U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) is undeterred by the “No Kings” signs that have become prominent at recurring ‘Hands Off’ rallies around the state and has launched a speaking program to raise the alarm about America’s democracy being in peril.
Never one to let a low-hanging news hook pass by, Sen. King pegged an op-ed in TIME magazine on Saturday’s 250th anniversary of patriot Paul Revere’s famous freedom ride in which he warned Massachusetts rebels that “the British are coming.”
“I believe that what is happening now is the most serious challenge to the Constitution and the bedrock principle of checks and balances our country has ever faced,” King wrote. “The problem is the dramatic and far-reaching usurpation of legislative authority in the pursuit of that agenda, and if the Congress doesn’t act, it will be the most serious abdication of such authority by any Congress in our history,” he added.
Last Friday, he joined Lincoln County-based historian Heather Cox Richardson on her online program to elaborate on these themes. Richardson’s latest book Democracy Awakening “sheds light on the tactics employed by certain forces to distort historical narratives and manipulate educational institutions in order to justify an inequitable social hierarchy,” its promotional materials suggest. King could not have chosen a more friendly forum in which to inveigh against the Trump administration allegedly undermining democratic norms.
In particular, King called out President Trump’s use of executive orders to direct policy, dismantling of federal agencies like USAID, and ignoring orders from the the judiciary in the instance of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to El Salvador last month.
“It’s really about the power going all into one set of hands, and I don’t care if the president is the Archangel Gabriel. It’s going to lead to abuse,” King told WCSH-TV on Monday. “One thousand years of human history tells us that,” he added.
In February, King took to the Senate floor to call for for drawing “red lines” when it comes to the abuse of power and breaches of the Constitution.
Despite his determined branding as a democracy defender, King is not the first to suggest democracy in America is a partisan issue. A short trip in the wayback machine; however, reminds that King himself played fast and loose with the First Amendment in his 2018 re-election by singling out critics of his candidacy for de-platforming on Twitter.
[RELATED: Maine’s Angus King Leaned on Twitter to Monitor GOP Opponent’s Supporters in 2018 – Twitter Files]
Errant facts should not distract from a good narrative, though.
In both the 2020 presidential election and 2022 midterm congressional races, Democrats — with whom King usually caucuses — made ‘democracy’ the headlining theme of their campaigns. In the absence of better-proven tactics, Maine’s junior senator is flogging a familiar theme.
Mainers can expect him to stick to his script.
