This morning, The New York Times published Trump Tramples Congress’s Power, With Little Challenge From G.O.P., which would be laughable if there were anything funny about “the paper of record’s” ability to actually, you know, document the record.
They’re upset about the usual things, of course, which is simply that a president they don’t like is acting well within his presidential authorities, doing things they don’t like—and they just can’t stand it. They’re specifically upset about Trump’s ability “to conduct foreign policy and military operations,” but, really, it’s just this: It’s icky when Trump does it.
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This paragraph stood out:
The Trump administration continues to erode the power of Congress, trampling on its constitutional prerogatives in ways large and small. Through it all, Republicans in charge have mostly shrugged — and in some cases, outright applauded — as their powers, once jealously guarded, diminish in ways that will be difficult to reverse. (Emphasis mine.)
Were they in the actual business of actual reporting of the actual news, they might have remembered this breathtaking moment when Obama gave his 2014 State of the Union:
“…Wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation…that’s what I’m going to do.”
Democrats stood up and literally, physically “outright applauded,” en masse, at President Pen-and-Phone‘s overtly stated claim to “erode” Congress’s “constitutional prerogatives” and steal their “once jealously guarded” powers. I was watching at the time, and I remember being thunderstruck, absolutely gobsmacked, that they stood and applauded his flatly articulated intention to make eunuchs of all of them.
More from The Times:
For nearly a century, Democratic and Republican presidents alike have sought to amass more power, particularly to conduct foreign policy and military operations, and with a few exceptions, succeeded in chipping away at congressional influence. What is different now is the degree of disdain Mr. Trump has shown for Congress — and the willingness of G.O.P. leaders to defer to him even when it means undercutting their coequal branch of government.
“That is the big story here — not that a president is trying to push the bounds of their authority, because our system was designed with that in mind,” Representative Jason Crow, Democrat of Colorado and a member of the House Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, said in an interview. “The true story is that Republicans in Congress have capitulated and are not pushing back to assert authority.” (Emphasis mine.)
Did you catch that? “What is different now is the degree of disdain Mr. Trump has shown...” In other words, it’s just icky how Trump does it. When Mr. Smooth-Talker Pen-and-Phone did it, they didn’t mind so much. But the boorish New York developer? Where’s the fainting couch?
Oh, and Congressman Crow? I refer the gentleman from Colorado to the video above for “the big story” on how supine Congress can be when its powers are threatened. Supine, that is, when its members are not standing and applauding!
Spare us all your lamentations. All of you. None of you were “jealously guarding” your “prerogatives” when Obama illegally conferred DACA on illegal immigrants, killed an American citizen with a drone strike, helped his Attorney General blow off congressional subpoenas, made “recess” appointments to the NLRB when Congress wasn’t actually in recess, etc., etc. The list is long. Too long.
In fact, let’s take that first paragraph and write it the way it should have been written in 2014:
The Trump The Obama administration continues to erode the power of Congress, trampling on its constitutional prerogatives in ways large and small. Through it all, Republicans Democrats in charge have mostly shrugged — and in some cases, outright applauded — as their powers, once jealously guarded, diminish in ways that will be difficult to reverse.
Now that’s the historical record, “paper of record.” Fit to print.