Princeton University professor Eddie Glaude Jr. told MSNBC’s “The Jose Diaz-Balart Report” on Monday that the Supreme Court’s decision in President Donald Trump’s immunity case crystallizes an imperial presidency.
Guest host Katie Turr said, “Alexander Hamilton wrote that former presidents ‘shall be prosecuted and punished according to the ordinary laws.’ That’s in Federalist Papers No. 69, page 452. To him, that was the key difference between the King of England and a US president accepting personal punishment and disgrace. I mean, if you believe in historical precedent, what could be clearer than when Alexander Hamilton said ‘shall be prosecuted and punished according to the ordinary laws?’ We fought a Revolutionary War to free ourselves from the kingdom of England and the absolute rule of kings and queens and to build a democracy where everyone was treated equally. Of course we weren’t great for long, but in theory we were equal under the law.”
“History only has meaning when it serves their purposes, that’s how it seems to me,” Glaud said. “My takeaway from this document, not as an engineer or a lawyer or anything like that, is that the imperial presidency has now become reality. It’s not about who’s in office or what their temperament or character is. The imperial presidency has now become reality.”
He added: “So to me, and historically, what does it mean now that Nixon lived under this ruling, Katie? Even Watergate is an issue. Donald Trump has always had people around him who supported him and the imperial system, but the lines have blurred many times, as they did with Bill Barr. Now the imperial system is on full display with the imperial court. This is the status quo.”
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