Trump’s View of Article II
A blast from the past: two days before the Zelensky call.
On July 23, 2019, two days from what is rapidly becoming an infamous phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Donald Trump gave a speech to the Turning Point USA Teen Student Action Summit in Washington.
During that speech he said the following (the second clip, as for some reason I can’t just post only it), which speaks to his state of mind at roughly the same time that he made the call.
The odds, of course, that Trump has read Article II is slim (spoiler: as noted above, that is not at all what Article II says).
And, at least based on your discussion with @JKB, there’s a non-insignificant portion of his base who subscribes to that theory as well.
@mattbernius:
Well, if Trump said it, @JKB knows it must be true.
@mattbernius: Theory does not apply when Democrats hold the office, as we are a Republic, not a Democracy.
@Gustopher: From his own defensive zone, he shoots, HE SCOOOOOOOOORES!
@Just nutha ignint cracker: He’s just trying to trigger me 😉
@mattbernius: “And, at least based on your discussion with @JKB, there’s a non-insignificant portion of his base who subscribes to that theory as well.”
Right now they do. Come the next Democratic President, they’ll scream about limited government.
The cycle is not new.
I think Trump’s base actually does believe, or purports to believe, that Article II does empower him to do whatever he likes.
Well, that is what an ignorant man would conclude after being coached in his young Presidency by Federalist lawyers who believe in a ‘unitary executive’. Wouldn’t you say?