I watched this episode last night and I found Robert struck a surprisingly optimistic tone. It suggested to me that Mr. Reich has more of a sense of trust in the American system than I do (and that could be because I’m not American).
On one hand, my gut tells me that sitting back, looking smug and saying “Trump’s approval rating on everything is through the floor” is not going to fix anything and is not going to stop the administration from trying to assert the Presidency as a dictatorship.
On the other, when courts had come to the conclusion that Trump’s “trade deficit emergency” tariff power was illegal, was a rare moment of Trump that might actually be put in check for once. It felt like a turning corner, and what I can hope for is that Americans learn the purpose of what democracy’s nominal guardrails were supposed to protect against, by seeing what happens when you let someone enact Republicans’ pipe dream. As Robert said, Americans are learning “from first principles” on why we don’t make President’s kings (the Unitary Executive Theory).
If democracy survives, this is the Republicans’ ship that will sink with Trump. Perhaps Democrats will follow Republicans down to ruin (as a matter of fairness and decorum), but they have right in front of them a golden opportunity to reform themselves, if there ever was one.
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