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The scope and the shamelessness of his behavior is unprecedented. Nothing any other president has done compares to what Trump has done, with the negative impact to the country, with such explicit opposition to American interests.
Off the top of my head: Illegal tariffs, sicking ICE on society with brutality, trying to overturn elections, constantly lying about election security to sow doubt in our democracy, declaring that any election he or the GOP loses is illegitimate, declaring that anyone who criticizes him is an enemy of the state, enriching himself and his friends with bribes and insider deals 10x what anyone could possibly claim any other politician in the US has done, selling pardons and stopping DOJ investigations for money, destroying the independent agencies that serve the country, threatening to invade allied territories, mocking our allies and reliable trading/military partners, betraying Ukraine for the benefit of his friends and Russia.
I cannot think of a way in which a determined deep Russian asset would behave differently than how Trump operates. If he isn't one, he's putting on a perfect impression.
That is a rather misguided and hyperbolic view of unitary executive theory. The president would still be elected and bounded by the constitution.
So when you say “bound by the Constitution” what you really mean is bound by being able to sway 10 senators from his own party. So… not exactly bound is it, considering he’s already shown he’s willing to arrest his political opponents (and under unitary executive theory it’s within his power to do so)
They of course are bounded by the constitution and haven't claimed otherwise. The court decides if something is unconstitutional and I do think impeachment is certainly a venue for accountability as well
If one of those competing interests can just become president and then blow up any and all compromises whenever he wants, that is a recipe for instability, as the next guy who comes in will do the same, and then no one gets what they want.
This is why unitary executive is a terrible idea, it incentivizes every executive to become a dictator because the moment they're out everything flips immediately. This is why I think for the people pushing it, dictatorship is the actual goal, because there's no theory for how their unitary executive creates stability without permanent power.
His job is to execute the laws the Congress passes, not to substitute his own judgement for Congress' when it comes to the laws he wants to execute. He has to execute them all, and that includes funding agencies he personally disagrees with but we all want to work. It's not his country.
> some limits should be imposed, but not sure what that limit should be.
What exactly are those limits and how would they be enforced? If the limit is a law Congress writes, then the executive can just choose to not enforce it. And even if they could enforce it, who would enforce it? His AG, who under UET is essentially an extension of the President?
The attitude of the Senate during cabinet approvals is always "A president deserves to get the cabinet officials he wants". There are limits, which is why accused sex trafficker Matt Gaetz did not become AG. But that didn't stop a former weekend talk show host from becoming the Secretary of Defense. (wannabe dictators love elevating unqualified people to important positions, because those people understand they could never have that position otherwise, and therefore exhibit more loyalty when asked to do things that are unscrupulous. In no world is Peter Hegseth qualified to run the DOD except in Trump's circus)
Yes. In a representative democracy, a plurality of views are represented in government, enabling checks and balances to prevent arbitrary and corrupt governance. When the president is allowed to eviscerate independent bodies and replace their leadership and fill their ranks with loyalists, you get further and further from an expression of the will of the people and closer and closer to totalitarianism.
Russia is a nominal democracy. Putin is the elected leader. He enjoys unchecked power, of which Trump is nakedly envious. Do you think that Russia’s approach is "more democratic" than that of the US because of the strength of its executive?
He absolutely did. The selective memory of those who are so vehemently against Trump just makes that side seem ridiculous and disingenuous.
The Obama administration has used the Espionage Act to go after whistleblowers who leaked to journalists, more than all previous administrations combined.
The Obama Justice Department seized the records of phone lines that Associated Press employees used. AP confirmed that the records were from personal home and cell phones of reporters and editors, as well as phones that AP used in the press quarters of the House of Representatives. ABC, CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Committee for Freedom of the Press, submitted a letter of protest to Attorney General Eric Holder about the raid.
Try out some Michael Sandel content, see if it speaks to you more than your preferred wing of the Oligarchs.