Posted on 01/18/2016 7:12:48 PM PST by Isara
Some conservatives are concerned over Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump's vow to take the same path of bypassing Congress as President Barack Obama - even though the billionaire said his actions would be "much better" than Obama's and done for "the right things."
"Does Mr. Trump enjoy power? Is he more likely to prefer limited and constitutional or unlimited and unconstitutional power? Where is he likely to fall on that scale? I tend to think it's with the maximum possible exercise of power," Colin Hanna, president of the conservative public policy group Let Freedom Ring USA, told TheBlaze.
Trump, as president, might well use the executive powers to advance conservative causes, Hanna added, but he said there is more at stake.
"Every conservative at heart is a constitutionalist. The values are intertwined and inseparable for separation of powers and a limited federal government," Hanna said. "He might use executive power on issues we agree with. The point is, it isn't about the individual issues. It's a deeper and fundamental question."
President Barack Obama has used executive action most recently to restrict gun sales. Before that, he shielded about 5 million illegal immigrants from deportation and to delayed implementation of some of the most unpopular aspects of his own health care law. After last week's State of the Union address, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough promised "audacious executive action" in the president's final 11 months.
During an interview with NBC News, Trump was asked if he would use executive actions in a similar fashion to the way President Barack Obama has.
"I won't refuse it. I'm going to do a lot of things. He led the way," Trump said. He added, "But I'm going to use them much better and they're going to serve a much better purpose than he's done."
In a separate interview with CBS News, Trump said of executive action, "Well, I will say this: There's a lot of precedent based on what he's doing."
"Conservatives have been angered at the Obama pen-and-phone approach to bypassing Congress; they should be equally disturbed at Trump for viewing Obama's unconstitutional power grabs as a model that he would follow," David McIntosh, the president of Club for Growth McIntosh, told TheBlaze.
Trump has soared in GOP primary polls despite his previous support for funding Planned Parenthood and abortion rights, favoring a single-payer health care system and for expanding the powers of government to seize private property among other liberal positions. This has come at the angst of many in the conservative movement.
"Donald Trump has already made it clear that he's like Obama in supporting single-payer health care, bailouts, and higher taxes," McIntosh said. "So, it's no surprise that Trump also wants to trash the Constitution by abusing executive power."
As a candidate for president, Trump has taken a conservative stance on illegal immigration and advocated cutting taxes, while he has considerably softened on his other liberal positions.
"He's aggressive not necessarily progressive," Hanna said. "His political philosophy is an appreciation of his own brilliance and that he can solve problems better than anyone else. He is not guided by a set of principles or a philosophy."
The Trump campaign did not respond to inquiries for this story last week or on Monday.
Former Bush administration Justice Department attorney John Yoo, now a law professor at University of California at Berkeley, warned in a Washington Post commentary that executive actions were intended for foreign policy, national security and emergencies - not domestic policy making.
He wrote that Obama's actions would encourage his success to move similarly. At least, Yoo wrote, that makes more of Obama's agenda reversible.
"Obama's upending of the Constitution's structure and limits may prove its own undoing," Yoo wrote. "The next chief executive can suspend, and then repeal, all of the executive orders and regulations of the past seven years. He or she could terminate the Iran nuclear deal and the climate change pact; reinstate enforcement of the immigration laws; and fully reveal Obamacare's distortions of health care. The further Obama stretches his powers to reach for a legacy, the more powerfully his successor can snap the Constitution back into its proper shape."
keyboard spew alert
It was intentional. #;^)
I’ll add a Sarc Tag next time, I promise.
HarleyLady, when Trump announced I actually did not like him at all. What changed my mind about him was the way he and his wife have raised his children. They were required to work hard at minimum wage jobs, they have NEVER been in the tabloids or in any kind of trouble!!! This is quite an accomplishment with all of the money they had!!! His family is just lovely and I have watched EVERY rally he has had, he is as honest as they come speaks from the heart and doesn’t give a damn about PC crap that has taken over our country!!! I firmly believe Trump has hob knobed with the DEMS purely for his business needs!!! We ALL should know you can’t possibly build huge projects without buying politicians, it is a shame but that’s what this country has come to!!!! GO TRUMP!!!! he will make America Great Again just look at his kids!!!!
Thanks for your post - you have correctly described a day of Trump as president. Those tweets will happen in the middle of the night as he only sleeps 3-4 hours a night. He does not get enough deep sleep for his brain and body to reset itself. That may be why he does not/cannot speak in complete sentences and rambles from one subject to another. His judgment may also be off - a tendency to make snap judgments and act on them instead of taking time to contemplate what a correct response would be for the betterment of the country.
I believe that scripture is about the time in which we live. A strong delusion is happening.
Don’t know myself, but I assume it has more to do with Defense Department Policy than an Act of Congress.
I’m going to let the poor Cruz folks worry about this.
The next ten days should be fun watching them worry themselves sick about the loss to Trump.
I’d rather take a chance on Caesat than keep going down the same old, same old, road to destruction the legal eagle politicians have led us down these umpteen many years. Caesar at least won his battles. This load of billy goats have reduced America to the laughing stock of the World. Look around you. Where is the faith, the pride, the all American CAN DO spirit?All I see is negativism, can’t do this’ can’t say that, it can’t be done, it’ll never work. The entire world has sucked off America since 1945. Time for someone to even up the playing field and get off this one World Order nightmare. Trump is the only one who has a chance. Cruz is a liar and a cheat, but more important is he is a coward. I’m sick of his excuses. Trump is the only one who looks and acts like an American. Patton was a loud mouth too, but he won his battles and knew how to fight. Trump is a fighter and that is good enough for me.
BULL! Just more of the same negativity that shoves out the brains of some here. We can’t. we can’t , we can’t. You act as if Trump will be an emperor for the next fifty years! Highly unlikely! You’d rather stick with legal weasels who have destroyed the two party system, the constitution, Our Military, and our Culture because you are afraid of Trump.You sound like the bastards who denounced Patton because he didn’t talk”pretty.” SHAME on you all!
I totally agree with you. Thank God for a sensible voice among the scardy cars.
Well who are you going to elect if you want to abide by what’s left of the constitution? Rubio and Cruz aren’t eligible by the constitution. Is Bush maybe your safe guy?
Well then you’d be doing the same thing Trump proposes. Make up your mind. You can’t have it both ways.
Trump is the ONLY one of them. The rest are lifetime politicians on the public dole and not about to upset their gravy and corruption cart. Cruz is one of THEM. He is not one of we the people. If you can’t see it by his votes, you’re not reasoning very well.
I would strongly suggest you get off you Trump is sick agenda. Some people DO NO need a lot of sleep. Moreover, Trump has aa consistent pattern of speaking. He knows exactly where he is and what he is saying and ALWAYS comes back to the opening subject. It is his secret! He doesn’t lecture people. He talks like people do normally and therefore connects with them. You don;t know beans from apple butter about public speaking.
Snap judgements are made when one has confidence in the answer to a problem. That comes with years of hard work and study and especially from solving problems! Trump has an instinct based on solid analytical powers. I’m fed up with mealy mouth “reasons” why Trump is this and isn’t that from people who don’t know what they are talking about.
Perhaps you need to move to the Middle East. Your incredibly thoughtless posts would fit right in. You seem to want to settle political issues with violence, and are willing to sacrifice liberty for the momentary satisfaction of seeing your “strong man” bully take down your political enemies.
That is not what this republic was established for - perhaps you were thinking this country was founded on the principles of the French Revolution? Robespierre would be proud of you and others on this thread.
Study up, the revolution you want Trump to lead does not end well. The French Revolution, the Bolshevik Revolution, China’s Cultural Revolution, the Arab Spring...
I am not a Cruz supporter. I just know a dangerous man and a dangerous movement when I see it. This thread is evidence that Trump is the worse thing to happen to U.S. politics since FDR, and perhaps worse.
You Trump supporters seem to think this is the French Revolution or the Arab Spring. May God have mercy on us...
Pick up the phone, the ghost of Robespierre is calling... He has a New York accent.
So much has been done around the Congress that undoing most of it will have to be done the same way...only a Trump or a Cruz will end up with a lot more scrutiny and opposition than Obama ever did........
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