The US government is facing a crisis of legitimacy | Daniel Mendiola

"Between anti-immigrant zeal and a general disdain for any rules whatsoever, the Trump administration has shredded the constitutional order that makes government legitimate. This is now a legitimacy crisis. There are different philosophical approaches to government legitimacy, but in the United States, the most straightforward explanation is the social contract. Often associated with Enlightenment philosophers such as Locke and Rousseau and extremely influential with US founders, the social contract refers to the idea that the government requires the consent of the governed to be legitimate."

"The US has suffered crises of legitimacy before. Arguably, the 1964 Civil Rights Act emerged from just such a crisis. At a base level, the act conceded that to be legitimate, the government needed to actually recognize the rights of all its citizens not just those of a certain race. It didn't fix everything, but it was an important step in creating a stronger social contract for the next generation."

"One example that deserves a lot more attention than it is currently receiving, however, is the horror story of Trump's collaboration with a megaprison in El Salvador. To summarize, in March, the Trump administration forcibly sent more than 250 people, mostly Venezuelans accused of having ties to the Tren de Aragua gang, to El Salvador to be detained in a paid arrangement with Salvadorian president Nayib Bukele."

The Trump administration has shredded constitutional order and produced a legitimacy crisis by flouting legal limits and abandoning the social contract. The social contract requires government consent and adherence to constraints on power, a principle rooted in Locke and Rousseau and influential with US founders. The 1964 Civil Rights Act responded to a prior legitimacy crisis by requiring recognition of rights for all citizens. The administration reversed civil-rights progress, defied courts, attacked judges, arbitrarily revoked legal immigration statuses, and engaged in extrajudicial violence. A March operation sent over 250 people to El Salvador under a paid detention agreement with President Nayib Bukele, implicating the US in potential human-rights abuses and undermining the rule of law.

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