Trump in the latest episode of the Covid-19 Reality TV Panic Demic series has found a way to get re-elected in November so that he can keep himself and his family out of prison.
Political advisers looked at the polling results that showed that voters overwhelmingly preferred to keep containment measures in place over sending people back to work prematurely.
Trump realized that a majority of Americans want to accept painful consequences nowin the form of social distancing and an economic downturnto limit COVID-19's long-term effects.
Historically, a president's approval rating benefits from a crisis, the "rally around the flag" effect, and then inevitably drifts downward. Pollsters and political scientists have observed a "rally around the leader" effect for decades, with popular approval of a president going up in times of crisis.
Initially, Trump received good marks (50% approval) for his handling of the pandemic, and his overall job approval ratings also increased but Mark Mellmann, a Democratic pollster points out that "Looking at poll averages, there is no clear impact on Trump's overall approval rating and we aren't seeing the kind of rally around the president effect, that we see in cases of international crisis.
Team Trump must wage its election campaign war as if the last three years of his presidency did not exist. Another veteran GOP presidential strategist wrote, "Nothing else Trump has done matters." Approval Ratings Amid Crises: Comparing Trump, Obama, Bush
The daily 2-hour press briefings are intended to show the American people that Donald is in charge and winning the Covid-19 battle.
Trump and Steven Miller very likely understand that the current crisis is fundamentally more consequential and damaging than the September 11, 2001 attacks and 2008 financial crisis combined. Unlike today, the entire economy in 2001 and 2008 was still functioning and most Americans went on with their life.
Therefore to demonstrate that Trump is in charge he and Mike Pence are telling us that "In the long history of this country, the authority of the president of the United States during national emergencies is unquestionably plenary." Plenary means "unqualified; absolute," according to the Oxford English Dictionary.
The Constitution bestows specific powers on the federal government while reserving the rest to sovereign state governments, however, when Pence refers to the "long history" he isn't going back to Andrew Hamilton, he is talking about 1962.
John F. Kennedy ended what was left of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, when he signed Executive Orders 10995 through 11005 in 1962.
10995 through 11005 allowed the government to seize and control all forms of communication and their infrastructure (voice, data, media), energy (electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals), transportation (vehicles, aircraft of any kind, highways, seaports, and waterways), designates the Postmaster General to operate a national registration and of course all food resources and farms.
A president can now declare martial law and direct FEMA to take control of local, state, and national governments using "National Police Force," formally referred to by the name of Multi-Jurisdictional Task Force (MJTF). The MJTF is comprised of specially selected US military personnel (Blackwater) and foreign military units carrying United Nations ID cards.
"Posse comitatus,"the principle that the military should not act as a domestic police force, has deep roots in the nation's history, and it is often mistaken for a constitutional rule. The Constitution does not prohibit military participation in police activity nor does the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 outlaw such participation. [2]
Trump looks up to murderous dictators and since he took over the White House has shown a contempt for any limits on presidential power and the democratic rule of law. During his 2016 campaign, he made it clear he might not accept the electoral results if he is not elected POTUS. [3]
We want to believe that the limits set by the Constitution and Congress, enforced by the courts, will keep him from ending our democracy, but will they? Emergency powers allow the president to engage in conduct that would be illegal during ordinary times.
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