Glad to see Trump is headed off to the M.E. today which provides an opportunity for a thread change here and we can forget about all the recent hysteria!
What's Trump Done Now?
- Thread starter Retired_Can_Soldier
- Start date
Trump farted sitting at the white house desk and it was a flutterblast kind. The kind that leaves residue.
Not sure how to answer that. It's a bit pointless to determine the "head honcho". That's not how the government works.
The president is the most powerful person in the government and his office is pretty much the most powerful branch of government, but he can't do whatever he wants. Even though you don't know how the US government works, you should have still realized that Trump can't do whatever he wants by the very fact that congress and the courts have been stopping him. They've been putting road blocks in his agenda all within their powers to do so.
The entire point of the American system of government is to prevent a single person or a single branch of government from having too much power. It is a deliberate attempt to check tyranny.
Congress creates laws, but the president can veto those laws. Congress can override the president's veto with a large enough majority. The president can also create laws, but they need to be approved by congress. However, even if congress and the president approve a law, the law needs to be constitutional (i.e. it can't do something that violates peoples or states rights or goes beyond the constitutional power of the government). Without getting to much into how it works, the federal court system determines this, which means that the courts also check the power of the president and congress. The president appoints judges to the courts, and the senate approves them.
It's very complicated and it's supposed to be.
Technically not true. The President can propose laws, but technically anyone can propose a law. The President's voice is louder, but only Congress can make laws.
The three branches are co-equal. Further, as you say, the Federal government cannot tread on those areas reserved to the states.
We get taught a lot about the "genius of American democracy," most of which is hooey. Democracy was well under way when the U.S. came into existence. If our system has any particular genius, it is that power is dispersed so widely that we have excellent protection against autocracy.
It seems to me that Trump had no idea that the Presidency didn't have unlimited power to do whatever the President wanted.
You should be happy to hear I don't disagree with a single word you say and I was fully cognizant of two things you said - regarding Congressional approval and he must abide by the laws. Trump is impetuous, impulsive and like a bull in a china shop, but over time he'll get that out of his system and then I think he'll find a way of implement his ideas for the betterment of the country. Everything in life generally starts with a flawed idea that people keep knocking the "rough edges" off until it becomes a good idea. I doubt if even the geniuses like Einstein and Thomas Edison got things right the first time!
It's impossible to explain how power is balanced in a simple way. I was trying to simplify the language by saying 'create' instead of 'propose' and 'law' instead of 'bill'. I figured that "creates law" but must be approved by congress was ambiguous enough wording to explain how it works. I completely left out executive orders for that reason too. And I mentioned the president's legislative pull specifically to show how much power the president has. Which brings me to another point:
Apparently, but you could argue that they aren't. What exactly does co-equal mean? Congress seems to have a lot of power, but it's quite weak when you factor in the hundreds of people involved in making decisions. Very little can stop the Supreme Court but I would say that the executive has the most de facto power.
What's the day to day difference between an autocracy and an elitist establishment maintaining it's power? The US system might prevent any one person from being too powerful, but it's perfectly suited for allowing one class of people from being too powerful. The Supreme Court will protect the constitutional rights of Americans when it damn well pleases.
You should be happy to hear I don't disagree with a single word you say and I was fully cognizant of two things you said - regarding Congressional approval and he must abide by the laws. Trump is impetuous, impulsive and like a bull in a china shop, but over time he'll get that out of his system and then I think he'll find a way of implement his ideas for the betterment of the country. Everything in life generally starts with a flawed idea that people keep knocking the "rough edges" off until it becomes a good idea. I doubt if even the geniuses like Einstein and Thomas Edison got things right the first time!
Yeah, but you complained about the government getting in Trump's way, as if he had more of a right to do whatever he wants, and supported the idea of him being a dictator. Pointing this out was my original point all along.
D'accord. As you say, it's hard to get it all into an internet post.
In this case, "co-equal" means they can't tread on each other's territory, and they can't fire each other (much to Trump's dismay). The removal process is so difficult I don't believe any great officer of the U.S. has been impeached and convicted. We don't even know if a Supreme Court justice can be impeached, because it's never happened (the majority legal opinion is yes, they can be).
And you are correct about the Supremes. Self-restraint is the major limitation (a feature of them being the only professional branch of the government), plus the fact that, as Andrew Jackson said, "The Supreme Court doesn't have an army." The Cherokees actually beat Jackson in court. Didn't stop the Trail of Tears.
Day to day? Almost nothing, because your day-to-day life is governed far more by gol-dang unelected bureaucrats than by the autocracy or the elitist establishment. As to the "one class," you're mostly right (depending on how you define class), but the power class isn't all that tough to get into. Of recent Presidents, Reagan, Clinton, and Obama were no better than middle class, and the list of Congresscritters, senators, and justices from modest backgrounds is yooge.
Which is what I meant when I said he doesn't want a government, he wants a Führer.
That's O.K.......mea culpa! (I think Trump should be able to push as hard as he likes w/o breaking laws just to test the waters. In the past week or so he's felt a lot of "push back" and has probably learned a lot more than if he was acting like a good little boy)
If you all paid me $200, I would have written an explanation good enough for a college textbook. OK, that's a little arrogant. They usually get professors to wrote those. I'll settle for $50. (USD thx)
Yeah, that's pretty much exactly what I mean. It's great when people know what you mean without having to spell it out (and they still don't get it). A better forum is possible, people!
The beautiful thing about America is that nearly anyone can rise up from humble beginnings to protect the wealth and property of the rich.
Exactly. It isn't just this idea that "isn't the president the head honcho?" It's, as I said, a cult of personality. Trump's personality in particular. The argument that other branches of government are overstepping their authority and shouldn't be stopping Trump because the president is powerful applies to the Canadian government as well.
Justin Trudeau has more constitutional power in the Canadian government than Trump has in the American government. Trudeau has had a tough time getting some of this proposals passed and there's almost nothing stopping him. Of course, the argument isn't being applied to Trudeau because their motivation isn't the legal power of the government to push it's agenda, but the worship of the man. They love Trump and hate Trudeau.
Even though he acts like one, Donald Trump isn't a 5 year old. He shouldn't be praised for learning a lot. A 5 year old touches a hot stove and gets burned. That's awful but he learned a lesson. Trump is a 70 year old man with one of the most important jobs in the world. He should have had a better idea going into it.
You've been praising Trump's "learning" for months now, but there isn't any evidence that he's actually learned anything. Just evidence of his repeated failures. If the 5 year old burns his hand, and then does it again, and then again, and then again, you might think there's something wrong with his head.
yes delivering america from the communist deep government and giving prosperity back to democratic americans is something only a 5 year old would do
wow, you just never stop with the criminal leftist insanity do you?
the cia that hates trump so much also brings coke into the us 4 tons at a time
i can see why you hate trump too
wow, you just never stop with the criminal leftist insanity do you?
the cia that hates trump so much also brings coke into the us 4 tons at a time
i can see why you hate trump too
A guy traveling through the USA on vacation lost his wallet and all of his identification. Cutting his trip short, he attempted to make his way home but was stopped by the Canadian Customs Agent at the border.
"May I see your identification, please?" asked the agent.
"I'm sorry, but I lost my wallet," replied the guy.
"Sure buddy, I hear that every day. No ID, no entry," said the agent.
"But I can prove I'm a Canadian!" he exclaimed. "I have a picture of Celine Dion tattooed on one side of my butt and Shania Twain on the other."
"This I got to see," replied the agent.
With that, the guy dropped his pants and showed the agent his behind.
"By golly, you're right!" exclaimed the agent. "Have a safe trip back to Toronto "
Thanks!" he said. "But how did you know I was from Ontario?
"The agent replied, "I recognized Justin Trudeau in the middle."
"May I see your identification, please?" asked the agent.
"I'm sorry, but I lost my wallet," replied the guy.
"Sure buddy, I hear that every day. No ID, no entry," said the agent.
"But I can prove I'm a Canadian!" he exclaimed. "I have a picture of Celine Dion tattooed on one side of my butt and Shania Twain on the other."
"This I got to see," replied the agent.
With that, the guy dropped his pants and showed the agent his behind.
"By golly, you're right!" exclaimed the agent. "Have a safe trip back to Toronto "
Thanks!" he said. "But how did you know I was from Ontario?
"The agent replied, "I recognized Justin Trudeau in the middle."
Worked for me. The thing about protecting the wealth and property of the rich is they pay way better'n the poor.
Lee Atwater and Roger Ailes led the charge on this. This is the last gasp (I hope!) of retarded rednecks desperate for one last chance to bring back 1954, when you could drop out of high school and get a union job (though they hate unions) that paid enough that you could afford a house, a car, a stay-at-home wife, and put three kids through college (with the government assistance they hate). And anybody with a positive melanin count better know their place.
Maybe they'll finally figure out those days are gone, and will not return, and stop voting for snake-oil salesmen.
The next largest demographic are people who grew up in the 90s, so y'all better get ready for some totally xtreme politics. President Frances Bean Cobain.
Every junkie, punk, and freak
If "Manic Panic" makes you weak
Then follow me and catch that train
Pleased to meet you, Kurt Cobain
I need a mohawked, tattooed, flannel-clad
Combat-booted lovely lad
To take me up to Punk Rock Heaven
-- Mary Prankster
Hey, kool thing, come here, sit down beside me
There's something I gotta ask you.
I just wanna know, what are you gonna do for me?
I mean, are you gonna liberate us girls
From male white corporate oppression?
Huh?
-- Kim Gordon
There's something I gotta ask you.
I just wanna know, what are you gonna do for me?
I mean, are you gonna liberate us girls
From male white corporate oppression?
Huh?
-- Kim Gordon