The Myth of the Divine Executive
How to restore balance in a world suffering from vertigo.
Over the weekend, Donald Trump shared an AI-generated image depicting himself as Jesus. The backlash from his own religious allies was so swift that he did something we rarely see: he deleted the post.
While the incident was mocked as another “Trump being Trump” moment, it highlights the profound absurdity of our current political era. We are witnessing an administration consumed by petty grievances and the construction of a bizarre personal mythology. But this relentless circus distracts the public from a far more severe structural danger: When an executive operates under the delusion of a divine mandate, earthly constraints disappear.
Trump himself has signaled this intent to move beyond the law. He once claimed that his own morals were the only thing that could truly constrain him on the world stage—suggesting that statutes, treaties, and constitutional boundaries are secondary to his personal whims.
“My own morality, my own mind. It's the only thing that can stop me.”
DONALD TRUMP
An executive branch functioning without boundaries inevitably breeds systemic corruption. The Founders anticipated leaders driven by unbounded ego; they did not trust the “internal morals” of any one man to protect the people. Instead, they built a strict framework of checks and balances to contain them, designing a system where “ambition must be made to counteract ambition.”
For the past year, we have relied almost entirely on the courts to maintain those boundaries. Thanks to the incredible work of our strategic litigation partner Campaign Legal Center, there have been the critical legal challenges necessary for the judiciary to play an indispensable role in preserving the rule of law. Federal judges have consistently blocked unprecedented executive overreach and demanded basic institutional accountability. They have forced this administration to operate, however begrudgingly, within the confines of the law.
However, the courts cannot safeguard the republic in isolation. The Founders never intended for the judiciary to serve as the sole bulwark against executive abuse.
Congress must reclaim its rightful constitutional authority. For years, the legislative branch has abdicated its role as a co-equal power, with lawmakers trading rigorous oversight for partisan convenience. Congress (regardless of party) has surrendered its institutional prerogatives over decades, especially when the President is from the same party. They have invited the exact corruption the Constitution was written to prevent.
We need a fundamental shake-up. We need leaders with real courage to utilize legislative power as a firm check against the presidency. I am proud to see serious candidates stepping into the arena to challenge this complacency. People like my friend Olivia Troye understand these stakes; they recognize the urgent necessity for principled adults to LEAD beyond a press conference, and finally take action.
Restoring the balance of power requires the voting public to demand it. We cannot expect a broken institution to fix itself without external pressure.
Until Congress seats leadership willing to exercise its constitutional mandate, we must fight on the terrain we possess. This means pursuing accountability through the legal system and supporting organizations like the Campaign Legal Center as they enforce (and reconstruct) robust guardrails against corruption.
The American republic requires constant maintenance. We protect the Constitution not by placing our faith in the “morals” of a leader, but by defending the institutions designed to uphold the law.
But the Republicans are using Trump as the "useful idiot" for all their machinations! They can see, as well as the rest of us, that he's batsh*t crazy, and they're letting him take the heat while they quietly take lessons from the likes of Orbán and PUTIN!! And their end goal is the concentration of wealth in the hands of very few people. They do not care if millions of us die.
It takes a person with strong moral character to resist the urge to seize more power and use it, after working for years to gain the position of power. Trump was never that man. For Trump, with his particular set of personality disorders (not to mention cognitive decline which just takes away what little self restraint he had) has zero problem with the idea of 'The Divine Right of Kings' and having people worship him as such.