Sorry to jump back on the Trump-bashing bandwagon, but the prospect of him becoming our next president terrifies me. Leave aside his crudeness, monumental ego, and lack of core principles, although those are highly problematic.
Instead, let’s focus on his publicly stated positions on the issues and how he is likely to act on those issues once in office.
But first some background. My greatest fear with respect to the Obama presidency is that it will set a standard, to be followed by his successors, in which — unhappy with the Constitution’s “separation of powers” limitations on their executive powers — they ignore those limitations. You would need a computer to calculate the number of times President Obama has ignored the fact that the Constitution gives Congress primary power over public policy issues, in the form of Congress passing laws affecting those public policy issues. Incensed that Congress won’t follow his lead on those issues — which is almost always because Congress has a different view on how to handle those issues — President Obama has repeatedly done an end-run around Congress through executive orders, presidential memoranda, presidential signing statements, and the like. This is not how the Founding Fathers expected the government to function.
With that in mind, it is hard to imagine a successor to Obama more likely than Donald Trump to follow Obama’s lead and ignore Congress if it doesn’t supinely bow to his political priorities.
Trump has publicly stated that he will round up all 11 million illegal aliens in this country and deport them. How likely is it that Congress will pass a law that gives him that authority?
Trump has said that he will build a wall along our southern border to keep illegal aliens out, and force Mexico to pay for that wall. How likely is it that Congress will pass legislation authorizing him to demand from Mexico the money to pay for that wall, or allowing him to freeze Mexican assets in our country for that purpose, or allow him to invade Mexico and take the money (want to bet that thought hasn’t occurred to him)?
Trump has said he will raise tariffs to the roof to protect domestic industries. How likely is it that Congress will go along with an action that is likely to institute a global trade war, as other countries retaliate with their own high tariffs?
In every case, the answer is: highly unlikely.
So how likely is it that President Trump, after calling Congress “a bunch of losers,” begins issuing his own executive orders, memoranda, signing statements, etc? I’d say: highly likely.
And my guess is that, in sheer volume of “separation of powers” violations, Trump passes Obama in his first three years.
