Chapter 1: What evidence is presented to argue that Trump is not a dictator?
You have heard over and over from your friends and family members, from your weird blue-haired cousin, that President Trump is a dictator, and that is obviously untrue. But today, we're going to go through four reasons why this is obviously untrue, so that you can just hand them this video next time they say it.
One, President Trump is subject to the rule of law and he obeys it when he is forced to do so. This is true from both the judiciary and also from the legislature. So there have been a number of cases in which the president's authority has been challenged in a court of law and the court has ruled against the president of the United States. The president then appeals the ruling.
If it goes to the Supreme Court and he loses the case or the Supreme Court rejects the case and the appellate court ruled against him, he then obeys the law, which is why, for example, Mahmoud Khalil is still in the United States. because there's a court that ruled he could not be deported at the moment. The same thing is true in Congress.
He doesn't unilaterally declare the presidents of the United States certain powers over the economy and then just put them into place. And if he does, as with tariffs, they end up at the Supreme Court, where I think the Supreme Court is likely to strike them down.
When it comes to spending initiatives, for example, the president doesn't just declare spending initiatives and then go right over the head of Congress and do it. Congress has to actually okay all of that. And the president actually gets angry at Congress when it tries to limit his authority.
So just last week, there was a vote over the president's war authority in Venezuela, and some Republicans voted against the presidents of the United States.
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Chapter 2: How does Trump's adherence to the rule of law support his non-dictatorial stance?
With regard to that war authority, the president was mad. Well, if he didn't care what the legislature had to say, then why would he be angry with the legislature for saying it. Obviously, he cares and he cares very much. There are checks and balances in our system. The president is still subject to the rule of law.
And again, he has yet to disobey a federal court order that is elevated to the highest level. He may, in the absence of an appeal, continue to enforce the law as he sees it. But once there is a definitive ruling, he actually obeys it. Once Congress says no, he obeys that as well.
And you know what? If that's what the law is, I like to obey the law.
Two, very weird to claim the president of the United States is a dictator as he attempts to minimize a lot of aspects of the federal government rather than centralizing more power in it. So typically, dictators like to centralize all power in themselves. If you take a look at NicolƔs Maduro, for example, everything, social policy, economic policy, fiscal policy, everything,
Chapter 3: In what ways does Trump attempt to minimize federal government power?
came down to the personal decisions of Nicolas Maduro. If you look at the malacracy in Iran, all of it is being handled by the mullahs or by their handpicked henchmen. That is not the case with the president. The president is currently attempting to wipe certain federal agencies out of existence.
He's trying to re-delegate authority back to the state level or to prevent state governments from enforcing heavy-handed authority on their own citizens. So, for example, the EPA is getting rid of particular regulations that hem in business for an aide. The president is trying to get rid of entire agencies responsible for dispersing aides.
That's a bizarre thing for a centralizer of government to do. Again, typically, if you are a dictator, you want all power in yourself. You want no power anywhere else. And you certainly don't want power vested in the people. The president of the United States keeps over and over and over getting rid of regulations.
He has a rule, in fact, that in order to put a new regulation on the book, you have to take 10 of them off, which is a way of getting rid of central government power, not of obtaining it.
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Chapter 4: How does the ability of Trump's critics to speak freely challenge the dictator label?
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Chapter 5: What examples illustrate that Trump has not expanded presidential authority?
Now, I will admit that the president of the United States sometimes threatens his enemies. In fact, he does this quite a fair bit online. I'll say mean things about them. Occasionally, he will unleash law enforcement on them. And we have to wait to see whether rule one applies, right? Whether these things go to court. Now, there is such thing as harassing your political opponents. And in the end,
The person is found innocent by a court or the case is dismissed and it still amounts to harassment and it's a form of intimidation. The problem is, if you're talking about that sort of thing, you are now in category four of why he's not a dictator.
He has not actually expanded any real legal authority of the presidency that was not already broadened by prior presidents or inherent in article two. So to go back to, again, that third critique, all of the people that you see at the Golden Globes who are ranting and raving at President Trump, oh my God, he's a dictator. I fear for my, you don't fear for anything. You are so full of it.
It is so eminently untrue.
Chapter 6: How do comparisons with other leaders highlight Trump's governance style?
I got to be honest with you, I'm not feeling so great. Oh, shut up, silly woman.
You see thousands of people in the streets. Are they afraid that ICE is going to mow them down the way that Iranian protesters are currently just being shot with Kalashnikovs? No one is afraid of that. No one. In fact, the bigger issue in the United States, historically speaking under President Trump, is that he was too kind to the protesters. Wow. Yes, really.
That is what the BLM riots in 2020 were about. Remember, he was president at that time. It was Tom Cotton who was calling for him to call out the National Guard and shut it down under the Insurrection Act. And the president didn't do it. I think he should have.
Again, this notion that all of his critics are living with a deep stomach churning fear that somebody, some secret agent is going to bust down their door and drag them away and change, which is what you actually fear in a dictatorship.
Chapter 7: What role do checks and balances play in Trump's administration?
That doesn't exist in the United States and President Trump has not effectuated it. And now back to that fourth argument. The president has not actually expanded any legal authority of the presidency that was not already broadened by prior presidents like Joe Biden or implicit in Article 2.
This is why it's so easy to say President Trump will do something and people on the right will say, yeah, you know, Joe Biden did the same thing. And people will say that's whataboutism. No, it can be bad when both do it, but don't pretend that Trump initiated the use of this power. So, for example, President Trump, I believe, has abused the pardon power.
I think that he has used the pardon power in ways that I do not like. Can I claim that he is a dictator for doing that? I cannot because, again, that power preceded him. Joe Biden literally pardoned his own son for anything he may have done over the past 11 years, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted. Is it possible to learn this power?
Bill Clinton abused the pardon power. If you are not expanding the legal authority that was already present, and if we don't already live in a dictatorship, you want to make the case that Joe Biden was a dictator and now Trump is also a dictator and we have basically an elected dictatorship? Again, I think it's a weak argument, but it's a better argument.
Chapter 8: What conclusions are drawn about the argument of Trump as a dictator?
But don't claim that Trump did something unique. As far as the argument that he has... broaden presidential power by, for example, claiming unitary executive theory. The point here is that that's implicit in Article 2. The president has inherent power. And now we go back to rule one. If a court rules that he does not have such a power, then he will not be able to use that power.
So, for example, we're about to find out whether he can simply fire governors of the Federal Reserve. The federal courts are going to have to decide that. But he can't unilaterally do it. He hasn't fired Lisa Cook yet. he's finding out whether he can. Once a court says he can, then maybe he will. But that's really about the court, not about President Trump.
So just to review those four arguments once more. One, President Trump is subject to the rule of law and he obeys it when he is forced to do so. Two, he's trying to minimize a lot of aspects of the federal government control rather than centralizing more power in a centralized government. Three, all of his critics are able to speak freely and do so without serious fear of appraisal.
And four, he has not actually expanded any legal authority of the president that was not already expanded by Joe Biden or Barack Obama or implicit in Article 2 as, again, interpreted by the federal courts under the first argument made here. So no, President Trump is not a dictator. That argument is just silly.
Crazy, frankly.
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