America’s institutions keep Trump in check

The system is working.

The story of U.S. President Donald Trump’s first month in office is how the country’s institutions are constraining his reckless presidency.

The legislature, the judiciary, the media, civil society, public opinion — these traditional, if unsung, guardians of democracy — are checking Trump’s excesses.

Autocracy may be coming to America, as writer David Frum and others warn.

If so, institutions are the nation’s new minutemen.

Begin with the judiciary. It is the courts that stopped Trump’s ban on Muslims entering the United States. Not one court in one state, we note, but several, in different states. It’s not a partisan response; rulings have come from judges appointed by presidents of both parties.

Trump will issue other executive orders in other areas, asserting his prerogative. When he oversteps, he will be challenged in the courts.

That’s how it works here.

In the Senate, the Democrats are emerging as an effective opposition. They are publicizing, delaying and discrediting the most egregious of Trump’s cabinet nominees with hearings and all-night vigils. They have held accountable a secretary of education who dislikes public schools and the head of the Environmental Protection Agency who distrusts regulation. Their opposition has forced the nominees for Secretary of Labor and Secretary of the Army to withdraw.

The Democrats understand they face a grassroots rebellion in their party if they do not lead. This is why they will oppose the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court as vigorously as the Republicans opposed Barack Obama’s nominees.

But the real opposition to Trump will come from Republicans of conscience in the Senate. They include Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Lindsey Graham and Jeff Flake. The most important of them is John McCain. This is his chance to be a statesman, rising above politics. Having already broken with Trump on other issues, his big test will be leading his committee investigation into Russia’s meddling in the presidential election. Its findings could determine the future of Trump’s presidency.

The media are playing their role. The reporting of Washington Post and the New York Times, in particular, has been brilliant. Both produce regular exposés on ineptitude and infighting in the administration. Politico, CNN and MSNBC are also effective. All have been rewarded with more readers and more viewers.

Without the media, Michael Flynn, for example, would not have been forced out as national security adviser. The leaks are coming from within government, particularly the FBI and the intelligence establishment, showing their independence.

Civil society is doing its part. It was the American Civil Liberties Union that took Trump to court over the Muslim ban. It has been buoyed by a recent surge of money and members. Other organizations are also raising the alarm, such as MoveOn.org.

The most devastating critics are entertainers and comedians. The ratings of Saturday Night Live are spiking as it lampoons the White House follies. John Oliver, Stephen Colbert and Bill Maher are merciless. Trump tunes in and fumes.

Behind this is public opinion. Trump’s disapproval rating ranges between 43 and 56 per cent, the worst of any president after a month in office. This matters less now than it will in a year, when Congressional Republicans start preparing to defend their seats in November 2018. They will have to decide then whether to abandon him.

With Trump, the traditional limitations on a president — a sense of history, humility, generosity and decency — do not apply. In the past, these acted as brake on the vain and venal. Not here.

He continues to provoke, insult and lie. He crashes around in the White House like a gorilla at a kid’s birthday party. He blows off steam in a news conference. He insults Sweden, exaggerates his electoral victory, ignores rising examples of anti-Semitism, skewers his opponents.

Ultimately, the greatest constraint on presidential behaviour is character: honour, civility, wisdom. Without that here, it will be up to politicians, judges, journalists, civil servants and citizens to keep Trump in check.