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Who’s in charge donald trump v congresswhen it comes t
- 1. Who’s in charge? Donald Trump v Congress When it comes to domestic policy, the president is less powerful than he seems I Jan 17th 2019 Print edition | United States n 1989 william barr, then a White House lawyer, wrote a memor andum warning the president to be mindful of attempts by Congress to encroach on his authority. Thirty years on Mr Barr, who will shortly become America’s attorney- general, has had to defend himself in his Senate con�rmation he arings against the charge, which stems partly from the Humans: weakest link or greatest weapon? Humans can make cyber systems vulnerable but are also the best defense. Read how Subscribe Welcome Give The Economist for just $12 for 12 weeks.
- 2. https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url= http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u= https://www.linkedin.com/cws/share?url= mailto:?body= javascript:if(window.print)window.print() https://www.economist.com/ https://econ.st/2bs1gXz https://authenticate.economist.com/v2/logout?client=IARGLj7T VzFnBSYoW94mIzZJAe3U5vaq https://www.economist.com/sections memo, that he holds an alarmingly expansionist theory of the pr esidency. Meanwhile, the actual president cannot extract funds from Congress to build a wall along the southern border. The president’s main set-piece, the State of the Union, may be postponed on the suggestion of Nancy Pelosi, the House spea ker, who reminded the White House that the speech is given at the invitation of her o�ce, and that perhaps a written version would be �ne this time? The con�ict between the legislative and executive branches that has given America its longest-ever shutdown is inherent to presidential systems. Juan Linz, a sociologist and political scien tist at Yale who died in 2013, argued that though America’s constitution has been much- imitated, it only seemed to work in one place. Everywhere beyo nd America, making the legislative and executive branches coequal eventually resulted i
- 3. n stalemate. In Latin America, Linz observed, the deadlock was often broken by the army taking power. “The only president ial democracy with a long history of constitutional continuity is the United States,” he concluded in 1990. Since then, America’s government has su�ered three prolonged shutdowns, and is therefore looking a bit less exceptional than it once did. When the two political parties were a jumbled collection of interest groups, con�ict was easier to manage. Ronald Reagan could usually �nd enough like- minded Democrats to work with. Since then each party has beco me more ideologically uniform, with little overlap between them. The cur rent president cannot �nd a single member of the House Democratic caucus who thinks that giving him $5.7bn for his wa ll so the shutdown can end is a reasonable deal. The dominant view of the presidency has long been that in the c on�ict with the legislature there is only one winner. Arthur Schlesinger argued in “The Imperial Presidency” that America h ad already passed the point of no return in the 1970s: the accretion of presidential power could not be undone, nor the o� ce returned to something resembling what the founders intended. Bruce Ackerman, writing in 2010, echoed this in “The Decline and Fall of the American Republic”. Neomi Rao, whom President Donald Trump has nominated to be a judge on t
- 4. he dc circuit, published a paper in 2015 on “administrative collusion”, by which she meant the spineless tendency of lawma kers to give away powers to the executive. Yet the shutdown is a reminder of how powerful Congress remains. Latest stories Donald Trump agrees to reopen the government DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA Roger Stone is arrested DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA The Greek parliament votes to end the Macedonian dispute EUROPE See more Give The Economist for just $12 for 12 weeks. https://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2019/01 /art-surrender https://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica https://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2019/01 /go-between https://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica https://www.economist.com/node/21757988 https://www.economist.com/latest-updates In some ways the presidency is less powerful domestically than it was 50 years ago. The White House has built up its own legal sta�, suborning the Justice Department and pushing the li
- 5. mits of presidential authority wherever possible. Judged by spending, though, the executive branch is actually less imperial than under Eisenhower or Kennedy. The part of the budget that the executive actually spends (non- defence discretionary spending), accounts for a lower share of g dp now than in the 1960s. Congressional deadlock, which has been a feature of gov ernment since the mid-1990s, empowers the president in one way, inviting him to attempt rule by decree. It has also wea kened the whole system that the president sits on top of. Give The Economist for just $12 for 12 weeks. Jan 17th 2019 Print edition | United States Reuse this content About The Economist The concern that an overmighty potus is a threat to the republic is a staple of American politics. It is often accompanied by a side- order of hypocrisy. Thomas Je�erson insinuated that the �rst a nd second presidents harboured monarchical ambitions and then, when he held the o�ce himself, concluded a deal doubling the territory of the republic without �rst
- 6. asking Congress. Conservatives have tended to put up most resis tance to presidential overreach, but �nd their party is now led by a president who has closed down a quarter of the federal government rather than bow to Congress, and wants to make extensive use of eminent domain to build his wall. Progressives cheered the expansion of presidential power in the 20th century up to the Vietnam war and Watergate. Since then they have worried more about circumscribing the powers of the White House. Before he published “The Imperial Presidency”, Schlesinger held a conventionally progressive vie w of the presidency, which during his lifetime had vanquished the Depression, the Nazis and Jim Crow. When Nixo n left the White House, Democrats in Congress then set about codifying what presidents can and cannot do, to prevent f uture abuses. The �rst bill introduced by the new Democratic majority in the House is designed to accomplish a si milar cleanup for the post-Trump era. That would be a sensible prophylactic. But it is also worth reme mbering that after Democrats lost their majority in the House in 2010, Barack Obama spent the remaining six years of his presidency issuing executive orders, most of which were then undone by his successor. Brendan Nyhan, a political scienti st at the University of Michigan developed what he called
- 7. the Green Lantern theory of the presidency, named after a dc Co mics character. Mr Nyhan described this as, “the belief that the president can achieve any political or policy objective if onl y he tries hard enough or uses the right tactic.” Progressives who lamented the limitations of Mr Obama’s domestic power fo rgot all about this when Mr Trump took o�ce, and assumed he could govern by force of will. He cannot, and so the shutdow n goes on. This article appeared in the United States section of the print ed ition under the headline "Lovin’ it" Advertisement Humans can make cyber systems vulnerable but are also the best defense. Humans: weakest link or greatest weapon? READ HOW Give The Economist for just $12 for 12 weeks. https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url= http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u= https://www.linkedin.com/cws/share?url= mailto:?body= javascript:if(window.print)window.print() https://s100.copyright.com/AppDispatchServlet?publisherName =economist&publication=economist&title=Donald%20Trump%2 0v%20Congress&publicationDate=NaN0NaN0NaN&contentID= 21757448&type=A&orderBeanReset=0
- 8. https://www.economist.com/about-the-economist Advertisement ___ Advertisement The art of the surrender Donald Trump agrees to reopen the government Give The Economist for just $12 for 12 weeks. https://adclick.g.doubleclick.net/pcs/click?xai=AKAOjstDPSQE kKgpFmLkVYaluOL4WP_8a6TTtpbnXL0YKiqfQbj8yQUQFak muS5xpFtFNNVYuM00hR4_2ZMWiCfdva1GJAZsbopCeSKYOj u5WtMDgYCar3M0xDDtR73jY0T_P2pCNaaUJRlPIw&sig=Cg0 ArKJSzKDqUiwdLeE4&urlfix=1&adurl=https://statsf- tm.everesttech.net/stats/1/ct%3FcpKey%3DHip3pW4cFPE8eDP XPVGy%26mpKey%3DE1A7kfB2NvWlRr7jlLP0%26adKey%3 DyKm5o5hpShL6UAchdA7h%26sessId%3D2BDD0AF7-07F0- 4EDF-9102- 11A9A955BDA5.1%26seller_id%3D156395%26psId%3DlxSQnl UiIKl0WcqFoMMj%26sId%3D0%26dur%3D0%26date%3D%26 auth%3D%26did%3DW%40MbugAAAf1rsM2D%26didtype%3D EVEREST_COOKIE_ID%26conn%3Dunknown%26env%3 Dsite %26bi%3DB08xnmOlr61PsAvEaUQyEjbLSE6YSi8Dxj4n1Bkhg _Z1UmDQFvFfO28kdhuZtAaJoDTzfpw1iwjfGLKXJfCQZf- AzcixuVt_xLzkiFS- q7bva6Qrl0BuKjUm0vebo3KAKG9Opyg52JV7pCI5LjXvt2P_u AzwIT9Sq49EmI3sER5l4LpBUSF8bXWuPW8SA6YUYl8c9j207 c5T8ZTeN- 2xiJNdzCQx6_ZLyI9PG0CV1NRHoU%26s%3DH4sIAAAAAA AAAAEAAf_-BxFe- j18Gm9HjZHpXnzc2oYgSMM5gjEOhbXkEHeDZyhcu7hdb1jb8- YI_kg1EFNQEJEP3c5uv4AHw9DdWcVXnphOFLby7betpoeJDS
- 10. MpbsfuVwcUj4iQEht0X9Kfb9J_Xw0nxyIHHEgDUt- 4uhpBmbnzIt9jVTrcVEXk92gum5vGciuhv13__Ncf2NytTuKko- 4OD05MdJy9cyWT9- QrI9GawIuY4aC5uoOpqHk6bkVwJ5X0KBwX5fSA4UAAQAA %26redir%3Dhttps://www.worldgovernmentsummit.org/%253Fu tm_source%253DEconomist%2526utm_medium%253DDisplay% 2526utm_campaign%253DWGS-2019 https://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2019/01 /art-surrender How the president responds to this humiliation may de�ne the r emainder of his presidency DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA The go-between Roger Stone is arrested DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA A rare European success The Greek parliament votes to end the Macedonian dispute Daily chart Why have Venezuelans turned against Nicolás Maduro? Classified ads Give The Economist for just $12 for 12 weeks. https://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2019/01 /art-surrender
- 14. ReVnbYbmGPIsA4J4lA9SC_fOpe4TzUld6lPTZs6z2WFoLPVTa NanGC9y6_fFzVOofmTIpFwyG2GfN4N&sig=Cg0ArKJSzB6gd wNX5jif&adurl=http://jobs.economist.com/ Subscribe Group subscriptions Contact us Help Keep updated Sign up to get more from The Economist Get 3 free articles per week, daily newsletters and more. Email address Sign up About The Economist Advertise Reprints Careers Media Centre Terms of Use Privacy Cookie Policy Manage Cookies Accessibility Modern Slavery Statement Copyright © The Economist Newspaper Limited 2019. All right s reserved. Give The Economist for just $12 for 12 weeks. https://www.economist.com/subscribe https://www.economist.com/corporate-academic-subscriptions