#105

TRUMP ATTEMPTING TO JUSTIFY NEAR ABSOLUTE POWER IN OVAL OFFICE

ormer United States President Donald Trump might be easy to ignore if it were not for his all sustaining popularity among voters and journalists in the runup to the upcoming Presidential Election this November.

Trump is a particular favorite among high minded lawyers having advanced themselves into the Department of Justice.

A lesser person would have withered under the pressure and the white heat of the camera lens – a long time ago. Trump likes the limelight though and tends to do and say things to bring the light on himself, like his little press conferences before court appearances in the gangway, repeating the same simple message that the former President and Presidential contender is a victim of the injustice entrenched in the democratic system.

Trump does not have to call the press anonymously with the ETA for photo ops anymore since developing his own social media company. Even before that incorporation, Trump could always spin a news cycle with a single tweet, but then also, with follow-up tweets throughout the day, carry the news cycle over a 24 hour period until the sun would stop shining.

And also now, everyone knows that Trump will be at the courthouse, unless the judge needs a day off, and Trump goes stumping while he still can without leg irons.

The morning network news shows might be a bit slow on the uptick as to just which courthouse Trump is at on any particular day, or where he will be stumping if he is not at the courthouse. Life often gets confused when power and the potential for great personal gain becomes involved.

Once, when Trump had a civil fraud trial in state court and a civil defamation trial in federal court, the media legitimately got a bit confused as to where Trump went that morning because the two cases were in two different courthouses in Lower Manhattan, eventhough the courthouses are located right next to each other.

During the Whitehouse years, Trump provided a lot of certainty among the DC press by either being in the Oval Office in Washington DC or on the golf course in Florida. Few people in the know lacked knowledge about where Trump went on any particular day.

No one, though, in those days anyway, ever looked into when Trump had the time to tan, although whether or not that down time is an official act of the president, within the outer perimeter of his sworn duties, creates a lot of uncertainty.

Journalists always like the follow-up story, even now in the era of social media, since most of the work is done at the beginning of the news cycle sleuthing the background facts before being allowed to publish.

Trump has polarized the electorate just as he has divided the press, who have during certain instances become emotional and unprofessional about covering the Presidential elections.

Liberals and conservatives are often sentimental about free speech for different reasons. And as a result, advocates are simultaneously offended and emboldened by the words that come out of the mouth of the former President.

Trump’s detractors need cold presses, their ears burn so much from the constant buzz created by the former President’s alleged liberal use of the facts and the truth. When Trump speaks, Fox News goes one way, and CNN goes the other, with every other agency, social media platform in between going every which other way, including up and down.

Subscribers want the podcaster to update them on the latest occurrence in the Trump news cycle, in the States anyway. You can believe it, or not believe it, that the rest of the world has moved on a long time ago, and has otherwise built up immunity from the political maelstrom occurring in Amerca.

The courts are likely a bit bemused by now throughout the patch quilt of justice in the United States. Jurisdiction is divided into state jurisdiction and federal jurisdiction (Trump DC) with the Supreme Court of the United States being the final presider over both courthouses as the cases wend through the often ideological leaning circuit and appeal courts.

Republican states appoint and or elect Republican judges, while Democrat states do the same, I mean appoint or elect Democrat judges. And Presidents appoint federal judges as Democratic Presidents do and as Republican Presidents do.

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the land, and no matter how nasty the politics gets, what the 9 Justices decide affects all of America, and lasts for a long, long time.

Trump may wishfully believe, considering the former President’s current legal predicaments, to have hedged his bets with the court after having appointed three of the Justices, and thereby tipping the liberal balance a bit further right by replacing three retiring liberal Justices with not so liberal Justices during his term as President.

But once on the bench, the top Justices can be quite clinical in their job and set aside any notions of sentimentality and bias regarding their appointment. The law may quickly become more important than personality in a brutally tangled world of books and arguments from just about every direction imaginable.

The power of appointment is a real source of power for any politician, normally. And although Trump might be able to get his regular mail faster by appointing the postmaster general, or his digital posts more immediately by developing his own social media company, the law is the law, is the law – which is without a doubt the view held by all 9 Justices at once.

Trump, in President Donald Trump v. United States of America, No. 23A745, SCOTUS, is arguing for a stay of the criminal prosecution against him for ‘election results interference’ by arguing in favour of Presidential immunity.

I bet he is, even Bill Gates would love to have a piece of that.

I BET HE IS, EVEN BILL GATES WOULD LOVE TO HAVE A PIECE OF THAT

The United States of America, also known as, Department of Justice, obtained five indictments against the former President, because essentially, the President would not accept that he had been ‘FIRED’, YOU’RE FIRED’ by the American people, and leave the central stage of world power on January 20, 2021.

Cout one, Trump allegedly used false claims of election fraud, essentially stating publicly that current President Jospeh Biden fudged state results just enough to eek out a few more delegates than Trump to get to the magical 270 delegate number.

For example, the DOJ alleges that Trump claimed 10,000 dead voters had voted in Georgia.

The $452 million civil judgement against Trump for falsifying business records by overstating his net worth to precure loans has nothing to do with the stay application.

Count two, Trump allegedly organized fraudulent slates of electors to transmit false electoral result certificates.

The alleged mishandling of Top Secret Government documents after leaving the Office of the President has nothing to do with the stay application.

Count three, Trump allegedly petitioned the DOJ to conduct sham election crime investigations.

The alleged hush money payment by way of a tabloid publisher to cover up an alleged affair with a porn star has nothing to do with this stay application.

Count four, Trump allegedly petitioned former Vice President Mike Pence, who as Vice-President was tasked with certifying the election results, to fraudulently alter the election results.

The $5 million civil judgment against Trump for denying he sexually assaulting an advice columnist in a clothing store has nothing to do with this stay application.

Count five, Trump allegedly incited thousands of his supporters to storm the capital building so as to prevent Vice President Mike Pence from certifying the election results in Biden’s favour on January 6, 2021.

The alleged billion dollar pay packet, in terms of company shares, Trump will receive after his social media platform was listed on the stock market, has nothing to do with this stay application.

Trump’s main argument is that he is the boss and that as the boss he can fire people and do as he likes as the boss. Apparently, this celebrity generated illusion of omnipotence did not leave him for a moment, not even during those four years in the White House.

The combination of inherited wealth, celebrity and power can be a dangerous elixir that draws out the worst of human nature. The founders of modern democracy took this power from the kings and queens and gave that power component to the people for this very reason.

American Presidents are quite often wealthy. And otherwise, becoming President requires a lot of money from various sources. Those donations are favours not soon forgotten in a web of handshakes and affirming nods and gentle asides that provides the background to political runs.

Democratic power is limited first and foremost by the recuring electoral vote and, failing that, term limits.

DEMOCRATIC POWER IS LIMITED FIRST AND FOREMOST BY THE RECURING ELECTORAL VOTE AND, FAILING THAT, TERM LIMITS

Trump’s immunity claim is correct to a point. A President must be able to act decisively without intimidation and coercion. But a President must also not act unlawfully, even when everyone wants him to.

Core power in the Oval Office comes from derivative power and collateral power. These power sources enable the President to take action.

Presidential action has two main branches. Discretionary action is when the President summons all his powers of reason, however biased by his political views, to exercise judgment on behalf of all of Americans.

Discretionary power comes with immunity because the decider may have several choices, and decides one option over another based on the personal judgment that got him or her elected in the first place.

The second category of action is ministerial action. Ministerial action has almost no discretion because the President is being directed by the law embedded in the office and legislation arising during the Presidential term, and perhaps by a resolution of Congress, to act or to do on behalf of all Americans.

Presidential power is never absolute, though.

American democratic power has been devolving through a series of assassinations and impeachments into a rather fragile legal entity with a developing lawlessness spreading by way of a series of justification to spoil the best of humanity.

Presidential power has perhaps never been so certain, thus requiring President Abraham Lincoln to wage war with the Southern States that in one sense simply denied his Presidential authority.

One hundred and fifty-nine years later after Lincoln, the system built in 1776 has come to this immunity question that will either broaden or limit Presidential authority.

Power concentrated in the elite results, strictly by the numbers, in less power to be distributed by democracy to the people.

And the rising toxic combination of perpetual wealth and perpetual power is concerning, to understate the issue.

The problem inevitably becomes inherent in the personality. And leaving the power of democratic office aside, Trump has a long steep road to hoe because the United States Constitution does not specifically grant him immunity.

Instead, the legal argument hinges on assumptions about what the Constitution does not say, whereas the nuts and bolts of the Constitution is for the Presidential office and the democratic system to serve the people.

Absolute immunity, which Trump seeks to a point, is a pretty way of saying absolute power, like he was still producing, hosting and starring in a popular game of dragons television show, and still in complete control of the outcome.

Absolute immunity translating to absolute power combined with authoritarian vices like self interest, favoritism, nepotism – or even just networking for advantage – equates into a system of trading that may or may not set aside the interests of individuals in the population.

The truth is never certain, though, so the rule of law protects the society from the outcome of that inevitable uncertainty.

Everyone wants to maintain a civil society, except for those unscrupulous ones among the community. And no one, not even the President, regardless of the circumstances, is entitled to breach that covenant between a democratic government, a civil society and the law, some of which are natural rules inherent in the brighter side of humanity, and some of which are society made rules made precisely because of the inherent darker side of human nature.

If they have the power to do as they will, history has shown, they will do so indeed.