During impeachment, career bureaucrats and Democrats repeatedly argued that President Trump tried to abuse the powers of his office for personal political gain. But ultimately, the checks and balances both from within the executive branch and from Congress and the media worked. Trump had to release the aid to Ukraine that Congress had authorized prior to the appropriation’s expiration date.
The point here is that Trump is not an unchecked force in Washington. In fact, he’s probably the most “checked” president in our modern era. Today, as Trump badly botches his coronavirus response, it’s important to note how deeply he is distrusted by his own party, opposed by even the most centrist of Democrats, and ruthlessly scrutinized by the media. We can’t even go a single day without embarrassing, insane fulminations by pundits over how many ice cream scoops he gets or his latest Twitter typo.
If only all politicians were scrutinized this well. Unfortunately, though, they aren’t. And it must be pointed out right now that Kamala Harris has as little regard for norms as Trump does but will never be held to the same standards that could limit the harm she would do in Washington if given any real power.
That isn’t a defense of Trump but rather a recognition that when Trump steps out of line, there are forces to restrain him. In contrast, Harris’s outright misconduct in office, historically speaking and going forward, has drawn and will draw cheers from the Fourth Estate. The media have forgotten that their job is to hold all the powerful to account, not just one team.
As the coronavirus situation has proven, rather than usurp power, Trump tends to abdicate responsibility when faced with a crisis. In contrast, Joe Biden’s running mate repeatedly proved both as a prosecutor and during her own presidential campaign that she would amass and exercise power to the extent possible.
When Trump signed an executive order to build his wall, he was met with media bedlam. A staggering 18 senators from his own party voted to overturn his order.
In contrast, when Harris teased packing the Supreme Court and openly backed abolishing the legislative filibuster, far greater abuses than anything Trump has done, the California senator didn’t just earn plaudits from her base, she earned them from a supposedly objective news media as well.
When Republicans have power, they can’t pass a simple Trump healthcare bill. When Democrats have power, they use the entire intelligence community to surveil domestic political adversaries. The situation is strangely asymmetrical.
Thanks to all the constraints Trump faces, his presidency has not been that terrible or even that destructive of norms. He has proven himself to be tolerably irksome in good times and feckless in bad times. The best case for his reelection is that he is less authoritarian than the alternative and significantly more constrained. But the moment Harris takes power, the media watchdogs and the bureaucratic class will go back to the vacation they were taking throughout the Obama era.
