National Review Online
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Asked during his press conference by what authority he
intends to “reopen” the United States when the threat from coronavirus has
dissipated, President Trump struck an absolutist tone. “I have the ultimate
authority,” he insisted. “When somebody is the president of the United States,
the authority is total and that’s the way it’s got to be . . . It’s total. The
governors know that.”
In fact, “the governors” do not know that, and nor does
anybody else for that matter, because it is simply not true. The United States
is a federal republic in which the national government enjoys only limited
powers, and in which the president plays a subservient role to Congress within
that limited government. There are many actions that the White House can take
in the course of fighting this outbreak, but usurping the police powers of the
50 states is not among them. On this, the Constitution is clear.
It has indeed been galling to watch many within the press
corps repeatedly ask Trump why he has declined to preempt gubernatorial
decisions or shut down grocery stores when he does not enjoy the power to do
either. It was galling, too, to watch many of those same voices erupt in
indignation when, eventually, he began to talk as if he does. But that,
ultimately, is of secondary importance. It is the responsibility of the
American president not only to uphold the Constitution in action, but to
proselytize on its behalf. To hear the words “the authority is total” pass the lips
of our chief executive was jarring, unwelcome, and dangerous. Now, as ever, “L’état,
c’est moi” does not translate well into English.
There seems little chance that President Trump will
attempt to follow through on his declaration. It was only three days ago that
he was praising “federalism” and insisting that the majority of the
on-the-ground decisions will, as a matter of course, be taken by the states.
And, besides, there is no mechanism by which the federal government can
meaningfully force the nation’s governors to change course. As we learned
during the previous administration, presidents are most effective at grabbing
power that does not belong to them when they decline to enforce laws that they
dislike; when attempting to coerce an outcome, they are considerably less
potent.
Still, Americans, per Jefferson, enjoy a “peculiar
security . . . in the possession of a written Constitution,” and they rightly
expect their leaders to agree with them. These are extraordinary times, but it
is in extraordinary times that the integrity of our institutions and our
leaders is most keenly tested. Pandemic or no pandemic, nobody in this country
enjoys “ultimate authority.” Let us hear no more of this ugly, caudillo-esque
rhetoric.
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