Political liberty is to be found … only when there is no abuse of power. But constant experience shows us that every man invested with power is apt to abuse it, and to carry his authority as far as it will go…To prevent this abuse, it is necessary from the very nature of things that power should be a check to power. — Baron de Montesquieu, The Spirit of Laws (1748)
To thwart the concentration of power in a single person or body, Montesquieu emphasized the need for a governments to separate executive, legislative, and judicial powers by means of checks and balances. His ideas were a key influence on the framers of the U.S. Constitution, including James Madison:
“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive and judicial in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self–appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny” (James Madison, Federalist No. 51, 1788).
Unfortunately, the current Chief Executive of the United States controls Congress through scare tactics and simply ignores court rulings he doesn’t like.
So, who or what will check Trump’s power?