Joseph Sabino Mistick: Trump’s plans for an imperial presidency
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The last time we had a close look at what an imperial American presidency might resemble, President Richard M. Nixon had decided that guards assigned to the White House should wear fancy uniforms befitting a European monarchy.
After official European visits marked by ceremonial pomp, Nixon decided to change the drab garb of Secret Service Uniformed Division officers in anticipation of the 1970 visit of British Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Costing $16,000 altogether, the new uniforms for formal state occasions consisted of double-breasted white tunics trimmed with gold braid and gold buttons and funny hats.
Laughter was immediate. The uniforms were compared to those of old-time movie theater ushers, banana republic military officers and high school band members. In fact, after a fast phase-out, some of the 32 uniforms were sold years later to an Iowa high school band for $10 each. The whole thing was silly and a little bit fun.
But if you take Donald Trump at his own word, that was kid stuff.
In an interview last week with Time magazine’s Eric Cortellessa, Trump described his own plans for an imperial presidency if he wins another term. And they are neither silly nor fun.
“Trump would enter a second term backed by a slew of policy shops staffed by loyalists who have drawn up detailed plans in service of his agenda, which would concentrate the powers of the state in the hands of a man whose appetite for power appears all but insatiable,” Cortellessa writes.
This is part of the doctrine of unitary executive authority, under which “the constraints imposed on the White House by legislators and the courts should be swept away in favor of a more powerful commander in chief.”
According to Trump and his current advisers, the founders’ tradition of independent law enforcement would come to an end. Trump would fire any U.S. attorney who refuses his order to prosecute someone. Imagine the problems if the local district attorney worked under the thumb of the mayor or county executive.
Trump would let the states “monitor women’s pregnancies and prosecute those who violate abortion bans.” He takes credit for ending Roe v. Wade through his appointment of three conservative Supreme Court justices. “I was able to kill Roe v. Wade, much to the ‘shock’ of everyone,” he has said on the campaign trail.
Trump would strip federal workers of their civil service protection and independence, making them vulnerable to the whims of the president on job safety, public health, climate control and environmental protections. Any public employee who did not toe the line according to Trump could be fired by Trump.
When Trump was asked about his statement to Fox News that he would not seek retribution or be a dictator “except for day one,” he said that it “was said in fun, in jest, sarcastically.” But he followed that with an observation about his talk of dictatorship: “I think a lot of people like it.”
And Trump did not dismiss the possibility of political violence around the election if he loses. “If we don’t win, you know, it depends,” he said.
It’s easy to predict how that will go, since he only hires those who pass his litmus test of believing the Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen.
All of it is enough to make you long for the relative comfort of the fancy Secret Service uniforms of the Nixon years.