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Friday, August 9th, 2019

Republicans Now Are More Open to the Idea of Expanding Presidential Power

Author:    
Source:     Pew Research Center
Publication Date:     AUGUST 7, 2019
 Link: Republicans Now Are More Open to the Idea of Expanding Presidential Power
Stephan:   In my opinion, we are now in the most important Constitutional crisis to face America since the Civil War. We have a president who is trying to make the presidency above the law in a host of ways, whose administration is filled by men and women who were never confirmed, because they are technically only "acting;" who is removing one-by-one senior career officials who will not give him personal loyalty; and who is reshaping the courts to be subservient and compliant. Aiding Trump in all of this is the Republican Party and its citizen voters who are in growing support of what Trump is doing. We are literally gutting the Constitution to produce what the Founders feared above everything, an authoritarian fascist king. If Trump is re-elected, and the Senate remains in the hands of the Republican Party by the end of that second term America, I think, will never recover, will be fundamentally altered, and no longer a democracy in substance although the forms of democracy remain.

Most Americans continue to say that it would be “too risky” to give the nation’s presidents more power, but the share expressing this opinion has declined since last year, with most of the change coming among Republicans.

Currently, 66% of the public says “it would be too risky to give U.S. presidents more power to deal directly with many of the country’s problems.” About three-in-ten adults (29%) offer the contrasting opinion that “problems could be dealt with more effectively if U.S. presidents didn’t have to worry so much about Congress or the courts.” In March 2018, 76% of the public said it would be too risky to give presidents more power.

The survey by Pew Research Center, conducted July 10-15 among 1,502 adults, finds that Republicans’ views on this question have changed markedly since last year. About half of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (51%) now say it would be too risky to give presidents more power, down from 70% last year.

The share of Republicans who say presidents could operate more effectively if they did not have to worry so much about […]

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1 Comment

  1. Rev. Dean on Friday, August 9, 2019 at 7:37 am

    Things are bad enough now with the president wielding more power than he should have; just think what Trunpists would do with a King, or some other autocratic form of leader with supreme power! Trump already thinks everyone should kiss his ring (or his butt) like a mob boss or get out of his sight, and he does not allow anyone to remain in his “company” unless they do what he wants them to do. What a horrible thought: having not just an Oligarchy (which is what we have now), but a “Kingdom”. Trump would love it if he could take God’s place as the one and only one who people worship. I am disgusted by the thought of it.