Court Victory Masks Political Freefall

As the President basks in Supreme Court victories and executive power grabs, his core supporters are peeling away—and the consequences may be deeper than he thinks.

Guest article by Michael Cohen

Editorial credit: Joey Sussman / Shutterstock.com

I know what it’s like to believe your own hype. I lived it, peddled it, and got burned by it. But what we’re seeing now from President Trump and his ever-shrinking circle of yes-men and enablers isn’t just self-delusion; it’s something far more dangerous. It’s the kind of bubble-thick denial that not only sinks presidencies but corrodes democracy from the inside out.

The president is not as popular as his Truth Social blurts or Fox News megaphone would have you believe. Sure, his loyal base is loud. It chants, rallies, and buys the flags. But that base? It’s fractured. And not in the usual political way. I’m talking about the kind of break that no executive order or Supreme Court ruling can mend.

Just look at the recent decision by the Court—a win for Trump, at least on the surface. The justices greenlit the administration’s push to dismantle automatic birthright citizenship, or at least allowed it to edge forward by slicing the scope of nationwide injunctions. In typical Trump fashion, he called it a "monumental victory for the Constitution" while spinning it as a restoration of executive authority. But read the ruling closely—it doesn’t validate the order itself. It just tells the courts to make their roadblocks a bit more local. The legal merits of overturning the 14th Amendment haven’t been settled, and spoiler alert: they won’t be in his favor—or at least I don’t believe so.

Now here’s where things get murkier for Trump. Instead of this decision bringing unity or strength to his movement, it’s exposing cracks. Within hours, civil rights groups were back in court, filing class action suits, launching new challenges, and gearing up for the long fight. Trump and company might’ve won a battle, but they’re losing the broader war—not in court, but with the American public.

Even his own supporters are beginning to whisper what others have shouted for years: maybe, just maybe, this isn’t what they signed up for. The Proud Boys, a far-right group whose violence and loyalty once seemed carved in stone, have turned on him. Their messages on Telegram weren’t vague. They weren’t subtle. “F*** this sh*t,” read one post after the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites. These are the same people Trump once pretended not to know, only to later wink and embrace after they stormed the Capitol. Now they’re mocking him—posting doctored images, comparing his leadership to someone unfit to serve.

These folks aren’t peaceniks. They aren’t Democrats. They’re the people who believed Trump was their battering ram against the establishment. So when even they begin peeling away, when their meme-warfare turns inward, we need to ask: how much longer before the illusion of an unbreakable base completely shatters?

Now let’s tie this all together, because none of these moments exist in a vacuum. The president is emboldened by this court decision, convinced that the legal leash has finally been loosened. But at what cost? We have no functioning Congress—just a performative theater of chaos where Republicans eat their own and Democrats struggle to build consensus. That vacuum of legislative power only feeds Trump's thirst for unilateral action. But even unchecked authority, if built on shifting sands, will collapse.

The court’s ruling didn’t validate Trump’s vision; it just enabled it to go on a little longer without adult supervision. It also signaled to every future president, from either party, that courts might not be able to halt a rampaging executive if he can pick off lawsuits one state at a time. Justice Sotomayor called it a “travesty.” Justice Jackson, more pointed, warned of “an existential threat to the rule of law.”

And where is Congress? Nowhere. Cowering. Bickering. Performing for cameras instead of standing up for constitutional balance. The president pushes forward with the assumption that inertia equals endorsement, but the long arc of history has never been kind to those who rule by force rather than persuasion.

Here’s what’s coming if this keeps up: not a civil war, not martial law, but something more quietly tragic—cynicism. Disengagement. A generation of Americans who no longer believe the system works for them, because they’ve watched it be hijacked by a man who interprets legal setbacks as personal attacks and victories as divine anointment.

Even Trump’s biggest courtroom win can’t hide the truth: he’s losing his grip—not on power necessarily, but on people. And when the people stop believing, stop buying in, stop showing up... that’s when the real collapse begins.

So to the president, I offer this warning—not from a place of hatred, but from bitter experience: don’t confuse obedience with loyalty, and don’t mistake silence for support. Because when even the Proud Boys stop chanting your name and start trashing your image, it’s not just your legacy on the line; it’s the illusion of power you’ve spent years trying to perfect.

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SERIOUSLY… WHERE ARE ALL THE NEW SUPPORTERS?
WE CANNOT DO THIS ALONE.

If you’re reading this, you’re already part of the resistance. You believe in truth. In justice. In dragging the roaches of corruption into the light. But let me be brutally honest: I can’t do this without you.

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