The Imperial Presidency

 

In 1970 President Nixon, upon returning from a European trip decided that the White House police force looked pedestrian, compared to what he had seen overseas.  Uniforms were designed at considerable expense and on the next Head of State visit the force was decked out in double breasted jackets with gold buttons, striped pants, braided shoulder cords, a White House insignia, and uniform hats with raised covers.  They looked as if they had stepped from a B-Movie set and were basically soon laughed away into oblivion.

Arthur Schlesinger Jr. wrote about the Nixon tapes and other overreaches of the Nixon Presidency and compared his term to others who preceded him. His book (The Imperial Presidency, 1973) discusses what the founding fathers intended in the Constitution with their separation of powers and how those intentions had been misused.  He mentioned the use of executive privilege, unchecked electronic surveillance and misuse of executive powers against one’s political opponents. He asked what are the American people and Congress going to do about this?  Eventually the Supreme Court ruled against Nixon, saying that no President was above the law and the Watergate investigation ended his term in office.  So, while abuses in office are not new, seldom have presidential practices, processes and customs been mangled as they have over the last three and one-half years.

We are seeing similar scenarios now, except that now the Senate was unwilling to reign in this president by affirming his impeachment. Despite overwhelming evidence of corruption and using his office for personal gain, the Senate did not do its’ Constitutionally mandated job. In 2019 a New York Times opinion writer wrote that Americans do not want an Imperial Presidency and that we currently have a very weak president, but a strong presidency.  Warning bells are ringing all over the country as the government is not doing its job to protect the population of the country; from forest fires in the West, Derechos in Iowa, Hurricanes in the gulf, a nationwide economic failure and widespread cases of COVID, the country has been left adrift.

In the meantime, the Republican Party held a semblance of a virtual convention. The president and his administration ignored the regulations of the Hatch Act as Cabinet members addressed the convention and appeared at events.  The president commandeered the people’s House for his and the first lady’s speeches. Covid was addressed in the past tense as if it were gone. VP Pence, speaking at the Federal space of Fort McHenry, mentioned the need to make the country great again, again.  Where has he been for the last four years; does he own none of this administration’s failures?  Traditionally, Elected Federal officials are prohibited from using Federal buildings for campaign activities (although the President and VP are exempted – their staffs are not).  Members of Congress often use party offices, outside but nearby their Capitol Hill offices, to make political or fund-raising calls.  Low level Federal employees have been fined or fired if they send partisan emails or share candidate materials.  Kelly Ann Conway has been criticized multiple times for partisan remarks she made from the White House lawn.  So, these restrictions were not unknown by the president and his associates, but they just blew them off.

None of the country’s problem as noted above were mentioned, but there was a lot a blame pushed onto former VP Biden, whom I must point out was not in office when George Floyd was killed (Floyd was not mentioned either). Biden, it was said at various times, would destroy the suburbs, turn the country socialist and defund the police – (not true). The fact checkers had a field day with this speech, so many comments were labeled untrue or misleading.  All of these remarks were given before a crowd of around 2000 invited guests seated side by side, mostly unmasked, on the White House lawn. 

The staging as the president and the first Lady strolled down the marble stairs from the White House balcony before illuminated campaign signs and a bevy of flags, seemed to be so overdone.  It reminded me of the movie, “The Producers,” – a comedy by Mel Brooks. In that movie there is a chorus singing Springtime for Hitler (it is a farce) as they come down a wide staircase dressed in absurd costumes and head dresses.  All during the speech I expected to see these chorus lines come swaying down the staircase. Instead all we saw were fireworks spelling out the presidents’ name and a performer singing opera from the balcony! Showtime, anyone? Seriously, though his remarks went on for 70 minutes, it was an uncharacteristically low energy teleprompter speech delivered in a monotone sing-song style. The most animated response from the audience was when he turned and pointed to the White House and said “we are here and they are not”! 

It is now apparent that the Republicans will use every instance of urban unrest as a scare tactic to drive suburban white women back into their camp. The chief executive is provoking violence and in response, supporters of his have shown up heavily armed at some demonstrations. Ms. Conway welcomed the unrest; she said that the more unrest, the more support for their side. A teen-aged so-called police supporter (known to have attended a recent presidential rally) killed two volunteers aiding protesters in Kenosha and seriously injured another person then left without getting arrested. (He was eventually picked up.) Christian groups in Arizona, among other places, have started raising money for his defense.  The president is now planning to go to Kenosha (although he has not called the paralyzed Black man shot in the back by the police which started the unrest); he says he will go to support the police in his Law and Order role.  VP Biden and Kamala Harris have talked to the family. They have a fine line to walk in supporting the protests, but also with condemning the violence and destruction which followed peaceful protests. Somehow, if the marchers understand that they are driving voters toward the Republicans and decreasing support for the movement as polls have shown, maybe it is time for them to step back, until after the election.  However, I fear they are trusting neither party and these actions may continue, although I hope not.

The NBA and WNBA were among several sports teams which spoke out against the shooting and boycotted some scheduled games, stating they cannot play under these circumstances. They are using their very prominent voices to say Enough! – this must stop. Clippers Coach Doc Rivers asked poignantly “It’s amazing to me why we keep loving this country and this country does not love us back.”

Hopefully he will be proven wrong and it will not take a generation to accomplish this change. I think these athletes have a public forum and can use it well.  They, like Republican Senator Tim Scott can still ask, how many times have you been stopped by the police for no reason? There should be more accountability by police forces across this country; there should be equal justice under the law. That is what we, as a country, state that we support. But these changes must start with each of us now; we cannot allow a president to further demagogue a tense situation and promote racism. So, now we move forward to see what next week will bring – someone has been killed in Portland, details are unclear, except that he was a right-wing supporter.

COVID STATS – New York Times (NYT)

The CDC has changed its reporting and is now giving a rolling 7- day total of new cases and no longer lists daily cases as a solo number. The NYT keeps a tally also, so I have changed to those totals – which are higher than the CDC.  It is a shame what this administration is doing to the independence of the CDC.

Total US cases:  as of 8/30/20 - 6,006,100.  Total number of deaths: 182,965 Numbers of new cases per day 41,924 (averaged) Total new deaths pe day – 871.  The numbers of new cases and new deaths are decreasing slightly.  However, this week the state of Iowa has reported huge numbers of new cases, so they may be the next hot spot.  College campuses are reporting high numbers of cases among student arrivals. California is trying to reset its’ parameters to re-open so that it can contain spread.

Maryland is continuing to show improved numbers of infections. Total cases: 107,294. Total new cases:630

Total deaths:3,746. Total new deaths: 10.

The Governor of MD announced at the end of last week that, since the case rate is under 5% now, he believes schools should open on time in classrooms.  This message was accompanied by the promise of grants to any school systems which opened. Many counties, which planned to open on August 31^st, cried Foul! They had a virtual semester already planned out, with notices sent to families and students.  It was also noted that these virus numbers fluctuate and have not been low for any extended periods.

Well I guess this is a wrap for now. I will leave you with some words from Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.  “The American democracy must discover a middle ground between making the President a czar and making him a puppet.  …To put it succinctly – we need a strong Presidency – but a strong Presidency within the Constitution.”

Let’s make it happen! Let’s elect a president who believes in the Rule of Law, checks and balances and separation of powers.

“Til next week! Peace.