Opinion: Trump turns the presidency into a dictatorship

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LeafByNiggle

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From USA Today:

On Monday, Trump turned his attention to the inspector general who oversees the Department of Health and Human Services, who had just released a report revealing the extent to which hospitals were struggling to meet the health care demands associated with treating COVID-19 patients. The thorough review included interviews from 323 hospitals across 46 states and stood in stark contrast with the rhetoric coming from the president. Naturally, Trump labeled the report a “Fake Dossier” and suggested “politics” influenced it.

On Tuesday, the president removed Pentagon Inspector General Glenn Fine. He had just been designated to oversee the newly created Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, a watchdog panel authorized by Congress to conduct oversight of the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill. The same day, Trump said he had seven IGs in his sights — prompting Sen. Chris Murphy to announce he would draft a bill to “give all Inspectors General protected 7 year terms.”

continued:…
 
In the course of three days, Trump fired an IG for telling the truth, attacked another for exposing the totality of a health care pandemic, and removed another in a brazen effort to avoid being held accountable for how trillions of taxpayer dollars will be allocated.

Trump feels empowered to obliterate the guardrails of checks and balances. Bit by bit, he has stripped away the levers of oversight until there’s nothing left. It started by ignoring congressional subpoenas for his financial records. It continued as Trump refused to cooperate with the House impeachment investigation, stonewalling Congress’ attempts to hear witness testimony and conduct depositions with administration officials close to the president. And now he is leading a purge of the final remaining frontier of oversight — the inspectors general.

For anyone hoping the Supreme Court will assert its role as the third branch of government, it has delayed hearing cases, including three lawsuits involving Trump’s tax returns and financial dealings. And yet, somehow, the Supreme Court managed to reverse a federal judge’s order to extend absentee voting by a week in Wisconsin’s primary on Tuesday. The result was that voters had to choose between their health and their civic duty.
 
Sorry, I respectfully disagree.

Trump was correct to fire the IGs. He was elected on a “drain the swamp” platform. The IGs are just another part of the bloated “deep state” federal bureaucracy loyal to itself. The push to give the IGs 7-year terms simply makes the IGs themselves into dictators, much as the article derides Trump for being.

Trump didn’t answer congressional subpoeanas? Like those issued by Adam “breathing-is-an- impeachable-offense-when-Trump-does-it” Shiff?

Trump has abided all orders by the Supreme Court - and, more critically, by lower courts, including district courts - when they have ruled against his administration. In fact, the Supreme Court recently excoriated the practice that anti-Trump district courts have engaged in, namely, issuing orders trying to enjoin Trump’s policies on a nationwide level, far beyond the lawful reach of those courts’ jurisdictions. Since when should unelected district court judges be able to circumvent the will of the people, who lawfully elected Trump via the electoral college? They shouldn’t.

One more point, on the same lines: Dictators generally don’t follow unfavorable court rulings. They either own the courts or just ignore them. When Justice John Marshall ruled against President Andrew Jackson, Jackson gave his now famous statement, “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it!” response. You will look till doomsday to find Trump saying things like that.

I’m sorry, this article is just more Trump bashing.

MAGA!
Keep America Great!
 
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Opinion: Trump Turns Presidency Into Dictatorship.
On Monday, Trump turned his attention to the inspector general who oversees the Department of Health and Human Services, who had just released a report revealing the extent to which hospitals were struggling to meet the health care demands associated with treating COVID-19 patients.


It remains astonishing how when Trump does what Obama did, Trump is a dictator.
Firing employees of the executive branch is part of the powers of the chief executive. That’s not dictatorship. That’s the constitution.
 
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Sort of looks to me like plenty of power is still shared by the courts and the legislature…just as the founding fathers envisioned.
 
Oh please. He’s not a dictator. Let’s be realistic. The Democrats are doing exactly what Republicans did when Obama was president.
 
Sort of looks to me like plenty of power is still shared by the courts and the legislature…just as the founding fathers envisioned.
Now it’s my turn. Did the founding fathers envision a mostly Republican Supreme Court that would allow the slaughter of the unborn in 1973 and affirmed in 1992?
 
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Ok, none of us here like Roe.
And your point is…what? That Trump is a dictator? That he isn’t?

Or is this just “let’s make every thread about abortion?”
 
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And yet…he’s president in all 50 states.

Directed to thebee, sorry
 
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Now it’s my turn. Did the founding fathers envision a mostly Republican Supreme Court that would allow the slaughter of the unborn in 1973 and affirmed in 1992?
That may be relative if the Supreme Court was a patrician branch. However, it is not. The personal political leanings of an Justice on the SC is irrelevant.
 
My intent was poorly communicated. What I was actually thinking about was how the ceding of power to Palpatine in the Star Wars saga was done in an entirely legal way. It was not so much about Trump being like Palpatine as it was about the Congress being like the Senate of Galactic Republic in the way that they have willingly allowed so much legal power to be concentrated in one man.
 
Trump is no more or less powerful than any other president before him.
 
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