Do they lead to a gallows?
If only there were some steps they could have taken before the election.
Like, oh, I don’t know, putting up better candidates.
Or going after him during the primaries.
Or nominating someone else.
Or letting the Russia investigation proceed without interference.
Call me crazy, I know …
The only remedy is to establish a Trump party.
Checks and balances? What a novel concept for the GOP!
Well, yes–but the novelty here is really, of course, that the guy they’re trying to check/balance is of their own party. A strange kind of divided government, no?
Strangely, Trump’s incompetence and ignorance and inability to keep his yap shut for his own sake and that of his political allies have prompted Congress to begin to rediscover their mandate to govern.
The subtext for much of this is, frankly, political survival: contrary to popular opinion, most GOPers can read, and they see the same approval ratings and the same election calendars we do. The rumors about Pence and sitting senators quietly gearing up for a run in 2020 have to be considered a spur to action as well. But, even if Republicans’ motives are less than pure, maybe the republic won’t completely collapse into a heap as a result.
@maximus these GOP checks on Trump lead to a mine field 
I think everyone is crossing their fingers and hoping August is a quiet month. The Senate and House are in recess, the President is on “vacation” at one of his resorts. They are hoping for a “cooling off” period to settle in…but sent out a few signals before they left.
Its slowly dawning on them, that not only is Trump erratic and nuts, he has proven to be an actual hindrance to getting their agenda passed.
But what this article is kind of missing, is the “united government” never was. Yes, the GOP holds both Houses of Congress and the White House, but the divides within the GOP are deep and long. All of their problems with healthcare revolve around that issue…they are unable to unite their party.
Indeed, there has been a bit of a tiff developing in the semi background between Ryan and McConnell. Ryan has been steadily blaming the Senate for being unable to fix and pass the crap bill he threw over to them. And lets not forget that when McConnell was urging his people to vote for the “skinny” bill just to get it to conference, Ryan immediately started signally, that he was going to have the GOP caucus vote for whatever came out of the Senate as is…no conference.
The point here is, besides the big Tea Party vs. Establishment vs. Trumpers splits in the GOP, there is a growing institutional split between the GOP controlled House and the GOP controlled Senate.
Given all of this, blaming Trump seems like a solid strategy, both in terms of deflecting from their own problems, and as a potential unifying principle going forward.
Trump seems to think he was elected king. What he is unaware of is that the founders specifically designed the presidency to be essentially a figurehead. The real power to govern is vested in the Congress. Practically everything the President is authorized to do can be overridden by Congress.
The President is commander-in-chief of the armed forces, but Congress has the authority “To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces” and “To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water.”
The President is given a fairly free hand to conduct foreign policy and to negotiate treaties, but treaties are subject to the approval of the Senate (by a two-thirds majority) and ultimate control of foreign policy (the economic end) is given to Congress in the powers “to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises” and “To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes.”
The President appoints all civil officers of the United States, but all, except for his personal assistants and the White House staff, are subject to the “advice and consent” of the Senate.
In short, the President has very little unsupervised power over anything other than the Executive branch of the government. Moreover, the President is specifically charged to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed”, and to drive home the fact that it is not the President who makes the law, Congress is empowered to “make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.”
It is now simply a matter of how much of its power Congress wishes to assert.
#6: Putting down roach motels.
Or not reversing on the un-endorsements when he confessed to assaulting women.
Yes re the tensions between the House and Senate.
Also, it’s easy to forget that Democrats actually gained seats in both the House and Senate in the election, which has had the effect of exacerbating those tensions (less margin for error when it comes to appeasing caucus members–that was a problem in the House with its version of TrumpCare, too).
And
6. Members of both houses in privately held sessions have voted nearly unanimously (yes, the usual suspects) to suspend the physician / patient privilege in regards to the president’s personal physician and in special parliamentary procedure issued a binding agreement to allow (force if necessary) their own team of psychologists, neurologists and other mental health professionals to closely examine the current holder of said office for normal brain wave activity, synaptic damage and other apparent neurological deficiencies relating to his inability to hold a coherent thought. The team of medical professionals is to report back to the various political bodies within three days of their findings at which time further deliberations will be held as to the societal ramifications and safety of other world populations. Some members have wished to apologize for their reliable indifference and others are simply dumb-founded, but confident the diagnosis will produce low enough numbers to enact still other measures.
It will be interesting to watch how the “approval ratings” of Congress change over the next year. That rating has been unbelievably low for years, currently at 10%. If Congress successfully fights Trump, I expect their approval rating might go dramatically higher. Unfortunately, this might actually help the GOP in the midterm election. We’ll see!
The big one is “no recess appointments for Donald.” I can understand Democrats doing it to Republicans and Republicans doing it to Democrats but within the same party is a rebuke of the highest order. I am not sure Trump is smart enough to understand he was slapped hard in the face by McConnell.
Essentially the same as what Krauthhammer was saying this weekend …
and if you’ve lost the crypt keeper
My mental image of trump is the character of Cartman on “South Park”
BUT MOM!!!
This is an excellent and brief piece. It makes those of us like me hopeful who are alarmed by Don the Con. While a lot of substantive damage will be done over the next 3 1/2 years, maybe it isn’t irreparable.
Moreover, and this isn’t expressly in this fine piece, the Congress now has a roadmap on other necessary changes to the law to strengthen ethics rules. While It’s doubtful the GOP Congress will pass them now, it’s very likely in the near future solutions to hinder the grifting of future dishonest presidents can be enacted into law.
My understanding is that the motion to adjourn is subject to filibuster, so that the democrats could have prevented it on their own. Given that, it made sense for the republicans to go along. But still: unanimous.
No one could have predicted how crazy this guy would be! If only he had done something unbalanced during the campaign…
Two observations:
- How much more unhinged could he have been during the campaign? What would it have taken for the GOP to put on the brakes?
- It must be difficult for the GOP to craft some controls over him without jeopardizing their grand plan to blow up governmental funding mechanisms and health care.