What is going on here, and why are people ok with this?    The media is reporting, and I have confirmed it with my own eyes, that the White House has removed the Judicial Branch from the tab “Our Government.”

Here is the White House website as of 8am on January 30th. Look, we no longer have three branches of government.  We have two.  The Executive and the Legislative branch.

Here is the White House website as archived on January 1, 2017.   We had three independent branches of government.  A Judicial branch.  You know, that thing which has the Third Article of the U.S. Constitution.  “The Judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court and in such inferior courts as Congress shall ordain and establish…”

Now, you might think, maybe the Trump webmeister decided to include the Judicial Branch under the heading “the Constitution,” but that isn’t the case.  That page merely describes what the Constitution is, and provides a link to the full-text of it, which of course, includes the Third Branch of government.

Yeah, something stinks at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and if I had to guess, I’d argue that this is a subtle way for the Trump administration to delegitimize the Judiciary — where it knows that all of its controversial policy actions are going to end up in litigation.   Don’t be fooled people.  And don’t just ignore this.  It is a serious problem.  We have already seen indications that the administration is going to try to ignore the federal court order putting a stay on the Muslim Ban (and yeah, it is a Muslim ban).

So, let’s have a refresher in Political Science 101.  Basic principles of American constitutional government. There are three branches of government, the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The legislative (Congress) makes the laws, as spelled out in Article I. The executive (the president) executes or enforces the laws (Article II), and the Judiciary interprets the laws (Article III).

Alternative facts: We have two branches of government. How long until the First Branch disappears and there is only one Supreme leader.    I am sure the Ministry of Truth can easily rectify all of this.

Be vigilant people.   Call Congress.  Tell them they are at risk of disappearing too.

Edit:  The Judicial Branch has come back.   Wow.   I guess it was just a trial balloon to see if we missed it.  Yeah, whatever.