I’ve gotten some rather heated responses to today’s BackChannel. The one point which I think merits a response is people saying that I’m not proposing any alternative. I saw that as implicit. But fair enough. Some say I’m just saying shut things down permanently. That latter claim isn’t true. But the first point is fair so let me address it.
Donald Trump is currently governing far outside the constitutional order. We’re operating in a constitutional interregnum. The constitutional order may and I think will come back into force. But right now we’re operating far, far outside of it. The President has seized the power of the purse from Congress. He is depriving states of their sovereignty and liberties by invading them with the US military. He is threatening budgetary cutoffs to assert policy control over areas of governance the president has zero authority over. I could list 10 other forms of extra-constitutional rule and I would still leave many out.
