[Disestablishmentarian]

The President said in the Task Force Briefing today: "The Federal Government has absolute power."

Earlier he made similar assertions concerning the President of the United States (a slight nuance indicating he was referring to powers of the OFFICE, not himself personally).

I am not a Constitutional Scholar, but I SUSPECT THAT THE LEGALITY OF THESE STATEMENTS IS DEPENDENT UPON THE FACT THAT WE ARE AT WAR.

Not metaphorical war.

Not "Moral equivalent of war."

Not a crisis of the proportions of war.

ACTUAL WAR

This is of course an "Asymmetric war." This means that we will not hit back the aggressor nation (China) with a tit-for-tat bioweapon, a nuclear attack or any other form of WMD. Similarly, we will not at this time attempt to destroy their satellites or sink their navy.

OUR PLAN OF COUNTERATTACK: We will defeat the communists by UNPLUGGING THEM from the world's capitalist economies so they can collapse like the USSR.

ACTUAL WAR, albeit asymmetric, is the basis of the President's extraordinary power.

I am sure he will explain all this at the proper time.

[ichabod1]

I feel like when this happened they decided they needed to keep mum about what they know, and deal with the crisis. THEN will be the time to strike back at a time and place of our choosing.

OR, this could be China’s Chernobyl, a tragic accident that was bungled and covered up by the Chinese because the cardinal rule is you must never give your superior bad news because they most certainly WILL shoot the messenger.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

I like how you think.

[blu]

The Pres’s authority in this instance has a lot to do with the Emergencies he has declared. He made a big deal about all 50 states and territories were under an Emergency declaration. He put it on, he’s the only one who can take it off.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

Did anyone notice the press ask the VP MPence about a Trump’s claim to alone have power to reopen the states??

He answered that under a declared emergency, the President’s powers are”PLENARY.”

Plenary: complete in every respect : ABSOLUTE, UNQUALIFIED

[Defiant]

At one point, he said “as to this issue”, and that would have been a better way to frame it. It is something that involves interstate commerce and national security. He did talk about the state of emergency, which does affect the issue as well. Although I am not in general agreement with the way the feds have usurped all state roles since Wilson and FDR, it is clear that under Supreme Court precedents the feds can do just about whatever they want vis-a-vis the states. They can take over any role, because interstate commerce has been defined to mean a butterfly’s wings flapping in Idaho. And Congress has given much of its power to the President in emergency and national security.

I don’t agree with that line of cases, but it is the current state of the law, so Trump is for the most part correct as a legal matter.