at the close of the 2nd of a 3 day break from teaching.
It is hard not to be angry and even worse at what is happening right now in Northern Syria.
As I told my students, the current occupant of the Oval Office broke no laws in the decisions he made — that is, in theory he has the full authority as Commander in Chief to do so, especially in the absence of any action by the Congress to the contrary. However, if he did so for corrupt reasons — either for his own personal financial interests or because he is being blackmailed by Turkey or Russia or both — that should be a clear impeachable offense.
Next, I wonder about Trump’s failure to nominate people to vacancies on independent boards and commission, which means they cannot fullly function. That is clearly true of the Federal Election Commission and with the recent ruling about Facebook by the EEOC one wonders whether that agency will also be subject to unfilled vacancies and thus uneable to fully function. I wonder if this might not be a violation of the oath of office that requires the President to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, that is, that the President faithfully execute his office — absent a quorum at such agencies it clearly it cannot be — and therefore that by itself becomes an impeachable offense.
And then there are the various acting people at the head of cabinet agencies.
As a teacher of Government I often point out to my students possible holes in the Constitution. Originally the Constitution did NOT have any qualifications stated to be Vice President. Fortunately the 12th Amendment addressed that before William Henry Harrison died and we first elevated a VP to President in John Tyler — the VP must be constitutionally eligible to be President. One such hole is who would preside over the impeachment trial of a Vice President. In theory, s/he would preside over his own trial in the capacity of President of the Senate, the only constitutional exception being the trial of a President where the Chief Justice presides. Of course, in theory a majority of the Senate could overturn any ruling by the the presiding officer.
So, let me return to the issue of Acting cabinet and other major agency officials. The key is this part of the 25th Amendment:
Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
First, the Constitution does NOT identify what the principal officers are, or whether executive departments are, although the Congress has the power to designate a body other than that. And the line of Presidential succession as modified in the 2006 version of the Presidential Succession Act does specify the 15 cabinet agencies (the heads of which would be ACTING as President, not necessarily succeeding to the office, itself a possible problem).
For now, let’s assume that the majority would be of the officially designated cabinet agencies. But is an acting head qualified as a principal officer as required by the 25th Amendment? I am not sure that is clear. And if not, would the number required still be 8 of the 15 departments, or would it be the majority of those departments headed by Senate confirmed persons? From elsewhere in the Constitution, we can see words like in impeachment trials of 2/3 of the Senators present and voting, which means it does not have to be 67 Senators. I suspect the number would remain at 8 of the 15 agencies. Could a president then block action of the 25th Amendment provisions by having 8 acting cabinet secretaries, even if in a series of acting appointments, never submitting names for Senate approval?
I don’t have answers. I do understand that Trump likes having “acting” leaders of departments because he believes it gives him more control. Please note — even though the position of Chief of Staff is NOT subject to Senate confirmation, Mick Mulvaney is still acting in that capacity, never having formally been permanently appointed.
I did say this was musings.
Let me switch topics.
Once upon a time this nation was in crisis, after the stock market crash of October 1929. We went through 2 ½ years before an election where a wealthy governor of New York was elected, and who pursued radical measures to save both the economy and the political system of America. A group of wealthy men attempted to organize a coup against him, but Smedley Butler refused to play ball, and even testified to Congress about that plot. But Americans did not care, because they saw FDR as someone who was dedicated to their well-being, and campaigned and governed not with the kind of anger and divisiveness we see from Trump, but with a smile, and a sense of humor. FDR was a “happy warrior” who overwhelmingly was reelected, and only face some pushback in running for his 3rd term.
I also note that part of Reagan’s appeal was he came across as basically having a sunny disposition, even though at times his criticism of opponents was quite pointed.
Why am I including that in this set of musings, which may draw little attention here?
Because when I look at the current Democratic field I see one candidate who clearly exemplifies the idea of a happy warrior, and it is Elizabeth Warren. I think that may be a major reason why she has continued to rise in the polls, along with the personal connections she makes — trust me, all the selfies she takes after events, the phone calls she makes to supporters: those people tell lots of other people, sharing the selfies or the experience of the phone calls not merely in face to face conversations, but also through social media.
Please note — this is NOT an endorsement. merely an observation. She has also become increasingly skilled as a campaigner, and although 70, comes across as much younger because of how energetic she is. As a 73 year old teacher whose students have trouble believing I am that old I have some understanding of the impact of such perceptions.
I do not think the hostility of some on Wall Street and in big high tech companies will necessarily hurt Warren. I also think she will be able to finesse a number of other issues, as has been demonstrated by how she handled criticisms that she had not previously tied her leaving teaching to being forced out because of pregnancy and that the paperwork from the time does not cite it. Warren simply turned to others to ask them to share their experiences, and it made for both an immediate connection to the experience of others and that leading to a sense that Warren understands ordinary folks. By the way, she is very good at doing this on lots of issues, which is one reason that older African American women who heard her in SC came away quite impressed regardless of how skeptical they might have been.
For better or worse, our politics are now very different that they were in 2008 and 2012. Part of that is Russian interference, to be sure. Part of that is how Trump and Republicans who caved to him have distorted the process. But in some cases that can be to the advantage of Democrats who understand the new dynamics.
And my last musing — I heard a lot of people obsessing about how much money Trump was raising for himself and Republicans. But he has had a pretty high burn rate, with a LOT of advertising on Social media at the same time as his approval rating has gone down and support for impeachment has grown steadily. At some point more money spent can just annoy people just like too many phone calls from campaigns can be counterproductive.
This coming week I only have classes on 3 days (Wed is a testing day for underclassmen and I only teach seniors). With our rotation of classes meeting 6 times in 8 days, I will only get through the 3rd of 6 lessons by Friday, and I have already taught two of my six classes (different preps) the 2nd lesson of this cycle, so this weekend I only have to plan one more lesson for each of my two preps. I have mentally outlined, will do the paperwork and online posting tomorrow morning, but actually how have hours in which I can do reading I might not otherwise not be able to achieve. That feels like a luxury for a school teacher. And the 1st quarter ends on Friday. Yay.
Peace.