Lookback in Time at Trump – dateline: April 17, 2020 – in his
words NOT mine as reported on here
from CNN by journalist Jill Filipovic (formatted to fit the blog) with
this headline:
“A
day after claiming total power Trump caves in”
(CNN) – It was a Trump statement
that should have stopped every American cold he said: “The president of the
United States calls the shots. [The states] can't do anything without the approval
of the president of the United States. When somebody is the president of the
United States, the authority is total and that's the way it's got to be ... It's total. The governors know that.”
That was Trump on April 13, 2020 at White House’s Monday coronavirus
news briefing asserting “total and largely imaginary authority over the states.
His comments weren't just chilling for all of us who believe
in American democracy; they threatened a constitutional confrontation over when
and how to reopen the country in the thick of this pandemic.
But a full day after pushback from governors, he
was alternately trying to walk back his previous comments and
spin them.
He told reporters he would: “Be authorizing each
individual governor of each individual state to implement a reopening – and a
very powerful opening plan – of their state at a time and in a manner as most
appropriate. I'm not putting any pressure on the governors.”
Sure – other than telling them the day before that he had “total authority over them,” no pressure at all.
So, how did Republicans, who typically trumpet state's rights, respond to his toothless power grab on Monday? Most stayed silent. His “total power declaration” brings three things into sharp focus:
The first is that
the President is, as his detractors have long argued, a wannabe totalitarian, a
man who is less interested in public service – and public health – than he is
envious of authoritarians like: Hungary's Viktor Orban to China's Xi Jinping to North Korea's Kim Jong-Un to Russia's Vladimir Putin and a few others.
“Total power” is exactly what all totalitarians achieve to grab hold of.
The second is
that the Trump is ignorant and
unintelligent.
The third any
claims Republicans once had to a reasoned ideology or conservative philosophy
have proven fabricated; it was just about consolidating power all along.
No president of the United
States has “total authority over the states.”
You don't need to be a constitutional scholar to figure that out – you just have to read the document itself.
The 10th Amendment states: “The powers not delegated to the United
States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to
the States respectively, or to the people.”
But in case that's not sufficient, constitutional scholars the nation over are attempting
to clue the President and his supporters in as well that: Trump does not have
all the rights of a dictator, and it's unclear where he even got that idea.
This is an important moment to reemphasize that Donald J.Trump
is not a learned man. Yes, he has a business degree, but he shows no interest
in learning, no curiosity about the world around him, and little apparent
ability to ingest much in the way of new information that is not presented in simple pictures or on TV.
Comprehending complex material seems far beyond his grasp.
His intelligence briefings have to be pared down to child-like levels, and he still barely reads them, and even has resisted receiving them regularly.
Some around him even believe he's indifferent to the printed word.
Does anyone really think this man has even read, let alone understood, the Constitution?
Full
article continues here – worth the read.
My 2 Cents: As I said an excellent article and perfect reminder of
who Donald J. Trump truly is as I have said many times here and at other forums
which is true in my experience in life and by watching him over the four years
he was in office, and now more so today as he (con)templates a 2024 rerun for
office.
Trump is a highly skilled and
experienced con-artist snake oil salesman of utter BS.
My message for those who follow him like most of the GOP and many others
lately is this: Beware of him – face up to reality: Donald J. Trump is a clear
and present danger to us all. He must never be in elected office again.
Thanks for stopping by.
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