When Belief Becomes Law: The Rise of Executive Rule and the Vanishing of Facts

During his successful defense of the British soldiers accused of killing Americans in the Boston Massacre of 1770, John Adams, the nation's second president, famously observed that "facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations or the dictates of passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."

Times have changed. When President Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, saying that the jobs numbers compiled by the agency's nonpartisan analysts and experts "were RIGGED” some pundits observed that you can fire the umpire, but you can’t change the score.

Unless you can.

Belief Becomes Fact

When the administration decided to send the National Guard to Washington D.C., critics quickly noted that crime rates in the district were the lowest they had been in 30 years. The administration’s response was to launch an investigation of those who dared to speak truth to power. A few days later, the administration credited the military deployment for the decrease in crime.

In the altered universe we now live in, the administration’s beliefs trump all else.

In the 17th century, King Louis XIV of France saw himself as the Sun King and famously declared, "L'état, c'est moi" ('I am the state'). Meet his 21st-century mentee. Using racialized tropes of rising crime despite compelling data to the contrary, the administration is sending troops to multiple cities. This may be the prelude for military interference in American elections. Comments about “training” the military in certain cities heighten this concern. Immigrants are demonized even though they are less likely than American-born citizens to commit crimes. Immigration is the rocket fuel propelling fear of “the other.” The late-night raid of a Chicago apartment building, in which agents were dropped onto the roof from a Black Hawk Helicopter, shattering windows, ransacking apartments, and detaining people without regard to their immigration status, shows how wide the net is being cast.

How Much is Two Plus Two?

In his classic, "1984," George Orwell warns of a dystopian future in which the Ministry of Truth tells the people that "War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength." In that world, two plus two equals whatever the state decrees. Blatant disregard for facts is a hallmark of the authoritarian state we are heading for, if it has not already arrived. What the administration believes or says is true becomes the truth we are instructed to accept. Invoking the rule of law seems quaint.

The rule of law is a set of principles, or ideals, for creating a just society. It relies on good faith in ensuring that we are accountable to each other. For the first time in American history, we are being ruled by executive order or fiat while not at war, based in some cases on factually unsupported assertions of national emergencies. The president has issued more than 200 executive orders. Nearly two-thirds of these “mirror or nearly mirror” Project 2025 proposals.

The National Emergencies Act allows a president to declare emergencies with nothing more than a signature, and orders can be renewed. However, Congress is responsible for determining whether an emergency actually exists. With Congress no longer exercising its authority and the Supreme Court vacating most federal district judicial orders questioning the scope of presidential power, the fundamental concepts of checks and balances and the separation of powers are vanishing. Today, even judges who issue rulings that challenge the administration’s assertions are being accused of aiding insurrection. Legal dissent is no longer treated as part of a healthy constitutional dialogue. Instead, it is cast as betrayal. This chilling redefinition of disagreement threatens the very foundation of judicial independence and democratic accountability.

Historically all presidents, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Richard Nixon, ultimately deferred to the rule of law and the limits of executive authority.

Where's the Decency?

What is also unprecedented in our history is an alarming lack of empathy. The hallmark of our democracy has always been the right to disagree with one another and with the government. Today, if you disagree or raise questions, you are vilified and attacked. The infamous communist witch hunt launched by the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1938 essentially ended on June 9, 1954, when Boston lawyer Joseph Welch confronted Sen. Joseph McCarthy, who had unfairly attacked a young associate in Welch’s law firm. "Until this moment, senator, I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness," Welch stated. "Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?"

Where is our sense of decency and why are we not demanding more from our leaders? In the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s tragic assassination some in Congress are calling for the creation of a committee to investigate violence promoted by the left which suspiciously sounds like a new House Committee On Un-American Activities. A culture of "my way or the highway" by regulating what we can say, what can be taught, who can enter universities, and mass deportation efforts that tear families and communities apart Inas turned our political culture toxic.

Why It Matters

In "The Plot Against America," author Philip Roth warned about what could have happened to our democracy had Charles Lindbergh been elected president. Lindbergh, a famous aviator, was pro-German and urged America not to enter World War II. In Roth’s fictional work, among other dire events, a radio host is fired after criticizing the administration. This has become the reality we are now experiencing.

It seems as if every day something occurs that would have been unfathomable a year ago and we become numb. But if we don’t take notice and raise objections—a hallmark of participating in a democracy—it may be too late to save our democracy.

As the author James Baldwin observed, "Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced."The Hon.

Jay Blitzman is a retired Massachusetts Juvenile Court Judge and former Executive Director of Massachusetts Advocates for Children. Jay is a law school lecturer who consults on youth and criminal issues. Blitzman is a volunteer with Lawyers Defending American Democracy.