TRUMP WEAKENS GUARDRAILS AGAINST AN IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY
Guardrails are designed to direct away and protect from hazards. As Trump re-enters office, he continues to challenge existing guardrails.
A Congress controlled by Republicans, many of whom came to power with Trump’s support, seemingly will defer to him other than in the most egregious examples, such as his initial nomination of Matt Gaetz to be Attorney General.
Nominating a person found by congressional ethics investigators to have paid numerous women – including a 17-year-old girl – for sex, and to have purchased and used illegal drugs, including from his Capitol Hill office, turns out to be a bridge too far even for Trump to be able to cross.
It remains to be seen if any of the other nominees with clearly troubled backgrounds, notably Pete Hegseth for Defense, Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence or Robert F Kennedy Jr for Health and Human Services gets confirmed. If any do, let alone all three, it will show Trump’s unrivalled presidential power in the post-war era.
The opposition party has failed as well.
As Democratic strategist Peter Goelz told us, “To have guardrails you must be willing to fight. Democrats want someone else to do the heavy lifting, such as Robert Mueller as the independent counsel in the first term or Liz Cheney on the Jan 6 committee – anyone but the Democrats themselves. Now, it’s too late to stop him.”
Last July, the Supreme Court eliminated a key check on Trump’s power. There, the Court ruled that presidents have “absolute” immunity for acts committed as president within their “core constitutional powers”, at least “presumptive immunity” for “acts within the outer perimeter” of their official responsibility, and no immunity for unofficial acts.
As such, Trump enters the presidency this time knowing he has free reign in his decision-making from basically any criminal liability when he leaves office – arguably including ordering actions with the intent to stay in power after his Constitutionally-limited second term.
However, the recent Supreme Court ruling against Trump in the New York hush money case did surprise, especially Trump-appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett proving to be the deciding vote in a 5-4 decision. It’s possible the current Supreme Court just has not had the facts it needs to assert itself.
A bit of a hedge, and one on which no one should count.
