Are these positions wrong?
From the article:
“He worries opening the borders will mean an influx of undesirables.”
“In May 1940, he warned of a “fifth column” in America (a military term for civilian rebels), and claimed refugees might be enemy agents.”
Now the other bits.
“Like Trump, FDR had little respect for the separation of powers.” - how does the author know this. Is enforcing current law violating separation of powers?
“FDR saw himself as a benevolent dictator, and his actions reflect that grandiosity. Trump has made a campaign of this same sort of grandiosity.” - again, based on what. Saying “same sort” doesn’t make it so unless “Making America Great Again” is the same sort.
” But FDR’s immigration ideas, summed up in his claim that immigrants ought to have “blood of the right sort,” were clearly prejudicial. So is Trump’s rhetoric about Mexicans.” - blatantly false. Trump never has disparaged legal Mexican immigrants.
“The president can order U.S. citizens who are abroad, like Anwar Al-Awlaki, to be assassinated without a trial. The National Security Agency allows the president to spy on political dissidents such as Faisal Gill (a Muslim Republican) and Nihad Awab (director of a Muslim civil rights organization), or even to wiretap news outlets like the Associated Press.” - I’m mixed on this. US citizens who side with the enemy should not be considered so. But again, it’s an assertion based on what? Trump wanting to curtail Muslim immigration and sending Muslim refugees back? I don’t see it.
“The only sure way to guard against Trump is to roll back the enormous power of the government that he would be managing.” - This has yet to happen at all. Government has grown without any relevance to Trump.