Trump’s Populist Achilles Heel

By Hunter Wallace

It is federal judges.

Aside from the donor class and its manipulation of its political puppets, the other great flaw in the American political system is the power of the federal judiciary to legislate.

It is these two things – federal judges throwing out laws they dislike, and oligarchs overturning elections through bribery – that have made it impossible to reform the system. Trump has surged to the front of the Republican pack because he has exposed the donor class, but the power of federal judges to nullify elections is equally problematic.

This is an opening for another candidate to seize on a hot button issue and steal Trump’s populist thunder. The way to do it is simple: another candidate could vow as president that they will not enforce terrible Supreme Court decisions like Roe and Obergefell and Citizens United and Arizona v. US.

Just like Andrew Jackson in Worchester v. Georgia, another presidential candidate could run against the Supreme Court and say, “John Roberts has made his decisions, now let him enforce them.” Such a candidate could run on a platform of stripping federal judges of their usurped power and restoring that power to the states.

Ignore the advice of professional Republican consultants. Running against federal judges – one of the great issues of our time – would set off a populist explosion the likes of which has been seen that would instantly change the dynamic of the whole race.