U.S. Power Comes From Law, Not Slogans or Threats

Recent official social media posts show the president in stark, militarized imagery, paired with phrases like “THIS IS OUR HEMISPHERE” and “FAFO,” shared from government accounts. This is not strength. It is threat-based messaging dressed up as power. James Madison warned that “the accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands… may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” Rhetoric like this makes America less respected, not more feared in a productive way. Former Senator John McCain said America is strongest when it leads by “the power of our example, not the example of our power.” Reality-TV style intimidation is childish and unfit for a constitutional democracy. The Constitution matters. Separation of powers matters. Congress has a duty to reject this messaging and reassert that U.S. authority comes from law, restraint, and democratic accountability, not TV slogans and threats.