Trump: The Anti-Lincoln

On emergency power, constitutional preservation, and the regime crisis now unfolding

Photo by Joshua Bedford on Unsplash

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Saturday, January 3rd, 2026. The President of the United States stood in his private club in Palm Beach, Florida, and announced that America had toppled Venezuela’s government and would now “run” the country indefinitely.

Not from the Oval Office. Not in consultation with Congress. From Mar-a-Lago, in front of gilded chandeliers and club members, Donald Trump pointed to the men standing behind him—his Secretary of State, his Defense Secretary, his Chairman of the Joint Chiefs—and said: “The people standing right behind me, we’re going to be running it.”

Running a nation of thirty million people. Indefinitely. Without Congressional authorization. Without a declaration of war. Without even the pretense that constitutional constraints apply.

When asked about the legal basis, Trump cited oil rights he claims were “stolen” from American corporations decades ago. When asked about resistance, he promised a “second wave” of military action. When asked who would govern Venezuela, he gestured at his cabinet and said they would decide.

This is the anti-Lincoln moment. Not because Trump expanded executive power—Lincoln did that too. But because Lincoln used emergency authority to preserve the constitutional framework, while Trump uses it to declare himself outside constitutional constraint entirely.

Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus to save the Union. Donald Trump announced imperial conquest to extract oil. One defended the regime. One destroys it. Trump isn’t like Lincoln. He’s the structural opposite—doing exactly what Lincoln would have fought against.

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Lincoln suspended habeas corpus. Expanded executive war powers. Asserted federal authority over states claiming sovereignty. This is historical fact.

But watch what else he did.

He submitted the habeas suspension to Congress for ratification—which they gave. He accepted that courts could review his actions. He ran for re-election during war and accepted he might lose. He yielded power when constitutional process demanded it.

Lincoln’s logic was always this: the constitutional framework faces existential threat from secession, and extraordinary measures to preserve it are justified—within constitutional bounds and subject to eventual constitutional accountability.

The key word is preserve. Lincoln expanded executive power to save the framework that makes constitutional government possible. Secession would have destroyed the Union. No Union, no Constitution. No Constitution, no self-government. The emergency power served constitutional continuation.

And crucially, Lincoln submitted to the framework even while defending it. Congress could check him. Courts could review him. Elections could remove him. His question wasn’t “How do I escape accountability?” It was “How do I preserve the system that holds me accountable?”

That’s emergency power in a constitutional republic. Extraordinary measures, constitutional purpose, ultimate accountability.

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Trump’s Imperial Declaration

Trump’s announcement Saturday inverts every principle Lincoln defended.

No Congressional authorization under Article I, Section 8. No declaration of war. No emergency requiring immediate action to prevent attack on American territory or citizens. Just the President deciding to wage war, seize another nation’s government, and announce indefinite occupation.

“Venezuela unilaterally seized and sold American oil, American assets and American platforms,” Trump said from his club. “The socialist regime stole it from us... Now we’re taking it back.”

This isn’t emergency power to preserve constitutional framework. This is imperial conquest announced as resource extraction. This is the President declaring he will “run” a foreign nation to compensate American corporations for assets nationalized decades ago.

The New York Times got it exactly right: the events “evoked memories of a bygone era of gunboat diplomacy, where the U.S. employed its military might to secure territory and resources for its own advantage.”

Trump hung a portrait in the White House featuring himself alongside William McKinley—the president who seized the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico. Now he’s acting out McKinley’s imperial playbook, but without even the pretense of Congressional authorization that McKinley obtained.

Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress—not the President—the power to declare war. This isn’t ambiguous. This isn’t a gray area. The Founders explicitly rejected giving war powers to the executive because they had just fought a revolution against monarchical power.

Lincoln understood this. Even while expanding executive authority to suppress rebellion, he sought Congressional authorization, submitted to Congressional oversight, and accepted that courts and elections could check him.

Trump’s position, articulated by his defenders, is different: Congressional authorization is irrelevant when the cause is just. Maduro is evil. Venezuela’s people are suffering. Sometimes you have to crack a few eggs. Constitutional process is pedantry when outcomes are good.

This is not Lincoln’s emergency power. This is Carl Schmitt’s sovereignty: the sovereign is he who decides on the exception. The strong leader acts decisively. Constitutional constraint is obstacle, not obligation. Emergency is permanent condition justifying permanent exception.

Lincoln used emergency power within constitutional framework to preserve that framework from destruction. Trump uses emergency claims to declare himself outside constitutional framework—to wage war, seize governments, and extract resources without Congressional authorization, without declaration of war, without even the pretense that constitutional constraints apply to him.

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This isn’t isolated. This is the pattern.

When election results constrain him, he claims fraud, attempts to prevent certification, and incites assault on the Capitol.

When courts rule against him, he calls the judiciary illegitimate and promises to ignore adverse rulings.

When Congress investigates, he refuses subpoenas, claims absolute immunity, and purges inspector generals.

When the Constitution limits war powers, he wages war unilaterally from his private club while his defenders mock proceduralism.

Every emergency claim serves the same purpose: eliminate the constraint. Never preserve the framework. Always escape accountability.

His defenders make it explicit. Marco Rubio, now Secretary of State and National Security Adviser, said of Venezuela’s interim leader: “We think they’re going to have some unique and historic opportunities to do a great service for the country, and we hope that they’ll accept that opportunity.”

Translation: do what we want, or face second-wave military action. This isn’t partnership. This isn’t liberation. This is imperial diktat backed by armada.

Trump himself was clearer: America will extract Venezuela’s oil, and the partnership with the United States will make“the people of Venezuela rich, independent, and safe”—if they comply. If they resist, he warned: “We’re not afraid of boots on the ground.”

This is conquest. Announced from Mar-a-Lago. Without Congressional authorization. In explicit pursuit of seizing another nation’s resources for American corporate benefit.

Lincoln would have recognized this instantly as what he fought against. This is executive power divorced from constitutional constraint. This is sovereignty claiming exception to law itself.

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We’re not in normal politics. Normal politics is policy disagreement within shared constitutional framework. Should taxes be higher? How should we conduct foreign policy? What’s the right balance of regulation?

This is regime crisis. One side claims constitutional constraints don’t apply when emergency or good outcomes justify exception. The other side keeps pretending we’re having normal policy debate.

When the President wages war without Congress, that’s not “foreign policy I disagree with.” That’s constitutional violation requiring constitutional response.

When the President announces from his private club that his cabinet will “run” a foreign nation of thirty million people indefinitely, that’s not “aggressive foreign policy.” That’s declaration that constitutional war powers don’t constrain him.

When his defenders argue the violation doesn’t matter because Maduro is evil and outcomes are good, that’s not “different political philosophy.” That’s rejection of constitutional constraint as governing principle.

Every act of “let’s debate the Venezuela policy” is collaboration with framework destruction. Not because debate is bad, but because they’re not proposing policy within the framework—they’re eliminating the framework while we debate.

You can’t defeat “constitutional constraints are optional” by following constitutional constraints politely while the other side wages war from private clubs. You can only defend the framework by using every power that framework provides.

This is the regime crisis I wrote about in the manifesto. This is what happens when democratic constraint disappears. This is what Lincoln fought to prevent.

And this is what defense of the republic requires us to stop.

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We cannot treat this as normal politics. Trump just declared from Mar-a-Lago that he will “run” Venezuela indefinitely, extract its oil, and deploy military force against resistance—without Congressional authorization, without constitutional process, without even pretense that constraints apply.

This requires constitutional response. Now.

Congress must immediately assert Article I war powers. This is why we demand that primary candidates commit to using Congress’s full constitutional authority. Demand authorization vote. Refuse appropriations for Venezuelan occupation. Censure the President for constitutional violation. Use inherent contempt power to detain executive officials who defy Congressional authority. Impeach if he refuses to yield to constitutional process.

This is what Steve Schmidt named: Congress has absolute power under the Constitution to compel executive compliance, including detention for non-compliance. It’s been used many times in American history. The current Congress refuses to use it while the executive branch treats the legislative branch as subordinate.

Courts must address whether the President can unilaterally wage war and announce indefinite occupation without Congressional authorization. This isn’t hypothetical anymore—it’s happening. Right now. On American naval vessels offshore Venezuela.

Citizens must recognize this as regime crisis, not policy dispute. The framework must be defended or it will collapse. Go to the town halls. Show up to the candidate debates. Ask them directly: Will you vote to assert Article I war powers against unconstitutional military action? Will you use inherent contempt power to detain officials who defy Congress? Will you close the post-9/11 immunity gap that lets executive officials operate outside constitutional constraint? Make them answer on the record. Film it. Share it.

This is why we demand statutory cause of action for executive violations that close the immunity gap. This is why we demand democratic veto over infrastructure of surveillance and extraction. This is why we demand sectoral ownership limits that prevent the same actors from coordinating money, law, narrative, and enforcement as one integrated instrument.

Because without structural constraint, this is what you get: a President announcing imperial conquest from his private club, pointing at his cabinet, saying “we’re going to be running it.”

Every day Congress allows this to stand without asserting Article I authority, constitutional war powers become more optional. Every day courts fail to rule, executive sovereignty becomes more normalized. Every day citizens treat this as normal politics, the framework erodes further.

Lincoln understood that the framework is worth fighting for. The Union is worth preserving. Constitutional constraints are what make self-government possible.

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The Anti-Lincoln

Trump has announced he’s outside those constraints. His cabinet will “run” foreign nations. His military will enforce his will. Congress is irrelevant. Courts don’t matter. Constitutional process doesn’t apply.

That’s not Lincoln’s emergency power. That’s the death of constitutional republic—announced from a private club, justified by oil rights, defended by people who invoke Lincoln while inverting everything he fought for.

Lincoln asked: How do I preserve the Union when secession threatens to destroy it?

Trump asks: How do I do what I want when constitutional process constrains me?

Lincoln used emergency power to preserve the framework, then submitted to constitutional accountability.

Trump uses emergency claims to eliminate constraints, then rejects accountability as illegitimate.

Lincoln fought to save self-government. Trump announced imperial conquest. One defended the regime. One destroys it.

Trump isn’t like Lincoln. He’s the anti-Lincoln—the structural opposite, the precise inversion, the thing Lincoln would have recognized as the enemy of constitutional republic.

When Trump’s defenders invoke Lincoln to justify Saturday’s declaration, they reveal they don’t understand what Lincoln fought for. Lincoln would have been horrified by a President waging war from a private club without Congressional authorization, announcing indefinite occupation of a foreign nation, explicitly seeking to extract resources for corporate benefit, and threatening further military action against anyone who resists.

That’s not emergency power to preserve constitutional framework. That’s imperial conquest wrapped in emergency rhetoric. That’s exactly what the Founders designed Article I war powers to prevent.

The framework must be defended. Now. While it still exists to defend.

This is the manifesto in action. This is the regime crisis we warned about. This is the moment that tests whether Americans are citizens or subjects.

Lincoln preserved the framework. Trump declares himself outside it.

Your grandparents knew which side they were on when the republic was threatened. They fought. They won. They built the middle class and the democratic alliance that kept the peace for seventy years.

We will do it again.

2026 begins now.

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