Word from the MAGA world is that President-elect Donald Trump is considering breaking many “norms” in his second term.
The problem is that a few things so-called Norms are just the way Washington has become accustomed to working. need To be resisted.
Others are truly necessary checks and balances, rooted in the Constitution and the lessons learned over the past 235 years.
Trump blew a lot of things up. fake Those in his first term ignored conventional wisdom to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, abandoned the pursuit of a “two-state solution” central to peace in the Middle East, and moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem to NATO allies. He said that there was a need to strengthen the alliance. Defense spending or something else? they are He was threatening the alliance.
He also took a tough stance on Mexico, seeking to help rather than hinder U.S. border security, and got serious about sanctions against Iran in removing Iran's top terror mastermind, General Qasem Soleimani. and even formed a friendship. in public With avowed enemies of the United States like President Vladimir Putin.
And yes, that last one was deeply unpleasant to us — but he also combined it with sending deadly aid to Ukraine, which the Obama team did not send.
However, when the time comes, actual Most notably, he paid attention to court decisions that betrayed his agenda, even if they were ridiculous.
This is in sharp contrast to, for example, President Biden's bragging about defying the Supreme Court's crackdown on student loan subsidies or President Barack Obama's quasi-legalization of entire classes of illegal immigration. be.
But now there are rumors in the MAGA world that that line has been crossed – after all, the other side did it.
Definitely: Democrats and leftists did Weaponizing the intelligence community and the Department of Justice against Trump.
The Obama holdovers used ludicrous Russiagate allegations and other dirty tricks to get into office, then fabricated the Ukraine phone “scandal” to facilitate the first impeachment. The Biden Justice Department filed a lawsuit against him over the years.
However, two wrongs do not make a right. The right lesson (one that Mr. Trump clearly learned) is to put your own people in the right position from the beginning. do not have Attempting to use these institutions against domestic political opponents.
Yes, the Trump Justice Department will definitely need to investigate the Pennsylvania Board of Elections, which is openly violating the law in an effort to steal a U.S. Senate seat.
And the clearly lawless Democratic Party's fundraising arm, ActBlue, deserves a major investigation.
However, it is intended to counter actual violations and does not designate targets for search-and-destroy missions.
Similarly, the idea of using “recess appointments” to hire agency heads who cannot be confirmed by the Senate is a surefire loser. The three conservative justices who voted to revoke its confirmation during the Obama era are still on the court; Trump appointed people to stand by them.
And it would generate significant ill will among the senators President Trump needs to pass much of his agenda, and more broadly among moderate and traditional conservative Americans.
Note that the incoming Senate Republican majority is determined to keep the filibuster in place, even though Democrats have threatened to nuke it and delay everything.
The filibuster proved to be an important check on hasty legislation and could protect the country from destructive zigzags depending on which party temporarily became the dominant party. Instead, now is the time to let Democrats vote to retain the Senate majority even if they regain it.
Look: Americans voted for change when they elected President Trump, and most of them Also I voted for a return to normalcy.
If he lets them down on that front. . . Now, there are only two years left until the midterm elections.
They certainly expect Trump to “harass” Belt and Road insiders, but to pursue common sense goals, not to serve his whims.
He has a real mission to set the economy, borders and many other rights. If he can accomplish that, he will go down in history as one of the greats.
He is trying to seize powers that the president has never had before. shouldwould be an action as disastrous as Biden's decision to listen to the flatterers who said he could be the next FDR.
