Can Trump Destroy the Government In Two Years? That’s the Question

Let’s take an inventory of what we know to be real, shall we? First of all, initial offerings for key posts in the government are people who are ludicrously unqualified to hold those posts — the very definition of kakistocracy, which is “government by the least qualified.” That’s for openers. Then, Donald Trump’s got his “secret” with Mike Johnson, which is no longer secret. That refers to the plan to recess the Senate (with the collusion of the House) so that Trump can make recess appointments. He can do this under the Constitution. The problem with the Constitution is what we saw during Trump term one, which is that it takes people to uphold the precepts of that document. It is “only a piece of paper” as the old Dubya joke went back in the day, unless serious men and women undertake to keep what is written there alive and sacred.

So yes, Trump could in fact force recess appointments on the United States. Read this interview with a woman who is an expert on how the Constitution works:

Sargent: Just to return to the various permutations here, if Trump really does have to resort to recess appointments in order to steamroll the senators, he needs Mike Johnson to pull that trigger, right?

Binder: Yes, because the recess has to be 10 days or more and the Senate needs help from the House to do that.

Sargent: Right. There would have to either be a deliberate, if tacit, arrangement between senators and Mike Johnson, or it would have to be Mike Johnson pulling the trigger and Republican senators essentially acquiescing after the fact.

Binder: Yeah. The assumption is that, were Speaker Johnson in cahoots with Trump to do this, that elevates more public pressure from Republican voters on those senators not to stand in the way. Either go on recess on your own or Trump will send you home.

Sargent: Yeah. By the way, I want to bring up something about confirmation hearings, which you mentioned as a possible thing that Republican senators could threaten Trump with. I got to think, the last thing that Donald Trump wants is confirmation hearings for RFK and Matt Gaetz. Maybe he just doesn’t give a shit about anything, but those are going to go badly.

Binder: On the one hand, one would think these those hearings would not go well. On the other hand, you can imagine an outcome where the Republicans rally around the nominees and Trump, and Democrats rally around the opposite. The analogy isn’t quite right. This isn’t exactly the Kavanaugh hearing because he was, many people would say, certainly qualified for seat on the Supreme Court. Regardless of whether that’s your view, those hearings, with having an accuser come forward—that completely or further amplified and fueled that partisanship into a really ugly partisan battle. It was already partisan, but that was just like everyone home to their trenches.

I have no doubt but that this is what we will be seeing in the very near future. So, let us gird ourselves for worst case scenarios, shall we? Matt Gaetz could be the attorney general for two years. And ONLY two years, because that is how the Constitution spells it out. A recess appointed official can only be there for two years. And the rationalization on the part of senators will be that the “people have spoken” and the president wants who he wants in his cabinet, bla bla, egregiously unqualified or not.

You see the clarity of the situation here. The Democrats need to win back at least one chamber of Congress, preferably both in 2026. Or, Trump will continue to steamroll over the Constitution. I find it sobering that Markwayne Mullins, an Oklahoma senator, who hates Matt Gaetz, was basically silenced earlier this week. Mullins said he was proud to serve MAGA, and that translates as while he knows who and what Matt Gaetz is, he doesn’t want to be primaried by Trump, so he’ll fold and go along to get along.

As to what damage Gaetz can do in two years — or RFK, Jr., or Tulsi Gabbard or Pete Hegseth, I guess we’re going to find out. Going forward, between now and 2026, we need to prepare for worse case scenarios. As the old homily goes, “Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, don’t be surprised by anything in between.”

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