GOP: Setting up for a fall?
Sen. Russ Feingold wrote an excellent piece yesterday regarding the GOP's efforts to protect the President. This excerpt is a very chilling reminder that the actions of the Republican party today may be bad for them, and the country, in the long run.
Indeed, imagine how different the rhetoric we are currently hearing from the GOP would be if the current occupant of the White House had a D following his name instead of an R. The GOP are just setting themselves up for a fall. It is sad that Sen. Feingold has to appeal to the GOP party's vanity to try to get them to stand up for the rule of law, but sometimes drastic measures are needed (such as censure).
There won't be a Republican in the White House forever. By not checking this president now, Congress is rendering itself powerless in the face of a future president whose claims of 'inherent authority' may go far beyond those of the current tenet at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
As many Republicans focus on defending the President, they are losing sight of what ceding these powers to the President now will mean for their own party down the road. Those expansive powers will rest with whoever sits in the Oval Office. Republicans who argue today that the President has the power to ignore a law passed by Congress are relinquishing authority not just to this Republican President, but to future presidents of any party. They are helping to render future members of their own party powerless to check an executive who claims expansive powers under the Constitution or a future Authorization for Use of Military Force resolution.
Indeed, imagine how different the rhetoric we are currently hearing from the GOP would be if the current occupant of the White House had a D following his name instead of an R. The GOP are just setting themselves up for a fall. It is sad that Sen. Feingold has to appeal to the GOP party's vanity to try to get them to stand up for the rule of law, but sometimes drastic measures are needed (such as censure).
There won't be a Republican in the White House forever. By not checking this president now, Congress is rendering itself powerless in the face of a future president whose claims of 'inherent authority' may go far beyond those of the current tenet at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
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