The GOP has been calling Obama derisively The Imperial President. It is not the worst thing they have called him, but it is one of their complaints. “President is not the only one who won the election, we, the dimwitted congress critters, have won our elections, and we deserve to be treated with respect and evil Obama is behaving like an Emperor, ruling by decrees and issuing edicts”. Then they got a candidate who openly admires autocrats! Putin is a strong leader for his country. Got to give Kim Jong-un credit, barely 25 years old, cowed down his generals. And don’t forget, Saddam killed terrorists and had the region under control ... What does he think he is running for? Emperor of the USA?
Mr Khan famously asked, “Have you even read the Constitution of the United States of America?”. That buffoon clearly has not, and is not capable of understanding it, even if he reads it. But his surrogates and all those who complained of the Imperial Presidency of Obama, need to answer: is it constitutional for any President of America be strong like Kim Jong-un or Putin or Saddam? The qualities we admire in our great Presidents, Washington, Lincoln, FDR … do they have even a passing resemblance to thec “strength” Trumpsters admire in Putin, Saddam and Kim Jong-un ?
What Trump has exposed is an ugly truth. The support for Democracy, the Constitution, the rule of Law etc runs very shallow for a large section of our population. No matter what the constitution says, or what the rule of Law means or equality entails, as long as it leads to power and prestige for the White nationalists they will support it. If they feel it is not to their advantage to follow the constitution or obey the law, they will stop supporting the constitution and they will defy the rule of law. They are the fair weather friends of the Constitution. Frighteningly they are not too small to matter. They are big enough to hold the entire Republican up party for ransom.
This white nationalist section of America is joining hands with similar disaffected groups in Britain, and Europe and they don’t mind living under an autocracy. They think they will be the in-group and they can rule over the out-groups like Muslims or brown people.
The McCains and Ryans and McConnells are in a bind. They can’t hold on to their positions of power within the party without the support of the Trumpsters. They are the ones we should target for questions and demand explanations. Unless they feel they will lose their positions if they support Trumpsters, there is no redemption for America. A minority of America has managed to usurp the control of half our political establishment. As long as this situation continues, it will damage America.