President Trump To Students: I Have The Right To Do Whatever I Want As President
[guest post by Dana]
President Trump addressed an audience of young people at the Turning Point USA Action Summit yesterday. In his remarks, he brought up the “Russian witch hunt,” telling the teen students that the Constitution gives him carte blanche to do anything wants as the President:
… Give me $40 million. Give me unlimited FBI, unlimited interviews, unlimited — they interviewed 500 people. Listen to this: Two thousand five hundred subpoenas. They did everything. Their collusion; no collusion. They have no collusion. (Applause.)
Then I have an Article 2, where I have the right to do whatever I want as President. But I don’t even talk about that because they did a report and there was no obstruction. After looking at it, our great Attorney General read it. He’s a total professional. He said, “There’s nothing here. There’s no obstruction.” So they referenced, “No obstruction.” So you have no collusion, no obstruction, and yet it goes on.
This isn’t the first time that Trump has made such a claim.
About his assertion that the President has “the right” to do whatever he wants:
The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.
I really hope the young people in the audience take the time to read Article II themselves, so that they can see that it also provides for a president being removed from office “via impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Go figure.
Anyway, I’m sure supporters will say that Trump didn’t really mean that, or that I’m taking his words out of context, or that this is just yet another attack on Trump. And that’s fine. But before you do, read the entirety of his comments (linked above) or watch the video below. Also, consider the possibility that he has no clue about what he is saying.
(At the 49:26 mark)
(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)
-Dana
If donald trump says he is a martian the morons here would agree that it must be so. trump can not do what ever he wants or rachel maddcow would be in jail and so would laurence o’donnell.
lany (da87c1) — 7/24/2019 @ 12:34 pmPerhaps the President should refrain from making such erroneous claims then.
Dana (bb0678) — 7/24/2019 @ 12:36 pmTrump wants to wipe out the national debt.
Trump can do whatever he wants to do
Therefore, there is no national debt.
See how easy it is?
Kevin M (21ca15) — 7/24/2019 @ 12:40 pmIt’s called “The Divine Right of Presidents”
Kevin M (21ca15) — 7/24/2019 @ 12:41 pmTrump being Trump … inartfully put – dissected afterward with a nanoscope.
He was only referring to his Article 2 rights vis-a-vie the Mueller investigation.
bendover2 (076acf) — 7/24/2019 @ 12:53 pm#5… that’s my read too. But, if you don’t like Trump its too easy to interpret it the way Dana did.
He’s truly his own worst enemy in a lot of ways… a bull in a china shop.
whembly (fd57f6) — 7/24/2019 @ 12:59 pmGollum J. Trump clarifies:
Make America Precious Again!
Dave (1bb933) — 7/24/2019 @ 1:04 pmwhembly … true dat !!
However, I would posit that I could make any politician in the public sphere look and sound like a complete and utter moron if I held them to this Trumpian level criticism.
bendover2 (076acf) — 7/24/2019 @ 1:07 pmAlways glad to have the Trump whisperers here ready to explain what Trump really meant when he says something dumb.
Davethulhu (fab944) — 7/24/2019 @ 1:12 pmwell he didn’t spell out the powers, unlike Obama’s pen and phone combo, which was all legit, which he never what was going on, because he was always watching espn, neither fast and furious, or ‘not one smidgen of corruption’ re the irs, or the va,
narciso (d1f714) — 7/24/2019 @ 1:16 pmThe general tone of the conversation about this in /r/asktrumpsupporters has been, of course the president can do whatever he wants, that’s the whole point in having a president, and if you don’t like it you can amend the constitution.
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 7/24/2019 @ 1:17 pmObama’s “pen and phone” quote stopped a fair bit short of claiming “I have the right to do whatever I want as President”:
Even Nixon couched his infamous “if the president does it, that means it is not illegal” in terms of decisions involving national security, not covering up crimes committed for the president’s political benefit like the Watergate break-in or the Russian attacks on behalf of Donald Trump.
Dave (1bb933) — 7/24/2019 @ 1:42 pmI am buoyed by the thoughts of Dave and Cthulhu. After today’s hearings dash their hopes, they pull their wee willies out of the dirt and soldier on. It is truly inspiring!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/24/2019 @ 1:43 pmR.I.P. Rutger Hauer
Icy (3cfe95) — 7/24/2019 @ 1:53 pmgrasping on those very sharp metal straws, the Spanish news dutifully repeated the above talking point about the inability to secure indictments, and assured us there was Russian interference, they didn’t address the spectral evidence of crowdstrike
narciso (d1f714) — 7/24/2019 @ 1:54 pmRIP Art Neville (the Meters)
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/24/2019 @ 2:00 pmyou might ask where do they get this authority, is that ‘bearded marxist’ chris coons,
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/senators-to-unveil-carbon-tax-bill-to-generate-dollar25-trillion-in-10-years/ar-AAEO8fB?ocid=spartandhp
narciso (d1f714) — 7/24/2019 @ 2:07 pm@13 I respect your lifestyle choices, but the idea of your drawing inspiration from thinking about my willy is very creepy.
Please keep your sexual fantasies involving me to yourself.
Dave (1bb933) — 7/24/2019 @ 2:11 pmnarciso @15. What is this about? What “above talking poiints?” Is this in the wrong thread? Is this something to do with Mueller? Or Puerto Rico?
Sammy Finkelman (102c75) — 7/24/2019 @ 2:12 pm18… go get ’em, cueball!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/24/2019 @ 2:24 pmSeriously, you both inspire us all. Never give up!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/24/2019 @ 2:31 pmHowever, I would posit that I could make any politician in the public sphere look and sound like a complete and utter moron if I held them to this Trumpian level criticism.
Well, maybe. But as Whembly admits, Trump makes it so goddam easy that it is truly shooting fish in a barrel, isn’t it?
I could argue persuasively that every single Congressional Democrat has lost his or her mind, but that doesn’t mean that Rashida Tlaib isn’t even more ridiculous than the rest.
JVW (54fd0b) — 7/24/2019 @ 2:42 pmshe’s just moving the overton window, Obama admitted in 2007 they couldn’t get to single payer in one fell swoop, now they promise it, cap n trade, was just the first step in the green nude eel, also a decade down the road, if twenty years ago, I would have told you ge was going to phase out the incandescent lightbulb, you would have said I was nuts, ten years trangenderism was a freak show now it’s practically mandatory,
narciso (d1f714) — 7/24/2019 @ 3:14 pmIf Mueller’s devastating report was about Obama, the same people laughing that he’s refusing to be a politician on camera would be praising him and demanding impeachment. It’s really interesting to see.
Dustin (e01605) — 7/24/2019 @ 3:14 pmAnd yet this is exactly what he did, with fast and furious, against the tea party, arming rebels in Libya, that would murder an ambassador, they scarcely batt an eye, and this so called counterintelligence investigation, also broke numerous statutes,
narciso (d1f714) — 7/24/2019 @ 3:21 pmIt’s going to be interesting watching Trump’s fans try to complain about any action a future president takes (they seem to hate other Republican presidents at least as much as Dems). Trump said they have article 2 carte blanche. They can do anything. Undocumented suffrage? Share nuclear tech with China? 55mph speed limit? Trump says ‘yes we can’
Dustin (e01605) — 7/24/2019 @ 3:27 pmThose who can do, and those who can’t tweet.
nk (dbc370) — 7/24/2019 @ 3:32 pmin lieu of Pelosi’s peanut gallery, he has some leeway,
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1157545/jacob-rees-mogg-boris-johnson-cabinet-latest-no-deal-brexit-prorogue-parliament-commons
narciso (d1f714) — 7/24/2019 @ 3:43 pmThey don’t think ahead to the unintended consequences of defending his impulsive/ignorant comments, and neither does he. Not about what a future president might do, and not, at the very least, giving 2020 Dems a sweet campaign ad. And to think, Republicans were up in arms when Obama said there were 57 states.
Dana (bb0678) — 7/24/2019 @ 3:46 pmIt seems important that a person should understand the Constitution before swearing an oath to defend and uphold said document. Sigh.
Paul Montagu (dbd3cc) — 7/24/2019 @ 3:51 pmP.S. Dave beat me to the tweet by Trump’s alter ego.
‘… the right to do whatever I want…’
Well, since the DOJ says you can’t indict a sitting president, it appears to him that he’s right.
Memo to Fifth Avenue streetwalkers– sale on Kevlar vests at Saks!
DCSCA (797bc0) — 7/24/2019 @ 4:19 pmThe msm assured me that once Trump had supreme power to make Trump’s America a reality we were going to get those Handmaid camps.
So until I see them Handmaid camps I know he can’t really do whatever he wants.
harkin (0f62bd) — 7/24/2019 @ 4:20 pmthat’s right up there with the artificial island trump is pictured as nuking in ‘years and years’ starring that very stable personality emma Thompson,
narciso (d1f714) — 7/24/2019 @ 4:23 pm‘… the right to do whatever I want…’
Who does he think he is, a special prosecutor? Or me?
Andrew Weissman (e2dc59) — 7/24/2019 @ 4:24 pmBut that’s the thing, Paul Montagu. His supporters don’t demand that he know and understand that of which he speaks. They are fine with him making erroneous statements because he’s Trump. It’s baffling to me that so many are willing to lower the bar for any elected official when I think we should be continuously demanding higher standards from elected officials. This is the dumbing down of America in action.
Dana (bb0678) — 7/24/2019 @ 4:27 pmwe’ve been told he’s done unprescendented things like the immigration pause based on criteria established in 2016 omnibus legislation, now Obama conjured up daca and dapa out of thin air and except for the 5th circuit, it remains to this day, as judge hanen short circuited it,
narciso (d1f714) — 7/24/2019 @ 4:31 pmHe’s not a lawyer.
He often fails to speak with the precision we’d expect from a Yale-trained lawyer. Like the one who spoke precisely about wanting to abolish the Electoral College, and reverse Citizens United.
The perennial alarmists, on the left, always watching for tanks in DuPont circle, or on the right, wishing that everyone spoke like a lawyer, need to remain calm. No one thinks he means that literally.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (6b1442) — 7/24/2019 @ 5:32 pmHarcourt Fenton Mudd,
I’m not a Yale-trained lawyer and even I knew that his statement was erroneous, and that he should not have made it. Especially before an audience of student teens. What could have been a learning experience for them, was instead was a campaign rally. Also, given what we already *know* about Trump, why do you think he should be given the benefit of the doubt for his, uh, misspeak?
I like how Trump supporters always demand he be given a charitable read, and yet when Obama was in office, no way, no how. Funny that.
Dana (bb0678) — 7/24/2019 @ 5:49 pm“I like how Trump supporters always demand he be given a charitable read, and yet when Obama was in office, no way, no how. Funny that.”
Dana (bb0678) — 7/24/2019 @ 5:49 pm
Remember when Trump unleashed law enforcement and intelligence services against political opponents?
I don’t either. Funny that.
Munroe (0b2761) — 7/24/2019 @ 6:01 pmStable genius. He knows lots of words. He knows the best words.
nk (dbc370) — 7/24/2019 @ 6:04 pmIn other news:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-jeanne-ives-congress-announcement-video-speech-20190722-abscmeh52rhivbtzh6q3r4ccua-story.html%3foutputType=amp
Narciso (aa2efd) — 7/24/2019 @ 6:10 pm“Remember when Trump unleashed law enforcement and intelligence services against political opponents?”
Neither did Obama. Is that the joke?
Davethulhu (bc6fa6) — 7/24/2019 @ 6:13 pmTrump did order the previous Attorney General to investigate and harass his political opponents, as he himself promised he would do many times during the campaign.
Dave (1bb933) — 7/24/2019 @ 6:35 pmNo to investigate those who had violated multiple statutes but maintaining insecure servers, destroying or erasing evidence of such presence. But we cant address that.
Narciso (aa2efd) — 7/24/2019 @ 7:00 pmCovfefe.
nk (dbc370) — 7/24/2019 @ 7:03 pmI thought everyone knew who he was:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/mueller-doesnt-recognize-name-lewandowski-despite-involvement-in-one-potential-obstruction-episode?fbclid=IwAR1dWiVAkYt_6DulKo4Bw-uh9QzUfpiLfedwSyolLs08vjs4Fb1Z5IoaEMw
Narciso (aa2efd) — 7/24/2019 @ 7:07 pmWell in the UK, they have made real eels of themselves* blocking traffic In Major thoroughfares
*futurama reference
Narciso (aa2efd) — 7/24/2019 @ 7:11 pmTrump exaggerates wildly? Oh noes! Who could have imagined!
David in Cal (0d5a1d) — 7/24/2019 @ 8:24 pmThe walls are closing in on Trump. First, the Russia Collusion. We now know he’s gong to be impeached. Mueller hit it out of the park! And if he survives that, his 500th “Stupid” “Ignorant” Tweet will do him in. How do I know they’re stupid/ignorant? His critics say so. And they’ve been right for almost 4 years. Look at Trump’s lack of success! Orange man is going down for sure.
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/24/2019 @ 8:46 pmA person of modest intelligence with a modicum of integrity wouldn’t spew so many wild exaggerations, blatant falsehoods, and nutty rants as Donald Trump does.
It’s the soft bigotry of low expectations, applied to the president of the United States.
Radegunda (f133c3) — 7/24/2019 @ 8:46 pmThe Dems’ll throw the old white man under the bus, and the calls for a new investigation will soon begin…
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/24/2019 @ 8:49 pmAnd let me add: If you aren’t listening to Bill Kristol, Joe Scarborough, Rachael Maddow, and david French – you don’t know what’s going on in the USA. They have America’s pulse!
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/24/2019 @ 8:49 pm