Trump’s first White House counsel give him the nickname “King Kong” to connote his volcanic anger” and “emotional decision-making.” But the moniker also fits because it reflects Trump’s desire to escape constraints — in particular, legal constraints.
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washingtonpost.com/opinions/georg…
Trump’s Kong-like urges were illustrated by two developments this week: his latest executive clemency spree and his continued attacks against the federal judiciary.
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Trump revels in issuing pardons, because the pardon power is essentially absolute. The Constitution sets out no standards for granting pardons. They require no consent from Congress, and courts can’t second-guess them.
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They also offer instant gratification to a president who desperately craves it.
And his specific invocations of the pardon power appear unwedded to any notion of mercy or public good; they are impulsive expressions of Trumpian spite and self-interest.
washingtonpost.com/opinions/georg…
And his specific invocations of the pardon power appear unwedded to any notion of mercy or public good; they are impulsive expressions of Trumpian spite and self-interest.
washingtonpost.com/opinions/georg…
Trump’s attacks against federal judges underscore his fury at the most significant remaining potential legal constraint Trump now faces — the judiciary. Trump’s ostensible purpose was to intimidate a sentencing judge into going easy on Roger Stone.
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Yet Trump’s beef has always been not merely with individual federal judges who don’t bend to his will, but with the idea of an independent judiciary generally. Trump once asked aides, “Can we just *get rid* of the judges?”
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The president has good reason to ask. The courts could force disclosure of his tax returns and other financial information, require him to rely on actual appropriations to build the border wall, and make him otherwise conform his conduct to the law.
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washingtonpost.com/opinions/georg…
Trump called himself the nation’s chief law enforcement officer this week, but his understanding of what that means is flawed and corrupt.
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washingtonpost.com/opinions/georg…
The president’s oath is to “faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States,” and to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” His job, says Article II, is to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”
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With those words, the Constitution endows a president with the right and obligation to enforce the laws. It doesn’t grant him the power to do whatever he wants, or allow him mom to rampage through the legal landscape like King Kong, dangerous and unbound.
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