Once again, Donald Trump threatens to break the law by trying to withhold appropriated funds to states with sanctuary cities. This time he is insisting on his Truth Social account that as of the start of next month, “NO MORE PAYMENTS WILL BE MADE BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO STATES FOR THEIR CORRUPT CRIMINAL PROTECTION CENTERS KNOWN AS SANCTUARY CITIES. ALL THEY DO IS BREED CRIME AND VIOLENCE!”
He offered no details; is this a real threat, or another off-the-cuff riff that he’ll forget about? What funds are under threat? What mechanism exists to withhold these payments? Trump didn’t say, because he doesn’t really care about the specifics of the law or the government he ostensibly heads.
This is just an additional illustration of why there need to be real consequences for Trump’s flagrant illegality even when his efforts are blocked in the courts. Time and time again, federal judges have made clear that the United States Treasury and the system of federal grants and disbursements to states and localities is not Trump‘s personal bank account that he can choose to shut off on a whim, depending on how he’s personally feeling about the recipients.
He’s been trying different versions of this move in some form or another repeatedly since his first term in office, ever since he first moved to withhold public safety grants more than eight years ago, and has almost uniformly been slapped down by federal judges who wonder why he’s wasting their time. Yet he persists because he’s learned that there are few repercussions for moving ahead with illegal efforts; worst case, they get struck down and then he just moves on and tries again later. Don’t get us wrong, it’s a good thing that judges have stepped in to safeguard the rule of law, but it is time for Congress to reassert itself and actually constrain an out-of-control president.
What Trump seems to be after is just chaos. Whether he wins or loses in the short term is secondary to his desire to constantly push the envelope and make our system of laws seem like it’s on shaky ground or will teeter eventually before his constant pressure. The president in general seems unable or unwilling to understand that there are real people on the other side of his policy decisions, real life Americans, who, regardless of their support or lack of support for him and his agenda, are all his constituents that he is tasked with helping.
Even when these efforts to cut off funding fail, they result in disruptions to crucial services and undermine faith in government. Trump’s been very clear since his entering political life (and long before that) that he really understands everything in terms of winning and losing. Either you’re a winner or a loser and the only way to be a winner is to strong-arm, cheat and lie your way to domination. In his addled mind, the millions of people in these cities who depend on federal funds for health, transit, education and whatever else are only pawns in a broader struggle to consolidate his own authority by any means necessary.
He’ll fail, as he’s failed repeatedly with these efforts, but not before people get hurt. This will go on as long as our institutions allow it to. Enough is enough, even if we have to wait until after the midterms for accountability.
