Donald Trump has made clear he thinks the United States Constitution needs to go the way of the buffalo, that it is “archaic” and “bad for the country.”
He is frustrated that he can’t get anything done just by saying that it must be done. We get that. He wants to rock the whole dictator thing. Ain’t happening, says the law of the land which governs us all, even presidents.
It is true that the requirement for a supermajority is self-imposed by the Senate and a requirement of the Constitution in only a limited number of cases, including *hint, hint* impeachment, but what a frustrated Trump took to Twitter to argue for this morning is a special set of rules for Donald Trump:
The reason for the plan negotiated between the Republicans and Democrats is that we need 60 votes in the Senate which are not there! We….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2017
either elect more Republican Senators in 2018 or change the rules now to 51%. Our country needs a good "shutdown" in September to fix mess!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2017
Ironically, the government funding deal Trump is trying so hard to excuse to his devoted followers would be the first bipartisan legislation of his administration to be passed.
What’s funny is that this preference for a shutdown over a bipartisan deal comes from the same guy who claims he could have “done a deal” to avert the Civil War. Makes you wonder how he thinks he could have “done a deal” given his desire to avoid talking to both parties.
Of course, Trump clearly has no interest in bipartisan anything, as he shows here with his preference for a shutdown. Trump prefers to rule by executive fiat instead, simply signing executive orders he hasn’t bothered to read and then demanding they take effect, constitutional or not.
There is no doubt, as has been frequently pointed out, that there are problems with the current system, which has frustrated presidents and legislators on both sides of the aisle. Even that “the Senate’s 60 vote requirement is a violation of the 17th Amendment’s ‘one senator-one vote’ rule.”
President Obama could not get his pick for Supreme Court justice even voted on and Trump was able to use his stolen pick only because his Republican allies used the “nuclear option” to get Neil Gorsuch passed.
Donald Trump, who claims to be the ultimate deal maker, wants the rules changed to something more Trump-friendly so he doesn’t have to bother making deals.
The truth is, Donald Trump has just admitted that he can’t fix anything without a special set of rules no other president has enjoyed.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.
