"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
- Presidential Oath of Office

When pResident tRump was sworn into office earlier this year, he - like every president before him - took the Oath of Office. It's pretty simple. The central idea is that every president is bound by the Constitution. Unlike quite a few state constitutions, the U.S. Constitution - even with it's numerous amendments - isn't that big or complex. It's fairly clear that tRump has never read it, or at the very least doesn't understand it.

The very first amendment, one of the ten "Bill of Rights" amendments added just a couple years after the Constitution was ratified, contains the most important rights we consider to be a "given":



These words - enshrined in our Constitution which tRump swore to "preserve, protect, and defend" are the cornerstone rights that allow all of us to criticize the government without fear of reprisal from the government. Obviously, they do not protect us from the consequences of our words and actions in the private sphere, but there can be no recourse from the government.

We've seen tRump attempt to selectively apply laws based on religion (Islam). He has recently called for the firing of NFL players for exercising their freedom of speech. He has tried to damage the reputation of any person or company in the press who criticizes him.

Within the last several days, however, he has gone beyond even that - threatening governmental action against television news organizations:

With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2017

He then doubled-down on it:

Network news has become so partisan, distorted and fake that licenses must be challenged and, if appropriate, revoked. Not fair to public!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 12, 2017

That has raised a LOT of eyebrows, as well it should. Censoring the news is the stuff of dictators and tyrants. At least one Republican (Ben Sasse (R-NB)) has voiced his concern, and former Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev’s granddaughter is reminded of Stalin. That is where we are right now.

This cannot stand. He has violated his oath of office. He is going against everything this country has stood for since it's inception. Fortunately, there are remedies, if other members of our government are brave enough to use them. There is of course impeachment, which will be likely once Mueller finally completes his investigation. There is also the 25th Amendment, yet another part of the Constitution with which tRump is unfamiliar. That seems less likely, but we can always hold out hope.

In the meantime, we will all be "swearing oaths" every time he pushes us further away from the Constitution and towards a banana republic.