"... To describe the current situation in the executive branch as merely a constitutional crisis is to understate the significance of what we’re experiencing. “Constitutional crisis” does not even begin to capture the radicalism of what is unfolding in the federal bureaucracy and of what Congress’s decision not to act may liquidate in terms of constitutional meaning.
Together, Trump and Musk are trying to rewrite the rules of the American system. They are trying to instantiate an anti-constitutional theory of executive power that would make the president supreme over all other branches of government. They are doing so in service of a plutocratic agenda of austerity and the upward redistribution of wealth. And the longer Congress stands by, the more this is fixed in place..." -- Jamelle Bouie, writing in the NYT that "There Is No Going Back" (gift link) after the Trump/ Musk coup. In this must- read piece, Bouie makes the point that, in just the past two- plus weeks, Trump and his co- President Musk have "altered the structure of things" in such a way that we can't expect to return to the status quo as it was before January 20, 2025. A new rethinking of our political system will be required when and, more importantly, if we survive the fascist era in American politics. We'd like to add that our judicial system must be included in any rethinking, as it has played a large and destabilizing part in getting us to where we are today.
Did anyone ever think that 49% of this country would kill the other 49% to live like this?
ReplyDeleteSeafury -- We're starting to think so.
ReplyDelete😳 Yesterday, in an exchange with Mike Johnson, even Fox News acted as if it had read Bouie's opinion (thank you for the gift). Chad Pergram was giving Speaker Mikey the chance to stand up and defend his own branch of government:
ReplyDelete"Is there an inconsistency by Republicans on one hand, where we’ve heard for years now, ‘All we want is to not have unelected bureaucrats in charge of things downtown,’ and yet ceding Article I powers to the executive branch under Elon Musk?,” Fox News correspondent Chad Pergram probed.
But, Mikey said "No." And then, Mikey put a great big cherry on top of the end of the Constitution!:
"The executive branch of government in our system has the right to evaluate how executive branch agencies are operating and to ensure that not only the intent of Congress in funding mechanisms but also the stewardship of precious American taxpayer dollars is being handled well.”
⚰️🪦 It was really hard to hear the Speaker say that POTUS determines the intent of Congress and POTUS is the is the steward of my tax dollars. I guess there was no time for the follow-up..."well then, Mikey, what the hell do we need you for?!" 🤬🤬
Cleora - he has an "interesting" interpretation of the Constitution (and Bible, too, we might add)!
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