Trump is Repeating Richard Nixon’s Failed Plan to Shutter Federal Agencies

[sparky]

action/words Thinker.....~S~

 

[berg80]

Good OP.

Trump has done better than Nixon so far.

The easy answer as to why being Nixon was part of a rules based system that reacted when he broke the rules. Members of his own party had respect for rules and law. trump has no such burden.

 

[berg80]

Good OP.

Trump has done better than Nixon so far.

A reasonable case can be made that if Nixon pursued the path trump is on he would have been impeached.

 

[John Edgar Slow Horses]

Yes, he would have been impeached.

 

[bendo]

The easy answer as to why being Nixon was part of a rules based system that reacted when he broke the rules. Members of his own party had respect for rules and law. trump has no such burden.

Moscow Mitch empowered him. And we'll never impeach a president again, imo. Not even if he engineers a breakin to fix an election.

 

[berg80]

Trump has not had his cases reviewed by the full appeal process. We'll see how Trump fares after all appeals are over.

Seeing as trump has the entire DoJ under his control, appointed many federal judges, and his SC made up a theory of presidential immunity where none exists in law or tradition........when he wasn't even asking it to............I like his chances.

 

[Nostra]

Trump is exposing Deep State fraud, waste and corruption to the tune of BILLIONS of dollars.

Dimwingers: IMPEACH!

 

[berg80]

Moscow Mitch empowered him. And we'll never impeach a president again, imo. Not even if he engineers a breakin to fix an election.

Which in reality has removed the only check on behavior that would have existed after Roberts and Co. gave him carte blanche to run a lawless presidency. His underlings having the knowledge they too are immune from prosecution thanks to the power of the pardon.

 

[22lcidw]

There's a classic example of taking a kernel of truth and using it to justify extralegal measures to break, not fix, the government.

Trump Fired, Then Unfired, National Nuclear Security Administration Employees. What Were Their Jobs?​

When termination letters were sent to employees across the federal government last week, the Trump administration affected an agency charged with the readiness of America’s nuclear arsenal.

The move also shined a spotlight on the agency, the National Nuclear Security Administration, which few Americans likely think of often, if ever, but has a monumental responsibility.

Here’s a rundown of what the obscure agency does and the potential reasons that the Trump administration had to quickly adjust some of the firings:

Trump Fired, Then Unfired, National Nuclear Security Administration Employees. What Were Their Jobs?

The administration asked some of the agency’s workers, who were part of last week’s massive layoffs across the federal government, to come back.

www.nytimes.com

When people in charge of government efficiency are incompetent it does not inspire confidence in the outcome.

Nixon was trying to keep the fiat currency from going out of control. He did not succeed. As we went from a creditor nation to a debtor one as the great society, affirmative action, diversity, feminism, etc. expanded mightily and deficits exploded with state and local government raising their taxes in huge ways also.

 

[justoffal]

Just what is it about EO's that are unconstitutional? ~S~

Obama wrote a record number of them and nobody said shit. They're only unconstitutional when it's not a Democrat writing one.

 

[JimH52]

Since he returned to office, Donald Trump and his allies have used a series of illegal tactics to withhold federal funding and strangle administrative agencies. The administration has tried to freeze federal funding with an agency memorandum, turned over control of the government’s payments systems to an unelected and unaccountable actor in Elon Musk, and withheld appropriations from the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Reportedly, the administration is also preparing an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education in the coming weeks.

Trump’s actions are stunning, but they’re not entirely unprecedented. Richard Nixon used a similar strategy in an attempt to unilaterally shut down the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), the federal agency created under President Lyndon Johnson to implement the War on Poverty. Mobilization by unionized federal workers and the courts eventually put an end to Nixon’s efforts. This history highlights how opponents of Trump’s power grab can potentially fight back—and protect one of the most sacrosanct principles embedded in the Constitution.

The Playbook for Stopping Trump From Shuttering Agencies

Presidents can't shutter an agency Congress created by statute. Only Congress has this power.

time.com

Dems need to be clear in their messaging (something they are terrible at) when it comes to opposing trump's total government takeover. Especially how Don is using the fraud and abuse tag line to cover for his greater ambitions. They run the risk of being pigeon holed as the party trying to block efforts to reduce the deficit. When in reality it is more accurate to say the objection they are raising has more to do with the illegal way trump is going about it.

Over the weekend trump as much as admitted he is breaking laws to meet his objectives. Rationalizing it by claiming he should be allowed to break laws if, in his opinion, it's for the good of the country. Following a pattern of open admissions he believes he should possess autocratic power.

In so doing, vindicating what some of us have been predicting would happen. Not that it required any great insight. He's been telegraphing it for years. Previously, those efforts have entailed probing for and exploiting weaknesses in our democracy in ways that had never been contemplated. Our defenses having been oriented to repel foreign enemies, not internal ones. The enemy is now, as the saying goes, inside the gate. The next 4 years will be a test of our fortitude to fight against it.

trump makes Nixon look like the Pope.