Comes Next

By Rudy Barnes, Jr., June 28, 2025

Trump’s bombing of Iran was only his latest act of aggression after promising to avoid war; and while it was Trump’s act, it represented America’s fall from grace.  America--once the ideal of libertarian democracy--has demonstrated that its wealth and power are no defense to political evil, and that American democracy is as flawed with human depravity as other regimes.

As an octogenarian, my democratic values are now obsolete.  I’m a retired Army officer and a retired UMC pastor, and two terms of Trump have demonstrated that while Trump will ultimately be replaced, his successor can shape Christian nationalism to promote his or her political power.  I have lost any hope that America the Beautiful I once knew can be restored.

That doesn’t mean that we should give up on American democracy, only that we should adjust our expectations to reality.  In matters of faith, we need to acknowledge the failure of our churches to be stewards of American democracy, and that greed, materialism, hedonism and popularity will subordinate the altruistic teachings of Jesus for future leaders in faith and politics.

The church will remain an influential social institution, but so long as popularity remains its primary standard of success, the altruistic teachings of Jesus that were never popular will remain subordinate to secular standards of popularity.  The only other factors likely to change the priorities of American values are a depression, war or some other cataclysmic event.

Given the constraints of American values, America’s two-party system  will determine what comes next, unless additional political parties challenge the bipolar system.  With Democrats firmly entrenched in cities with their liberal constituents and leaving others to Republicans, the future path of demagogues becomes more evident.

There will be changes at the margins, but given the demographic diversity of America’s population, it seems unlikely that Democrats will be able to gain control of both the Presidency and Congress, as Trump has done.  That means that short of a catastrophic event, unprincipled politicians seeking to be dictators will have a better chance with Republicans than Democrats.

Religion remains entwined in unholy coalitions with politics, and more so with Republicans than with Democrats.  But that’s been a changing dynamic that’s likely to continue; with fewer Democrats concerned with religious issues than Republicans.  Trump is the standard, constantly relating his political objectives to Christian nationalism.        

Some have described Trump’s regime as a constitutional dictatorship ruled by Trump’s executive orders rather than a constitutional crisis; but it’s both.  By governing with a Congress that rubber stamps his power without congressional checks and balances, Trump has “trumped” Congress and the Constitution in establishing his dictatorship.      

Notes: 

See Government by Executive Order? Constitutional Dictatorship, Progressive Christianity, June 16, 2025,   https://progressivechristianity.org/resource/government-by-executive-order-constitutional-dictatorship/

“A decree went out from Caesar Augustus”- that’s all it took in Jesus’ time. In our time, just change the name. “A decree went out from Donald Trump.” With everything that has happened since Trump took over, it’s hard to recognize how it is happening, but it’s quite simple. Over the years, in differing situations, Congress has given the President the power to issue executive orders about almost anything concerning the implementation of statutes, just as they have given him the power to impose tariffs. Both of these powers involve a lot of gray areas, with many actions plainly illegal. In theory, Congress or the courts can rescind that power, but with Congress currently controlled by Trumpites fearful of retribution, that will not happen. That leaves it up to the courts to overturn those orders. The problem here is twofold. First, the courts have no way to enforce their decisions, meaning that Trump could defy the court’s order, with no fear of punishment, especially given the immunity granted him by the Supreme Court. 

Second, challenging illegal orders in court can never catch up with the flurry of new executive orders, even if a judge orders a temporary hold on the enforcement of an illegal executive order, which will be appealed and possibly appealed again. Meanwhile, people who have lost jobs have suffered all the consequences of no income, future insecurity, and total disruption of their lives. Some people have been deported to foreign hell-hole prisons. And persons dependent on suspended programs will suffer and perhaps die.  

It seems that we now have, in effect, not so much a constitutional crisis as a constitutional dictatorship. Trump can do whatever he wants with both the federal government and international trade. And who is there to stop him? Waiting for a Democratic win in the 2026 midterm elections seems like a long wait, and perhaps for nothing. The first step was the 1300+ mass demonstrations on April 5 across the country and beyond. Now we wait for the MAGA people to wake up. Evangelicals have made a most egregious error in believing that Trump, like Jesus, was sent from God. Truth is, he is of the same brand as Caesar, not an ordained savior from God, but a self-appointed executioner of the innocent.”

Musings on Preserving Civilian Supremacy in Democracy with Term Limits

By Rudy Barnes, Jr., June 21, 2025

Last Saturday there was a parade in Washington, DC, to celebrate Trump’s 79th birthday and the Army’s 250th birthday.  As a retired Army veteran I applauded the No Kings celebrations around the country that supported George Washington’s example of humble service for America’s presidents; but any resemblance of Trump to Washington is purely coincidental.

The U.S. military is a paradox.  It’s an authoritarian regime in a Constitutional democracy that preserves and protects the freedoms of religion, speech and assembly.  Russia and Israel are democracies that provide no protection for civilian supremacy, allowing Putin and Netanyahu unlimited power to promote wars of aggression to expand their boundaries in Ukraine and Gaza. 

If that were not enough political and religious conflict to destabilize the world, consider Islam, which is often at war with Christianity and Zionism.  There is a need for universal religious principles to reconcile the fundamental differences in these religions, and the greatest commandment of Jesus can provide God’s standard of altruism to begin the process.

Jesus was a Jew who taught the universal greatest commandment to love God and our neighbors of other races and religions as we love ourselves.  It’s taken from the Hebrew Bible and has been accepted as a common word of faith by Jews, Christians, and Muslims as a moral imperative of faith; and it can reconcile their most contentious religious issues.

FDR was the only U.S. President to serve more than the Constitutional limit of two terms.  He died in office in 1945 in his third term.  The Russian constitution was amended to allow Putin to stay in office until 2036; and Israel's parliamentary government doesn’t have a Constitution, allowing Netanyahu to remain in power so long as he is Israel’s Prime Minister.

Trump has hinted that he may defy the limits of the U.S. Constitution and seek a third term.  Hitler and Putin have demonstrated how an unholy coalition of civilian and military power can overcome legal term limits and the moral power of a strong church, allowing a determined demagogue to ”trump” constitutional limits and traditional moral standards.

David French has noted a dark side to an impulsive and unpredictable President Trump who has sought the support of radical Christian nationalists in the past.  That’s all the more reason to limit Trump to two terms. Paul Harvey once observed that voters are the only real stewards of democracy who can hold a President accountable to the Constitution and the moral standards of political legitimacy needed to preserve their rights and avoid unnecessary wars.

It will take Constitutional term limits and the continued vigilance of voters to preserve civilian supremacy in America and to avoid unnecessary wars.  Trump’s public morality is the antithesis of that taught by Jesus, yet in spite of that most Christians elected him as their President in both 2016 and 2024.  I hope Americans can be better stewards of democracy in the midterm elections and in the presidential election of 2028.

Notes:

David French has written on the problem of the recent “Christian assassin” in Minnesota.  See  https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/19/opinion/minnesota-killings-boelter.html.

W.J. Hennigan has written on the need for a functioning Congress to hold Trump accountable as he considers more disruptive actions to expand his power. See Trump Might Get Us into Another War.  Where’s Congress? https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/opinion/trump-iran-war-congress.html.  

Jamelle Bouie has written on immigration.  See  Maybe Trump and Miller Don’t Understand immigration in America as Well as They Think They Do, at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/opinion/trump-miller-immigration-ice.html.

Musings on the Future of Constitutional Democracy in America after Trump

Rudy Barnes, Jr., June 14, 2025

Last week Elon Musk provided some hope for America’s Constitutional Democracy after Trump, but it was short lived.  Where are the Democrats or a Third Party that can restore the checks and balances of Constitutional Democracy in 2028?  A few blue State governors won’t do it.  It will take opposition in Congress to restore the needed checks and balances.

There is no sign of moderate Democratic candidates or third party candidates for Congress who could provide checks and balances to Trump’s radical Republican regime.  Without viable moderate candidates to oppose the dominance of Trump’s Republicans in Congress, there is little chance of restoring the Constitution as the foundation for the rule of law in the U.S.

The Democratic Party has no future as a national party unless it can be the loyal opposition to the Republican Party in both red and blue states.  As a moderate independent I will support any moderate, including a third party candidate, who opposes Trump loyalists for Congress; but so far all third party candidates have been unsuccessful.

American politics are hopelessly polarized by party loyalty.  I know that from personal experience.  I once ran as a third-party candidate for Congress, and while voters were favorably impressed with my candidacy, they let me know they were going to vote for whoever they thought would win, and that I had no real chance of winning.

It seems that Musk has reconciled with Trump and will not be supporting any opposition candidates to Trump’s Republicans.  It would take a wealthy supporter like Musk to make a third party candidate a potential winner in midterm elections.  While that could be a game changer in polarized Congressional politics, it doesn’t seem likely.

Constitutional checks and balances don’t work in a polarized partisan Congress.  Party loyalty was once considered healthy in America’s politics, but partisan politics has since taken precedence over providing for the common good and become the norm rather than the solution in America’s tribal partisan politics.

Thomas Jefferson once asserted that the teachings of Jesus were ”the sublimest moral code ever designed by man.”  The greatest commandment to love God and our neighbors of other races and religions as we love ourselves is a summary of the teachings of Jesus, and it’s considered a common word of faith and moral imperative of Jews, Christians and Muslims alike.

Americans twice elected Trump as their President, and his morality is the antithesis of that taught by Jesus.  Alexis deTocqueville noted that politics without morality is corrupt, and that has been self-evident with Trump.  American voters created the problem, and could solve the problem by restoring the checks and balances of the Constitution in the midterm elections.         

Notes:

Elon Musk ended hopes that he would support opposition to Trump when he expressed his regrets for criticizing Trump. 

https://time.com/7293095/elon-musk-donald-trump-regret-went-too-far-posts-relationship/?utm_

On the Greatest Commandment as a Common Word of Faith, for Jews, Christians and Muslims, see

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/01/the-greatest-commandment-common-word-of.html.

Universalism can reconcile progressive Christians, Jews and Muslims.  While universalists are a minority in competing Abrahamic religions, they could be a reconciling force in promoting a universalist common word of faith.  On universalism, see Universalism: A theology for the 21st century, by Forrest Church, November 5, 2001, at Universalism: A theology for the 21st century | UU World Magazine.

The Teachings of Jesus and Muhammad on Morality and Law is an interfaith study guide based on the teachings of Jesus and Muhammad taken from  the Jefferson Bible.  It’s  posted in its entirety in the  Resources at  https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com.

Thomas Jefferson considered “the teachings of Jesus as the most sublime moral code ever designed by man,” and Jefferson detested exclusivist church doctrines.   https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com.

In 1831 Alexis deTocqueville toured America and observed that its many Christian sects shared a “Christian morality” that produced common standards of political legitimacy that defined what is right, and imbued American politics with its moral authority.  On the views of Thomas Jefferson and Alexis deTocqueville on the moral values of religion in American politics, see Religion, Moral Authority and Conflicting Concepts of Legitimacy (July 1, 2017) at http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/07/religion-moral-authority-and.html. See also Musings of a Maverick Methodist on a Universal and Altruistic Jesus, August 19, 2023, at http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2023/08/musings-of-maverick-methodist-on.html.

Musings on the Fiscal Cause of Hypernormalization in America

By Rudy Barnes, Jr. June 7, 2025

Hypernormalization is the public malaise caused by the disconnects in Trump’s Novel and Gratuitous Fiscal Crisis.  Adam Tooze has described it, and Americans now know that Trump has created the fiscal crisis that is the major cause of hypernormalization: "At first markets rallied; then after Trump’s tariffs were imposed, everything sold.”   

 

“The concern has now shifted to the $29 trillion market for U.S. Treasuries.  The market is waking up to the scale of Republican deficits — rising up to 7 percent of gross domestic product from under 6 percent; and the party’s complete refusal to consider serious measures to raise revenue.  That state of denial is depreciating the dollar.”

“What makes America’s fiscal crisis unique is that the economy hums along and the wealthiest prosper as never before with a party calling itself conservative, but actively conspiring to cut the sinews of the fiscal state. This isn’t normal; and markets are finally, slowly waking up to the crisis. The point is that America today is not Weimar, nor Italy in the 1970s and 1980s.”

“The situation is more puzzling and in some sense worse than those societies that were dealing with objectively difficult social and political crises. By contrast, America’s fiscal dilemmas today are gratuitous and have no historical antecedents, but the vertiginous novelty of this fiscal impasse should give us pause.  We don’t know how this story ends.” 

“Can the United States find buyers for new Treasury bonds being issued at a pace of around $2 trillion a year? Probably. Will foreign buyers still want U.S. debt? Maybe. But it won’t help if the dollar is declining and the Trump administration is cheering. Is there likely to be a fight with the White House? You bet. But that would not be good for public confidence.” 

“None of these outcomes look attractive to investors, or for the U.S. economy at large. At the very least they add to uncertainty, which damps investment.  To restore normality, many opponents of Mr. Trump are secretly hoping for the bond market to do its worst. But it’s not healthy for self-styled defenders of democracy to be cheering on the bond vigilantes.”

The inability of the Americans to develop a coherent and strategic fiscal policy has not only corroded credit ratings, but it has also undermined political legitimacy.  For America to restore its political legitimacy, it must first restore the primacy of the Constitution as the foundation of its rule of law; and that requires the checks and balances in the Constitution.

Elon Musk has condemned Trump’s massive bill  “as a disgusting abomination”, and other Republicans have followed suit.  If Musk continues to encourage opposition to Trump’s radical agenda in the midterm elections, his condemnation of Trump’s “big beautiful bill” could prevent it from passing.”  And that could be a political game-changer for Republicans.

Notes:

See Adam Tooze, America’s Novel and Gratuitous Fiscal Crisis, at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/03/opinion/us-debt-trillions.html.

Elon Musk’s condemned Trump’s massive Republican tax bill, calling it a ‘disgusting abominatiion’ days after his White House send-off, see  https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/elon-musk-trump-spending-tax-bill-disgusting-abomination-rcna210690.

Some Trump supporters now have second thoughts for supporting his massive bill after Musk’s condemnation of it.  See congressional memo, After Muscling Their Bill Through the House, Some Republicans, including Marjorie Taylor Greene, Have Regrets. The sprawling legislation carrying President Trump’s domestic agenda squeaked through the House with one vote to spare.  Some Republicans now say they didn’t realize what they voted for. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/03/us/politics/house-republicans-policy-bill-regrets.html?utm.

According to the Congressional Budget Office(CBO) Trump’s “big beautiful bill” would add $2.4 trillion to America’s national debt if enacted.  “Conservatives and Wall Street investors had already expressed grave concerns that the measure would swell federal deficits, and some Senate Republicans have said they cannot back the legislation in its current form for that reason.  That could derail the bill’s progress, given that the party can afford to lose no more than three votes in the Senate if all Democrats vote against it.”  That could be a political game changer. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/04/us/politics/trump-policy-bill-deficit-estimate.html.

Deficit Politics Returns in Debate Over Trump Tax Cuts. The legislation that Republicans are trying to push through Congress could swell the very fiscal imbalance that party leaders have promised to tame for years. That’s complicating the White House’s efforts to nail down support for President Trump’s legislation. Normally, the nervousness in the bond market would jolt Washington, since higher yields translate to higher borrowing costs for average consumers. Lately, though, Mr. Trump and other Republicans have swatted away the pessimism, opting to attack economists for what they have argued were flawed projections. “Cut all the crazy spending increases in the Big Ugly Bill so that America doesn’t go bankrupt!” Mr. Musk said in a post on X on Thursday, as he escalated his feud with Mr. Trump. Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, described recent economic conditions as “fragile” in a nation that periodically flirts with bouts of austerity, sometimes yielding grand bargains that constrain federal spending. But this time, in an era of extreme partisan polarization, Mr. Zandi sahttps://time.com/7291550/elon-musk-trump-implosion-can-be-seen-from-space/?utmid there is little appetite for compromise, making it difficult for policymakers to confront urgent fiscal challenges. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/business/deficit-trump-tax-legislation.html. 

Phillip Elliot has likened The Musk-Trump Implosion to one that can be seen from Space. President Trump may be the U.S. President and Commander in Chief, but in the last 24 hours “a more apt title for Trump comes to mind: Chief Petty Officer. Sitting in the Oval Office and on a dueling social media platform billionaire Trump is lobbing threats and invectives at the world’s richest man fellow billionaire Elon Musk, who just last week enjoyed a warm sendoff seldom offered to outgoing Cabinet secretaries, who in Trump's first term were summarily fired on Twitter. Now that Musk owns Twitter—renamed X—the tables are turned, and Musk has used the same platform to derail Trump’s agenda from afar. It’s a political implosion that can be seen from space, and that can shake up Trump’s entire second term and create a new political ball game. And it’s all playing out with more drama than a Housewives reunion. The unscripted unraveling comes as Trump is facing a self-imposed time crunch to finish work on his “one big beautiful bill” that accomplishes much of Trump’s agenda.  It carries huge tax breaks, spending to tighten the border and immigration, and drastic cuts to programs promoting clean-energy programs. It’s that last bit that seems to have sparked the shocking split between the two men who, until days ago, seemed to be of a shared mind to trash the federal infrastructure with disregard to its effects. When Musk left Trump’s side, he started lobbing his problems with Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill " calling it an abomination, a debt bomb, a mistake that would cost incumbents their jobs if they didn’t reverse course; and Trump responded in kind, leaving the world watching a brawl involving two masters of the universe who could change the course of human history.  Trump said Musk “went CRAZY!” (Trump used that same description recently for Putin after he began a new offensive against Ukraine).  Musk, relishing in his relevance, seemed to be parked on X, hurling whatever he could grab. When one user noted that the U.S. government would be forced to walk away from the International Space Station and its upkeep without Musk’s SpaceX fleet, the tech savant amplified it: “Go ahead, make my day.” “With so much reliance on the billionaires with essential monopolies who can take the government hostage with their expertise, Trump is walking into this spat at a decided imbalance. He can match the pettiness, but he cannot match the political and technological heft. And that should elevate this well beyond a reality-show skirmish to a political implosion that can be seen from space. https://time.com/7291550/elon-musk-trump-implosion-can-be-seen-from-space/?utm.

Musings on Trump's Kaleidoscopic Strategic Vision and Hypernormalization

   By Rudy Barnes, Jr., May 31, 2025

Trump has a kaleidoscopic vision of America’s geopolitical role that changes with his  whims.  The NY Times described that vision as “One World, with Three Powers”: America, China and Russia.”  But Trump recently criticized his “old friend” Putin as “going absolutely crazy” after his heaviest bombardment of Ukraine since the beginning of the war.

Trump said “I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever,” 

Trump told reporters: “I’m not happy with what Putin is doing. He’s killing a lot of people, and I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin.”  But criticizing a demagogue like Putin for killing people is unusual for Trump, who never criticized Netanyahu for killing over 50,000  Palestinians in Gaza, even after Netanyahu was accused of genocide by the UN.

When a nation’s leader, whether it’s Putin or Netanyahu, orders bombing that kills civilian noncombatants, it’s not just bad politics, but it's also a crime under international humanitarian law.  Both Putin and Netanyahu should be charged with war crimes, but Trump has never considered that strategic option since all of his policy decisions have been personal and transactional.     

     

Trump’s anger with Putin’s aggression in Ukraine was likely caused by its failure to conform to Trump’s preferences for peace in Ukraine, and Putin's obvious failure to notify Trump of his planned aggression. Trump may have thought that Putin was his “friend” but he has proven to be a typical Russian adversary; and Trump has traditionally berated and humiliated his adversaries.

Unlike previous U.S. presidents, Trump will not likely issue a national security strategy that would limit his power to support Netanyahu’s expansion of Israel, while ignoring the 50,000 Palestinian deaths in Gaza.  At the same time Trump will likely avoid any reductions to Social Security, Medicare or other popular entitlements that would violate his campaign promises.

The House has already approved Trump’s budget; and there’s not likely to be any serious opposition in the Senate to funding defense priorities that will increase America’s massive national debt of over $36 trillion.  Trump once said that he could pay off the national debt with crypto currency, and he has since made family investments in crypto currency a priority.

Trump’s political strategies have always been relative and changing concepts to keep his adversaries off balance, but his recent anger with Putin and threats of WWIII have aggravated a public disorder known as hypernormalization.  “It captures the juxtaposition of the dysfunctional and mundane”, and raises troubling uncertainties about the future of America.

Notes: 

Trump’s Geopolitical Vision: One World, Three Powers? (America, Russia and China) Is based on traditional geopolitical considerations  “Trump’s recent actions and statements suggest he might want an arrangement where the United States, China and Russia each dominate their spheres of influence.” https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/26/us/politics/trump-russia-china.html. 

Following Putin’s massive attack on Ukraine, Trump asserted that Putin “has gone absolutely crazy.”  “I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever,” Trump posted on Truth Social.  Hours earlier, Trump had told reporters: “I’m not happy with what Putin is doing. He’s killing a lot of people, and I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin.”  https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/25/politics/trump-putin-ukraine-airstrikes.

With Trump challenging America’s Constitutional democratic framework and with his Republican Party that puts loyalty to Trump over supporting and defending the freedom and democracy of the Constitution, it’s little wonder that American people are experiencing a neurotic malaise known as hypernormalization.  It “captures the juxtaposition of the dysfunctional and mundane,” and the result is a growing sense of extreme unease that accepts the greed, hedonism and moral corruption exemplified by Trump and his loyal minions such as Musk, as the values of a new American era replacing traditional American values we have known in the past.  Traditional Christianity seems complicit with Trump’s Republican regime, since most white Christians elected Trump as their President twice, and democracy is ultimately the rule of the majority. 

In short, hypernormalization has created a depressing realization that America’s values have changed for the worse with Trump’s Republican regime, and we need to accept that ugly reality.   

Systems are crumbling – but daily life continues. The dissonance is real. See https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/ng-interactive/2025/may/22/hypernormalization-dysfunction-status-quo.