America's 250th birthday arrives at a moment of deep division.
On Saturday, the nation marks the anniversary of its declaration of independence from Britain, but many are anxious about the fragility of the republic.
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The unease is rooted in a long-standing fear.
At the 1787 constitutional convention, Benjamin Franklin warned that the new republic would only survive if its citizens could keep it.
That warning has proven prescient. The constitution, a masterpiece of civic engineering, depends on human beings to enforce its checks and balances.
In the age of Trump, those charged with that duty have failed.
The Constitution's Fatal Flaw
The framers erected multiple barriers against a president who would rule like a monarch: emoluments clauses, separation of powers, and an elaborate system of checks and balances.
On paper, it is a thing of beauty.
But Trump has revealed that the constitution cannot enforce itself. It relies on people—mere mortals—to do its will.
And those entrusted with its enforcement have sometimes refused.
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After the January 6 insurrection, Trump was impeached as the constitution required, but Republican senators declined to convict him.
In his second term, Congress has watched silently as the president accumulates power.
The Supreme Court, meant to be the constitution's protector, has enabled the power grab.
It granted the president near blanket legal immunity and gave him authority to fire heads of independent agencies, removing another restraint.
A Republic, If You Can Keep It
Franklin's insight was that the republic would not sustain itself. Only human beings committed to liberal democracy could do that.
In the Trump era, those handed the task have shirked it.
The US has bounced back before—from civil war, segregation, and McCarthyism. But the weakness exposed by Trump cannot be unseen.
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The republic's survival now depends on whether Americans can once again keep it.
