Pundits will waive their hands and say “gosh America is powerless to stop this gun problem” or “golly gee, I wonder where all these white supremacists are coming from” or my favorite “isn’t it time we talk about video games?”.
Actually there is this thing called the Republican Party that is presently in charge of 3/4ths of the federal government that opposes ANY regulations regarding guns and is lead by a white supremacist who spent the last two weeks directly threatening five non white members of Congress of and who started his campaign vilifying Latin Americans (the predominate victim of yesterday’s terrorist attack) as “rapists”.
These are facts. This presidency is a cancer on the moral fabric of the country and it is aided and abetted by people who know he is unqualified and abhorrent and are willing to work with him anyway for power or money. Also until armed Marxists start shooting bankers in the streets, can we stop drawing false equivalence between leftists and white supremacists?
I agree with this, though I would say the president is a cancer, and not the presidency.
There’s a really strong case to make that our presidential system of government is a main reason the United States is unable to respond to modern issues, but I suspect that’s not what you’re going for here.
I also agree with that take, but even my favorite systems (parliamentary MMP with PR or French presidential) are struggling right now.
Trump is the cancer. A Democratic presidency is the only cure.
It is also the imperial presidency, not just the president. The presidency has been out of control in this country ever since the Truman administration. We are a democracy. The president was only supposed to have a major role in foreign policy at the outset of this republic.
In theory I like the energy of the executive envisioned by Hamilton, but I’ve learned a lot in the Trump presidency about how much unilateral power POTUS has. Take tariffs for example. We keep hearing that Trump is going to impose this or that tariff on this or that country, but I’m thinking – doesn’t Congress have to legislate that? I’m surprised Congress at some point by law delegated so much power to the President alone without guarding its own prerogatives, though I have to confess one of my favorite federal laws is the Antiquities Act since it allows the President to designate National Monuments without going 20 rounds with Congress for each one.
Donald Trump: January 23, 2016
“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and wouldn’t lose any voters, okay?”
Donald Trump’s Base: August 3, 2019
“We can stand in the middle of Walmart in El Paso, shoot and kill 20 people, and Trump will not lose any voters. okay?”