For the past few weeks President Donald Trump was operating as if America were governed by the Articles of Confederation, insisting the federal government was a mere backup to the states. This week, in response to numerous reports from legal and constitutional experts that only the states, and not the President, can “re-open” the country, Trump declared war, and himself king.
#DictatorTrump is now trending on social media.
“When somebody’s the President of the United States, the authority is total. And that’s the way it’s gotta be. It’s total,” Trump said, repeatedly, during Monday’s disturbing press conference.
He just doubled down.
Trump is now claiming the governors are beholden to his authority, and are not independent from his decrees.
The President is angry that powerful state governors on the West Coast and the East Coast are banding together to make decisions and to buy critical life saving equipment and supplies.
So he’s taking his anger out on the governor who has been his top critic, New York State’s Andrew Cuomo.
“Cuomo’s been calling daily, even hourly, begging for everything, most of which should have been the state’s responsibility, such as new hospitals, beds, ventilators, etc. I got it all done for him, and everyone else, and now he seems to want Independence! That won’t happen!” Trump threatened in a Twitter rant.
Politico’s Kyle Cheney called the President’s remarks a “tortured interpretation of federalism,” and pointed to his February article: “Trump appears to link national security decisions to demand that New York drop investigations.”
UPDATE: