Who can police a president unwilling to abide by the law? - WaPo Bump (very depressing)
In retrospect, there was no reason we should ever have expected Donald Trump to really embrace the “equal power” aspect of the presidency. Modern presidents have typically arrived at the White House after having served elsewhere in government, often the federal legislative branch. No one had come from running a private company. No one had come to power limited only by what his lawyers couldn’t wriggle him out of. But Trump did.
During his first four years in office and during the first few weeks of his return, Trump has worked deliberately and effectively to transform the presidency from being one-third of a governmental triumvirate into something more like what his ideological allies Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban enjoy. He has been aided by remarkable capitulation from the purportedly equal branches.
As he and his team — most notably Elon Musk — run roughshod over legal and ethical boundaries, it’s been hard not to notice how unprepared the system is for an internal threat. One would in fact be justified in assuming that Trump’s failures to comply with the law might trigger no repercussions whatsoever, just as they didn’t during his first term in office and largely didn’t during his interregnum.
Who will police the president? Barring an outbreak of self-respect at the Capitol, the answers are unsatisfying. There are the courts, though that path tends to be slow and depends on respect for the courts’ authority. There’s also the public — the same public that Trump still insists wanted him to be president in November 2020. And that’s about it. Illegality by the administration is not an abstract question. Trump and/or Musk have blocked congressionally authorized spending, gutted a congressionally instituted governmental agency, fired inspectors general without the proper notice, reportedly put confidential information at risk and overseen other changes that appear to violate the Constitution or the law.
(snip)
If you’re curious what approach the Justice Department might take: Interim U.S. attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. sent a public message on Monday assuring Musk that his office in D.C. would work to protect members of Musk’s team from the putative threat of being publicly identified. It is similarly likely that a Trump-controlled Justice Department — and by all appearances this one is shaping up to be just that — would decline to launch an investigation or appoint a special counsel to evaluate Trump’s and Musk’s actions.
(snip)
Democrats, meanwhile, have limited options. The upcoming budget deadline offers a point of pressure, but it will be tricky for the party to advocate an extended government shutdown in response to Trump administration actions that include halting government spending.
More..
https://wapo.st/3Q7SEu0
(free)
= new reply since forum marked as read
