‘Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune.” With these startling words in her dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned us that the Supreme Court majority, on July 1, radically altered our democracy. We awoke on July 2 in a changed country.

The court ruled 6-3 that former president Donald Trump cannot be prosecuted for actions during his presidency that are considered “official acts.” While the ruling was in response to an appeal by Trump, Chief Justice John Roberts called it a ruling “for the ages,” applying to all presidents.

So, we now face a perfect storm if we allow the election of the most criminally inclined president in our history with the knowledge that he can get away with anything if he calls it “official.”

Selling pardons is just the tip of the iceberg.

How about his suggestion to shoot immigrants in the legs, open fire on Black Lives Matter protesters, order the military to seize all ballot boxes and redo the 2020 election, arrest and deport student protesters? In his first term, advisers told him such things are illegal. In a second term, he would surround himself with sycophants who would cheer his tyrannical tendencies.

But there is more.

Not only has the court granted immunity to presidents; it has also undermined the role of every government agency.

Under the long-standing Chevron precedent, (Chevron v. NRDC in 1984), the standard was for judges to give deference to federal regulatory agency decisions.

Why is this important? Congress passes laws to provide protections and regulations in many areas of public policy. But Congress can’t foresee every eventuality. So, it authorizes federal agencies to provide details, establish rules and procedures, and enforce those rules through the imposition of fines or orders to stop violating the rules.

Cleaner air and water, safer workplaces, the right to unionize, protection against financial scams, licensing of broadcasters, fair elections, payment of taxes, protection of endangered species, transportation safety standards — these are some of the areas that federal agencies manage.

Under the Chevron precedent, if a company sued to challenge an agency ruling, judges were not expected to insert themselves as experts. Instead, they would defer to the reasonable judgment of the agency experts.

Under several recent rulings by the conservative Supreme Court majority, that guiding principle has been overturned.

Since the current majority, vetted by the Federalist Society, has shown us repeatedly they favor the rich and powerful over the rest of us, companies will be encouraged to challenge every rule that may reduce their profits. Since this court refuses to set enforceable ethics rules for itself, there is no reason a justice won’t be able to get their very own RV and all-expense-paid vacations from whatever billionaire has a case pending before the court.

This is why I use the term “perfect storm” to describe the current crisis we are in? Read the “Project 2025” plan written by a consortium of right-wing radicals as a blueprint for a second Trump presidency. Among other dystopian suggestions, it calls for mass firing of career civil service employees, to be replaced by Trump’s hand-picked political hacks.

Some of what this right-wing gang proposes would violate existing laws. But if actions are “officially” ordered by the president, there is no legal recourse. He has immunity. He could order the military to supervise all elections. Legal? Doesn’t matter. He is immune. Imprison or assassinate political opponents? Immune.

Who doesn’t have immunity? The rest of us. People at the bottom rungs of the economic ladder will be especially hurt by the policies he and the authors of Project 2025 propose. Women would lose even more rights. Would we even have the freedom to protest, to organize a resistance to this fascistic regime? What limits would there be on the repressive power of the state under an immune Trump?

The shift to Kamala Harris has given many new hope. We now need to focus that new energy on defeating Trump. And that means telling RFK Jr., Cornel West, Jill Stein, and stay-at-home apathy to all take a hike. And it means volunteering and donating.

It will take more than one election, though, to undo the damage this Supreme Court majority has done to our ability to self-govern. Court reforms have been proposed. But that challenging process has to start with defeating Trump and returning Congress to a strong Democratic majority this fall. That is how we weather this storm.

Tom Garnder lives in Amherst and is a professor of communication at Westfield State University in Westfield.