President Trump’s latest jab at the limits on executive power came recently at a televised roundtable forum on school shootings that also included Vice President Mike Pence.
Pence shared a conventional Republican view that law enforcement needs judicial oversight before confiscating weapons. He noted that states like California allow police officers to go to court and obtain an order to collect someone’s gun when red flags suggest the person is a possible threat to themselves or others. “Allow due process, so that no one’s rights are trampled,” he said.
Trump interjected, revealing a schism within the administration. “Oh, Mike, take the firearms first and then go to court,” he said. “Because of a lot of times, by the time you go to court, it takes so long to go to court, to get the due process procedures. I like taking the guns early, like in this crazy man’s case that just took place in Florida. … To go to court would have taken a long time.”
As The Washington Post’s James Hohmann noted, Trump eliminated any doubt about whether he had misspoken. The president grumbled that there are too many “checks and balances” that limit what can be done to prevent mentally unfit people from buying guns. “So we have to do something very decisive,” he said.
The fact that Trump would so casually dismiss due process is dangerous. Trump’s caviler comments show a reckless attitude for our vital liberties. The Founding Fathers disagreement with an autocratic English king led to the creation of this country. The rights found in Constitution make us citizens and not mere plebs of the president.
The president’s contempt for due process should not come as a surprise. Trump regularly makes overtures to tyrants and dictators. Recently, he expressed admiration for the Philippines which executes drug dealers without a trial. “You know the Chinese and Filipinos don’t have a drug problem. They just kill them,” he said.
Trump also recently shared admiration for Chinese President Xi Jinping after the Communists paved the way for Jinping to serve for life.
And no one truly understands Trump’s relationship with Russia and President Vladimir Putin.
Trump is slow-walking the nation toward an imperial presidency, endangering our civil rights and national interests. We are not without hope, though. The president has the attention span of a 12-year-old, and the courts are keeping the administration in check.
As Americans, we cannot take for granted Trump’s perilous path. His efforts to “Make America Great Again,” will dismantle the American dream. Everything that so many remarkable Americans built will fall, in the ashes of the American ideal is a nation twisted by Trump’s ego and dictatorial tactics.
To protect our republic, the people must reassert themselves. The Democratic Party does not have the numbers to provide a sufficient resistance. There also are too few Republicans in Congress willing to speak out or stand-up against the president. For the most part, Republicans remain determined to defend Trump at all costs.
America waits for the results of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, but we cannot take the outcome for granted. Midterm elections provide a window of opportunity to vote for candidates who will slow down this presidency. Unless we act, the Trump administration will continue to whittle away our institutions and undermine our democracy.
