Constitutional expert: Founders of country would’ve viewed Trump as a Tyrant like King George

Professor Melissa Murray has a warning!

Renowned Constitutional law professor Melissa Murray has a warning for us on the 250^th anniversary of our nation’s founding. To sum it up, the Founders of this country rose up against King George for much of the same tyrannical actions Donald Trump is taking today.

Professor Murray is not some left-wing pundit spewing provocative sound bites to get attention. (That would be me!) Rather, she is one of the top constitutional law experts of the day and author of the new best-selling book, “The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader.” That is why when Murray makes a reasoned argument on this point it’s so alarming.

Murray--who is co-host of the very popular legal podcast Strict Scrutiny—explained that the American Revolution was in response to the brutal oppression of King George.

We all know the famous words of The Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

But often people don’t read further down to the list of grievances laid out by the signers of this famed document. One of the most damning—as Murray noted—was that “the King has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.”

Well, that is exactly what Trump did in this term by sending ICE armies and National Guard troops into the streets of America over the objection of local elected officials. In fact, Trump’s “standing armies” have assaulted and even killed Americans as we all witnessed earlier this year in Minnesota with Alex Pretti and Renee Good. (Still there has been no justice for them!)

Prof Murray then turned to the US Constitution that was drafted in 1787 by the same core of people who drafted the Declaration of Independence. Their goal was to remedy the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation that had been in place when the United States was originally founded.

As Murray explained, by the time of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, the Framers “realized that they have to create a cohesive central government, and it has to be able to do things, like things that a nation does, like borrow money, mint money, have a national economy.” In sum, they need “a government that works.”

She added this vitally important point. While they wanted to create a working government, they did not want one “so strong and so powerful that it becomes tyrannical.” As she explained, these people had “seen what government tyranny looked like, and they were working through that trauma.”

That is why, “each branch has limited powers, and that is by design so that no single branch can consolidate authority and become tyrannical.” She added, “That’s the key. This is a hedge against tyranny.”

Well Donald Trump—thanks to an assist from the GOP controlled Congress and the GOP controlled Supreme Court—have undermined the very system set up the people who founded our nation. Instead, we now have a leader who more resembles a king than an American president.

Trump has used his troops to oppress us, weaponized the government to target dissent, spent our tax dollars to erect monuments to himself and engaged in a level of corruption that would’ve made Saddam Hussein blush.

In addition, as Murray highlighted, Trump declared his Iran war on a whim without the input of Congress. She noted that would’ve be an “anathema” to the Framers who intentionally divided the power to go to war between Congress and the President to prevent this.

We have all learned in Trump’s second term that the checks and balances are not iron clad. In fact, for the most part, they aren’t even effective or enforceable.

But that is where we come in. As Murray explained, the Framers understood that “we need citizens who are engaged with the Constitution, who understand it, and who are prepared to stand up to the government if and when it starts slipping into tyranny.”

That last part of Murray’s comment is the one we need to ponder on this 250^th anniversary. Are we “prepared to stand up to the government if and when it starts slipping into tyranny?” If we win the midterm election –at least taking the House—we will have taken a small step in a far bigger journey to preserving our freedoms and democracy.

But if Trump steals the 2026 election, ballots won’ t save us. Standing up to tyranny will demand far more of a sacrifice. Perhaps the same level of sacrifice that the founders of our nation made 250 years ago.

---

Hope you check out my conversation with Professor Murray below. We also discuss the US Supreme Court rulings from the past week with Murray flagging the most alarming decision in terms of tyranny that the corporate media has barely covered.

---