Is Donald Trump taking on too much power as president? Where does he get the authority to do so? Is there any precedent for it?
In answer, I am now reposting, in its entirety, a blog I wrote on November 15 after Donald Trump became President.
But not November 15, 2024, after he became President the second time.
This one was written November 15 2016 – after he won the presidency the first time.
Why is it relevant to the title of this blog? Read it and I’m sure you’ll understand:
===============================================
THE “WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND” FACTOR
Suddenly, that usurpation of power the left loved when the president’s name was Obama may not be such a hotsy-totsy thing after all.
From an editorial published by Investors Business Daily:
It’s quite an irony that the one whom many on the left said they couldn’t stomach as president should become president and inherit a whole panoply of new presidential powers that President Obama used and no one other than conservatives objected to. Because now, a President Trump can use the same powers.
As Damon Root of Reason magazine has noted, candidate Barack Obama in 2007 professed deep concern about the expansion of executive powerunder President Bush, and vowed to be very different. “The president is not above the law,” he said.
Flash forward to early 2014, when, frustrated with the Republican-controlled Congress, he said: “I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone … and I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions.”
His words only reinforced what he had already been doing. “For nearly eight years, President Obama massively expanded his authority on national security issues: on the prosecution of whistleblowers, secret surveillance courts, wars without congressional authorization, and drone campaigns without public oversight,” noted Tim Mak of the Daily Beast. “During this time the left, with the exception of some civil liberties groups, remained largely silent.”
Obama also unilaterally named a number of officials to fill offices that required Senate approval, claiming that he could do so because the Senate, he claimed, was not in session. In fact, it was.
Never mind that some constitutional scholars believe that those “executive actions” in some cases represented a constitutional breach. The left enthusiastically embraced Obama’s use of extraordinary presidential powers because, hey, “elections have consequences,” “the ends justify the means,” and, as Obama himself once so eloquently put it, “I won.”
They may now live to regret that.
Does anyone doubt that Donald Trump, an A type personality if ever there were one, will use whatever advantages he’s got?
When Democrats and their left wing buddies (very, very often one and the same) howl about it, as they inevitably will, maybe they should spend a moment or two reflecting on who gave Trump those powers.
But, realistically, I doubt they’ll spend even a second doing so. A very large part of this bunch have become immune to hearing anyone but themselves…
…which is why Donald Trump won the election in the first place.
==========================================
Democrats are now screaming bloody murder over Donald Trump taking on more and more power. And they have a point.
But let’s never forget who set the market for this. Let’s never forget that Trump’s power takeover is a continuation of what Democrats did under Barack Obama (and most certainly continued during the Biden/whoever was actually running the presidency administration which just completed).
What goes around comes around. Truer words were never spoken.
