The Man Who Would Be King

 In the USA there have been a number of anti-trump mass rallies .... 

The Man Who Would Be King?

 .... They have been labelled 'No Kings' protests in an allusion to the revolt against King George III of Britain, which led to the formation of the American Republic.

Of course they have had little effect on Trump's governance of the USA, but they increasingly have a strong hint of the truth of the matter, as President Trump assumes ever greater executive powers for the Presidency via the somewhat compliant US Supreme Court.

Now a King, by simple definition, is immune from prosecution, and has absolute powers over his subjects and his state (including taking them to wars, and accepting or expelling migrants), unless of course its a constitutional monarchy. Now as a constitutional monarch, George III even back then, actually had a lot less than absolute powers, and had to have parliaments support for whatever his ministers actions were.

But that aside, the 'No Kings' rallies were and are against the idea that a President should take on the powers of a King, and that Trump appears to the protestors to be doing just that. Donald Trump has managed to gain wide presidential powers of immunity from prosecutions for actions carried out while performing any official presidential tasks and acts. This has never been the accepted case before, and marks a considerable new latitude in what a US President can now do with impunity.

He has for instance taken the USA into the current war with Iran without Congress declaring war under the U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 8), despite Congress holding the sole power to formally declare war. He has done this under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which requires him to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing armed forces to action, but limits any unauthorised engagement to 60 days (which hints at the length this war with Iran can go on for before Congress can have a say). 

He is also fighting in the courts to remove automatic citizenship from children born in the USA (particularly children of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers), but it looks like this attempt may fail, although in the case of illegal immigrants, he has a point, as it rewards some illegal migrants. He is also expelling all undocumented immigrants, despite objections that due process is not being followed in many cases, and strong opposition in most Democrat run states ... this is also playing out in the court, and this will no doubt go to the Supreme Court at some point.

He also has taken a large number of measures to cancel previous US governments ecological safeguards, such as controls on car emissions and green power subsidies and initiatives, as well as closing many government departments whose purpose was not to his ideological liking, or were to prevent environmental abuses. Most of these actions were taken purely by presidential executive orders, and overturn decades of progress in some fields, as well as leaving many wilderness areas open to mining, oil drilling and other activities.   

At the start of his second term, he and his supporters even hinted that after this second term ends, he might somehow get a third term (although this talk died down, after the initial couple of months in office). However all these actions look very like the actions that a King might make take to many Americans, so perhaps the 'No Kings' protesters really do have something to be concerned about. Another concern is that even if Trump himself ultimately sticks to the constitution, after stretching it more than a bit, some future US President now may not.

These are strange times indeed in the land of the free ....