Conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin wrote on her Substack on Monday that the Founding Fathers were “laughably, tragically wrong” in trusting voters to not fall for a demagogue. Because President Donald Trump was reelected despite his first term and the January 6th insurrection, Rubin argued modern Americans will need to add legal reforms to rectify their errors.
"'Right-sizing' the presidency and putting in additional guardrails therefore should be top priorities,” Rubin wrote. “No single solution is going to stop malicious figures from an autocratic putsch, but we can make it much harder for such a figure to do real damage to our democracy."
Arguing existing constitutional safeguards — like the Electoral College, impeachment and the 25th Amendment — are ineffective because of partisanship in Congress, on the Supreme Court and throughout the presidential primaries, Rubin proposed a series of alternative reforms. These include making it a crime “to give or receive a foreign emolument of more than $25 in value (or a domestic emolument of any value),” requiring presidents “to sell or put all business operations and investments in a blind trust before taking office — and, no, letting your sons run your company is not a blind trust,” banning major White House renovations without congressional authorization, banning renaming any federal or quasi-federal organization or structure for a sitting president and banning book/movie/rights deals for any incumbent president or spouse.
“There are many legislative fixes to curtail presidential unilateral power (e.g., war powers, emergency powers, rescission),” Rubin wrote. “But allocating the right for lawmakers or others to bring enforcement actions is essential. Likewise, reviving the Bivens Act to allow civil actions for individuals to recoup damages against any executive branch official could put teeth into presidential restraints.”
Rubin also said that the media and political parties “need to rethink the way we evaluate presidential candidates,” asking foundational questions about democracy and values “(e.g., Do immigrants have rights? Are treaties the law of the land?)” along with specific policy questions.
“We still may not get candid answers, but the responses to those sorts of questions (or hypotheticals about pardons, donors, and financial impropriety) would be a whole lot more revealing than asking about a 24-point plan for legislation that is unlikely to pass,” Rubin wrote. “It is frankly harder to disguise one’s deeply held beliefs (or lack thereof) than to toss out unrealistic political promises.”
Rubin has previously drawn attention to the right-wing revolt against Trump. Speaking with fellow columnist Greg Sargent in January, the two pundits pointed out that Republican officials like Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt, New Jersey Republican Jose Arango Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott have criticized Trump’s immigration policies.
In September, Rubin also criticized the reports of tantrums emanating from the White House on the ground that “at a moment when Americans who are already financially squeezed face huge cost increases in healthcare, housing and energy, the bratty children at Mar-a-Lago North exist in a world of their own.”
In August, Rubin argued that Trump’s tendency to hire sycophants imperils America’s national security.
"When you have yes-men and yes-women who are completely incompetent in positions of high authority, that leaves us vulnerable,” Rubin said on MSNBC. “You couldn't have done more to destroy our national security infrastructure…. (Trump) is leaving us a sitting duck because he doesn't care about America."
