Unitary versus Institutional Power

[ll74]

I've long seen the separation of powers as a check on power and then 47 comes along, with support from the maga kids, to challenge it. If Executive has sole discretion to do whatever the fuck they want... then why do we have Article 1 or Article 3?

This article is amazing - https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/boilingfrogs/impoundment-trump-constitution/
"If the court ends up blessing impoundment, it won’t simply leave us wondering what the point is of having a legislature. It’ll leave us wondering what the point is of having a court. Those are the stakes, all of eight days into Trump 2.0."

It seems chaotic, little more than haphazard fan service for his populist base, but there’s a common thread to many of the actions he’s taken. The impoundment nonsense is the latest example of Trump striving to make all federal policy subject to executive discretion and all exercises of that discretion subject to compliance with his wishes. We’re a government of “friends and enemies” now, and the more power he wields in his discretion, the more friends he’s going to have.

And .more...

He threatened Colombia with tariffs when it resisted accepting deportees from the U.S. who were flown home on military planes. He threatened Denmark with tariffs when it refused to turn Greenland over to him. In neither case did trade policy have anything to do with his actions. He likes tariffs because money talks, and American economic might is such that our money is louder than anyone else’s.
Is it any surprise, then, that he would look for ways to gain similar financial influence over adversaries here at home?

He’s not just stepping on Congress’ toes, he’s stomping on them, and the majority has looked dimly on that in recent years.
I’d say it’s more likely than not that they rule against him—and then we’ll get our first real insight into just how dark this grotesque postliberal experiment might get.

 

[ll74]

Adding - Politicology had a discussion on this as well - https://pca.st/episode/94da9a79-ed68-4256-a9c9-be8b17fe72db