by Animavore wrote:President Trump has suggested that the judiciary doesn't have the authority to question him. He was a very early proponent of nuking the filibuster for Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch. And he recently raised eyebrows by congratulating Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the expansion of his presidential powers — echoing his previous admiration for strongman leaders.
Now Trump is talking about consolidating his own power.
In an interview with Fox News that aired Friday night, Trump dismissed the “archaic” rules of the House and Senate — using that word four times — and suggested they needed to be streamlined for the good of the country.
A sampling:
•“We don't have a lot of closers in politics, and I understand why: It's a very rough system. It's an archaic system.”
•“You look at the rules of the Senate, even the rules of the House — but the rules of the Senate and some of the things you have to go through — it's really a bad thing for the country, in my opinion. They're archaic rules. And maybe at some point we're going to have to take those rules on, because, for the good of the nation, things are going to have to be different.”
•“You can't go through a process like this. It's not fair. It forces you to make bad decisions. I mean, you're really forced into doing things that you would normally not do except for these archaic rules.”
And then Trump came out and just said it: He doesn't like the filibuster.
“I think, you know, the filibuster concept is not a good concept to start off with,” he said.
So there you go. Trump is frustrated with the pace of legislation after 100 days, and his answer is that he wants to change the rules.
Whether this is just him blowing off steam or signaling what lies ahead, it's significant. Because it suggests a president, yet again, who doesn't agree with his own powers being limited or even questioned. Remember when senior policy adviser Stephen Miller declared “the powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned?” This is more of that kind of attitude.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the ... b066c68625
The short version: because he's used to operating like a dictator in business, he now wants to operate like a dictator in politics.
Hmm, wonder how many times history has shown that to be a bad idea?
Isn't this exactly why the American Constitution was framed the way it was, to prevent a demagogue like Trump from turning the USA into a de facto dictatorship? Hmm, looks like those people 200+ years ago knew a thing or two.
Moreover, I suspect many of the same people who thought obstructing Obama at every step was perfectly legitimate, will think handing executive powers on a plate to Trump will also be legitimate. At least, until they learn the hard way what that entails for themselves and their friends.
There's a reason developed jurisdictions don't include an executive presidency as part of their political process. One that was understood perfectly by Jefferson et al, and one that, perversely, allowed Trump to get where he is today as a result of being suppressed. It's the same reason developed jurisdictions strove long and hard to kill off the insidious Dark Ages concept of the 'divine right of kings'. Trump seems to think he should be given licence to rule, in exactly the same manner as the likes of Louis XVI, and we all know how well that ended.
