The Problem Isn't Kings, It's the Presidency

Kings or president? The real danger of executive power

The third "No Kings" protest shook several US cities last Saturday, with the left mobilized against Trump. But the analysis underlying these demonstrations suffers from a basic error: treating Trump as an exceptional break with the status quo, when in reality he is the culmination of a presidential system concentrating powers no constitutional monarch could dream of. The president is not a king; he is far more dangerous, because his democratic legitimacy allows him to advance unchecked.

The myth of the "bad king"

Opposition to Trump since 2017 has rested on the idea that he represents an anomaly, an aspiring dictator corrupting a democracy that until then worked. But that narrative ignores the fact that real power lies in the presidency itself, an institution designed to act quickly and without consultation, shielded by fiat money and central banks. As a recent analysis pointed out, "without those tools, they would find it hard to steal without people noticing." Inflation, that silent tax that hits the poor hardest, is the most tangible proof of presidential power over the real economy.

Inflation as a hidden tax

Twenty years ago, the phrase "inflation is the tax of the poor" was common knowledge. Today, repeating it draws blank stares. That forgetting is no accident: the financial system has become so opaque that even those suffering rising prices fail to identify the culprit. Henry Ford summed it up: "If people understood how the financial system works, there would be a revolution." But there isn't one, at least not in Spain.

Spain: a case of tolerated apathy

Here, there would be no revolution, nor is one needed. As has been argued, with the internet any citizen has access to all the information they could want, but the use made of it is nil. The Spanish people, for the most part, have never stood out for their courage against tyranny. They prefer complaining at the bar to organizing. Meanwhile, the presidency and its tools —fiat money, central banks— keep operating at full capacity, eroding purchasing power while nobody lifts a finger.

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The question left hanging is whether the current discontent, channeled into protests like "No Kings," will ever connect with the real problem: not the man in the White House, but the system that empowers him. As long as the president is mistaken for a king, the battle is lost from the start.

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