The Blue Wave—I

David Cole • Sue Halpern • Mark O’Connell • Quinn SlobodianThe People’s ReferendumDavid ColeEarly in President Donald Trump’s second term, I spoke at a local Washington, D.C., bookstore on civil liberties and the rule of law. DOGE was taking a wrecking ball to federal agencies, Trump had pardoned everyone involved in the January 6 assault on the US Capitol and Capitol police, and the White House had issued a raft of unprecedented and unconstitutional executive orders. I stressed the gravity of the threats we faced, but also our collective power as citizens to push back, if we used our First Amendment rights to dissent, organize, assemble, and petition for redress of our grievances. And the midterms, I emphasized, would be upon us before we knew it, affording us an opportunity to use the formal political process to register our opposition. The first question I got from the packed house was “What if there are no midterms?” The worry was understandable; Trump had already engaged in many acts that would previously have been unthinkable. But it also reflected a fear that our institutions would fail in the face of Trump’s would-be authoritarianism.Well, we certainly had midterms. Notwith...