The problem with the US political system is that every four years they elect a president whose power is almost unlimited. Now the US Supreme Court has granted presidents immunity from prosecution for criminal acts committed while in office. This not only gives Donald Trump a free pass for his past crimes, but sets a dangerous precedent for all future presidents. Before Trump, no one had even argued that presidents are absolutely immune from criminal liability after they leave office. Indeed, every president – including Trump himself – assumed the opposite. In his impeachment trial, Trump’s lawyers argued against impeachment by conceding that an acquittal would not be the end of potential accountability, because he could be criminally prosecuted after he left office. That concession was in line with all prior presidents’ acceptance that the United States is a place where all citizens, including the president, are equal under the law1 (Seriously? Who are they kidding?).
If any president could behave like Trump, why is it that previous presidents have not attempted to do so? It is because previous presidents have had at least some concern for the wellbeing of the nation. Trump is an ignorant, lazy, malignant narcissist who is completely out of touch with reality. How does the US stop a vegetable like Trump being elected again? This assumes that people in the US get to vote again, as Trump and some of his fascist sidekicks are suggesting that, in contravention of the constitution, Trump may serve another term as president2.
Another problem the US has is the archaic electoral college system which can change the outcome of the popular vote. For instance, in the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote over Trump, 51.1% to 48.9% However when that made its way through the electoral college, Trump won that by 304 (57.25%) to 227 (42.75%)3 votes. Hardly democratic.
Yet another problem the US has is that they do not have a preferential voting system. All you do is tick a box for a candidate and that is it. This can lead to a splitting of the vote as has happened previously, most recently by people like the consumer advocate Ralph Nader. In the 2000 presidential election, Nader won 97,488 votes and Al Gore lost Florida to George W. Bush by 537 votes. It is likely that a large proportion of the votes for Nader were siphoned off the Democratic vote, causing Gore to lose4. If there was a preferential voting system, this would not have happened. George W. Bush was one of the worst presidents in living memory and perhaps the thickest, until Trump arrived on the scene.
Nader was unapologetic and maintained that there should not be a “two party duopoly”4. However, while there is no preferential voting, that is what the US is stuck with. The Republican Party was founded in 1854, and initially stood against the extension of slavery in the nation’s new territories, and ultimately for the abolition of slavery5. Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, and just as an example of how far the Republicans have sunk, compare one of his speeches with that of Trump6; but I digress. In the 20th and 21st centuries the Republican Party came to be associated with rampant capitalism, lower taxes for the wealthy and conservative social policies5.
The Democratic Party can trace its roots back to the 1790s when it was called the Democratic-Republican Party. At that time, it was opposed by the Federalist Party, but the latter faded from view by 1820, allowing James Monroe to run for president unopposed. Subsequently the party split into two, with Andrew Jackson’s faction formally becoming the Democratic Party in the 1840s7.
A further perversion of democracy is the fact that the electoral boundaries are set by the states’ politicians and this has led to bizarre shapes to electorates (or districts as they are called in the US) purely so the party in power is more likely to elect members of their party to the House of Representatives. Despite being a dodgy practice, it is completely legal in the US according to the Supreme Court8. This is not permitted in Australia where the independent Australian Electoral Commission sets all electorate boundaries for federal elections. That is something we have to be very thankful for.
While both major parties in the US have been around since well before the end of the 19th century, in Australia only one party that was in existence at the beginning of the 20th century is still going, and that party, the Labor Party, is in serious decline. The other major party, the Liberal Party, in aligning itself with the idiocy of Trump, seems to be in even more rapid decline9. So, we have something for which to thank Trump.
Now Trump has ignored court rulings, even one from the Supreme Court, and there is nobody enforcing those rulings as the organisations charged with enforcing those rulings have been stacked with loyalists10. As a consequence, Trump simply walks away unhindered. Some have suggested that ignoring these court rulings is a test for Trump so he can see what he can get away with. If he does, the US has lost the rule of law and Trump can do whatever he likes.
So, it seems that the US has descended into fascism and there is no way to return to any semblance of democracy in any normal way. One of the avenues that remains is that the Republicans in Congress realise what they have done and reverse course, exerting what authority they have over Trump. I suspect this is unlikely, as many of them know that if there are midterm elections toward the end of 2026, they will be decimated, and getting rid of Trump is one way to ensure the midterms happen, so many of the venal bastards will be quite happy for Trump to abolish the midterms. The Republicans seem to have already started stacking the vote by disenfranchising people, especially women with the passage of the SAVE Act11.
It has been suggested also that Trump may invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807. This stems from an executive order he signed when he assumed office on January 20th. In that order he suggested that such invocation could be introduced within 90 days, and that he could deploy the army within the US by April 20th12. I have suggested elsewhere, that this may be the beginning of using the army to suspend civil liberties, including the right to protest. If this is so, it is only a matter of time before assault rifles are used against protesters.
The US is in a very precarious position at present, and to a large extent, its future depends on what the army does if deployed within the boundaries of the country. If it shoots protesters, the US is finished. If it doesn’t, the US may be salvageable. As the title of this piece suggests, the US elects a president every four years and the quality of those men and their adherence to convention has prevented them from becoming dictators. Now they do have a dictator.
Sources
- https://www.aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/supreme-court-grants-trump-future-presidents-a-blank-check-to-break-the-law
- https://apnews.com/article/trump-third-term-constitution-22nd-amendment-efba31be02ee96b0ef68b17fe89b7578
- https://blotreport.com/2017/03/23/archaic-us-electoral-college/
- https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-nader-effect/
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/Republican-Party
- https://blotreport.com/2017/01/08/lincoln-vs-trump/
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/Democratic-Party
- https://thefulcrum.us/electoral-reforms/worst-gerrymandered-districts
- https://theconversation.com/labor-gains-52-48-lead-in-newspoll-and-redbridge-as-poll-trend-to-labor-continues-253739
- https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/23/judges-trump-court-rulings
- https://www.factcheck.org/2025/02/will-save-act-prevent-married-women-from-registering-to-vote/
- https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/global-trends/what-is-martial-law-and-what-happens-if-trump-imposes-a-similar-order-in-us-check-details/articleshow/120309169.cms
