People will die. That’s what liberals warned before the election, what the shrieking protestors shouted on Inauguration Day, and what Democrats worried ahead of the vote on the Republican tax bill. In sum, they argued, President Trump was a tyrant hell-bent on nothing less than the very destruction of democracy.
Trump has repeatedly, if unwittingly, proved them wrong, making one wonder whether the Left was really ever that scared of the president or simply saw him as a multi-purpose bogey-man.
During this morning’s executive time, Trump proved once again that he is more pouting president than aspiring authoritarian. He got on Twitter to complain about Attorney General Jeff Sessions again.
Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse. Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc. Isn’t the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 28, 2018
The substance of the tweet isn’t significant. It’s the fact that the leader of the free world has been reduced to ranting and raving about a subordinate on social media. Of course, frustrated executives aren’t anything new. Andrew Jackson famously went to war with the Supreme Court, declaring that “Justice Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it!” But Trump just tweets.
Some suggest that shows that Trump doesn’t have the guts to remove Sessions, that a man famous for telling people they’re fired, albeit in a pretend boardroom made for television, has lost his nerve. Regardless, this all says more about our constitutional system and the Trump administration than the president’s psyche.
President Obama had no such qualms. He saw his Attorney General, Eric Holder, as his “wingman.” Throughout his tenure, Holder played the role of Obama buddy rather than the top cop. He certainly didn’t intervene when that president ran roughshod over Congress and the courts, even standing by when Obama taunted that he had “a pen and a phone” and could govern all by himself.
Imagine if Trump tried that. It’s hard to, because Trump has stayed well within constitutional boundaries.
Part of this is that it goes against Trump’s style to micromanage. He leaves decisions to subordinates, who have mostly opted to reduce rather than increase government activity. Another part of this is the fact that more and more it seems Trump has been banished to his Oval Office, where his domain extends only so far as what goes on TV and what gets shared on social media.
The system is balanced because the system is checking the executive. The Supreme Court has rebuked him. Congress has ignored him. The press has absolutely pilloried him. For better or worse, the president has been put in his place, and the liberal hysteria debunked.
