Thread by @julianzelizer

@realDonaldTrump poses an ongoing test on what a president can do with their power. It has been a constant “going there” experience. The sequence is repetitive. Trump does something shocking, experts ask if we’ve reached a turning point, and then we watch as nothing happens./1

His @Twitter feed has been an experiment into how aggressive a president can be with the bully pulpit—attacking institutions and individuals, spreading disinformation, and constantly provoking. Almost every time, his rhetorical fire is drowned out by the next news cycle. /2

@realDonaldTrump keeps deploying executive power to get what Congress won’t give, such as using emergency power to pay for a border wall or implementing the family separation policy. Sometimes the courts or Congress push back, but other times his decisions have stood./3

Importantly, when using executive power, Trump builds on several decades of decisions since Nixon as presidents revived power that they had lost in the 1970s. @KevinMKruse and I wrote about the "Imperial Presidency" in the @nytimes./4
nytimes.com/2019/01/09/opi…

Then there are the ongoing questions about conflict-of-interest, violations of the Emoluments Clause, and more./5

Now the president is waiting seeing whether a scathing special prosecutor’s report, that makes a strong case of obstruction of justice, produces a substantive congressional reaction, such as triggering the impeachment process. /6

Although the president is warning that he will challenge Congress in the courts, or something like that...../7

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1121023509029892096

This is why the response to Mueller's report, and all the other evidence being collected about the president’s (mis)use of his power, goes far beyond the question of the “best way to get Trump out of office.” This debate is about the health our democratic institutions./8

And it is not true that these issues don't matter to voters. Checking Trump was very important in 2018 and continues to be relevant within the Democratic electorate. Here is a smart piece by @jeffhauser in @washmonthly./9
washingtonmonthly.com/2019/04/24/hou…

Here is some perspective from @gtconway3d in @washingtonpost/10
washingtonpost.com/opinions/georg…

For a smart look at what’s at stake, take a look at @ThePlumLineGS insightful book, "An Uncivil War."/end.
amazon.com/Uncivil-War-De…

@threadreaderapp unroll