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Donald J Trump, Lord and Ruler of his Vast Domain, has declared that if he wants to do it, that’s what will be done. No matter what “it” is, “it” is very simply anything Donald Trump wants to do. As His Highness would have it, what’s the sense of being President if the President has to listen to reason or to anyone else.
A direct quote, not taken out of context, which (of course) he will deny he ever said, was spoken by the emperor yesterday, “When somebody is the President of the United States, the authority is total. That’s the way it’s got to be.” If he wants to open up the country, all it would take would be an imperial edict, and any governor or legislator who dared say otherwise would soon regret the day he or she spoke in opposition.
Mike Pence, who once might have been a staunch advocate of state’s rights, was thought to have said something to the effect of invoking emergency powers. However, it was hard to hear his exact words, as Pence was attempting to speak while simultaneously kissing the ring of the High Ruler.
When informed of the limitations of federal powers stated in the Tenth Amendment, Trump seemed momentarily confused, saying that he remembered that the Fourth Amendment was to Honor thy Father and Mother, and the Fifth was something about Shalt not Kill, but that he wasn’t familiar with the Tenth. When reminded about the difference between Amendments and Commandments, Trump was too amped up to listen. He went on to say he couldn’t be bothered with the Tenth, and further criticized the Sixth, about not committing adultery, which he said he would soon repeal.
Not that the man is a history buff—one would have to actually read books to learn about history, although I’m told that you can get a lot of facts by spending time in front of the History Channel—but haven’t all the great leaders wielded absolute power. Nobody ever said “No” to Caesar or Napoleon, at least nobody who wanted to remain in one piece.
Still, it should be noted that Caesar had a bad day when Brutus had finally had enough, and Napoleon died after six tough years in exile on a remote tropical island. I would think that final acts such as these might serve as cautionary precedents for a modern monarch who is not capable of exercising the tiniest bit of restraint. But learning that history has a way of repeating itself seems beyond the imagination of the Grand Poobah of DC. Oh, look over there. Could that be Waterloo I see on the horizon?
