Pandora’s President

Oh. My. God.  How does anyone sit through an entire press conference given by Trump without wondering who ties his shoes every morning?  I just finished watching his presser on declaring an emergency for the southern border, and I don’t think that he even realizes that he killed his defense for the inevitable court cases that are coming.

Trump, questioned by @PeterAlexander, concedes there’s no national emergency to justify building his wall. “I didn’t need to do this.” “I just want to do it faster.” A gift to all the lawyers preparing to sue him.

— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) February 15, 2019

He declared a national emergency by saying that he didn’t need to declare a national emergency.  In addition, Republican leadership in Congress has basically bent over and lubed themselves and the Constitution with Astroglide by even giving in to the idea of allowing him to do this.  Even pre-president Trump disagrees with his own actions now.

Repubs must not allow Pres Obama to subvert the Constitution of the US for his own benefit & because he is unable to negotiate w/ Congress.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 20, 2014

Remember when conservatives cried about Obama shredding the Constitution when he used Executive Power to enact immigration policy?  When will we hear the same cries from those same criers about this act here?  Don’t hold your breath because the current ideology of the GOP is one of bad precedent.  Just look at the actions over the past decade if you doubt me.

In 2008, GOP leadership met in secret and devised the agenda to obstruct the incoming president regardless of his position or ideas.  If he was for something, then they had to be 100% against it.

In 2010, the GOP took control of the House claiming to be fiscally responsible and to repeal the PPACA and provide better health coverage.  It’s 2019, the PPACA is still law, and the GOP have not done jack shit in lowering the cost of healthcare in the US, providing better coverage, or expanding coverage for us.

In 2014, the GOP took control of the Senate.  Controlling both houses, they refused to negotiate with the sitting president that was duly elected TWICE with a majority not seen since the 1950s.  Like him or not, dude was popular with the citizens.  We ended up with a drop in our credit rating as a result of obstinate action from Republicans.

In 2016, the Senate Majority Leader refused to allow Obama to exercise his Constitutional authority in seating a justice on the Supreme Court.  In addition, several Republicans went on record suggesting that they wouldn’t allow Clinton to fill that seat over a 4 year term if she had won the election.

In 2017, the same SML killed the filibuster on voting for Supreme Court justices to allow a Republican to fill a seat that the prior president was not allowed to do.

Now, the same SML has pretty much said the president has the authority of appropriations even though that authority is expressly given to the legislative branch in the Constitution.  So much for an ideology that claims to revere the Constitution.

A decade ago, I was pretty much ambivalent towards ideologies and parties.  Over the past decade, the antics of Republican leaders have pretty much shown me they don’t give a damn about the country, its citizens, or even the Constitution.  All they care about is power and the money that comes with it.  I’ve been accused of being a liberal before, and I’ve always prided myself on being pretty much a centrist.  Now, that has changed.  Until this cancer of a party is removed from our system, I cannot have anything to do with it.  I’ve never associated myself with liars and criminals, and I’m not about to start now.

I really hope the people who elected Pandora’s President understand what they’ve done to this country.  That endorphin rush from the feeling of STIGGINIT to the libs when you put Trump in office won’t be enough to repair the damage that he’s been allowed to do to Constitutional norms and our laws.  I’m not the only one who sees this, and these sentiments come from people all across the spectrum.  When you have lefties, righties, and centrists all agreeing on something, then you should really take notice and heed the warnings.

Declaring a fake "national emergency" to usurp congressional budget power and seize private property is exactly the type of executive overreach that impeachment was designed to cure. That Article II power is the weapon the Founders gave to Congress to defend itself. 1/10

— Jay Bookman (@jaysbookman) February 15, 2019

1/ Every one of you "conservatives" gushing about the abuse of emergency powers owns it when a Democratic President declares a national emergency on Day 1.

Whether it's on guns or abortion or climate or LGBT issues, you just remember, you wanted this to be how things go.

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) February 14, 2019

You can also check out Wilson’s WaPo piece here.  It’s worth the read.