The Rats in the Coke Bottle

The Constitution is not a set of suggestions. It is the bedrock of American governance. And we must expect politicians of both parties to follow it without exception.

‘Cause let’s say you take that Coke bottle home, and you get home, and you’re two thirds of the way through the Coke bottle. And you look down at what’s left in your Coke bottle is a rat head there. You wonder whether you’d buy Coke ever again. You go on TV, and you show ’em the rat head in the Coke bottle. You call your friends, and tell them about it. And Coke’s in trouble.

Republicans who vote for a tax increase are rat heads in a Coke bottle. They damage the brand for everyone else.

• Grover Norquist

Grover Norquist may have been talking about taxes. But the same holds true today when it comes to “Republicans” who can’t adhere to our more basic fundamental American principles.

One of the most frustrating aspects of the Trump Administration today is its blatant disregard for the Constitution.

Time and again, Trump and his team have taken actions later deemed unconstitutional by the courts. However, rather than acknowledging their mistakes, they blame so-called “activist judges” for blocking their policies.

And Republican behavior toward those judges have brought forth a rare rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts:

“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose,” Roberts said Tuesday in a rare and brief statement issued just hours after Trump publicly joined demands by his supporters to remove judges he called “crooked.”

Ironically, it was Republicans mere months ago who chastised Democrats who wanted to expand the Supreme Court due to the overturning of Roe v. Wade and other court cases. The arguments shifted overnight when Administrations changed.

The reality is that these rulings are not based on the content of Trump’s policies but rather on how they have been implemented—often in ways that violate constitutional norms.