Joe Scarborough: Trump's reckless shot at a federal judge
By Joe Scarborough February 5 at 1:37 PM
I had intended to use this space to detail how the chaotic events of the past week had persuaded President Trump to put into practice a more rigorous process to avoid calamities like last weeks immigration executive order. But that subject will have to wait for another day, since the 45th president decided to use Twitter this weekend to repeatedly question the legitimacy of a sitting federal judge.
When a president tweets insults at a Hollywood star, the dignity of his office is tarnished. When a commander in chief uses Twitter to attack a loyal military ally, Americas friends across the globe become unsettled. But when a president uses social media to question the legitimacy of a federal judge following an inconvenient (and temporary) outcome, that is simply unacceptable. From Marbury v. Madison to United States v. Nixon, our federal courts power to interpret the Constitution has been sacrosanct. As Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote in U.S. v. Nixon, the concept of checks and balances endures because it has remained (to quote Marbury) the duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.
Americas new president may not care about upholding the traditions of his office. He also may recklessly disregard his predecessors tireless work to build vital global alliances. But when the president tries to undermine the legitimacy of the federal judiciary, he must be told in short order that the White House is picking a fight it will not win. For the sake of the country, let us hope the attacks on so-called Judge James Robart were merely reckless and not politically calculated. Because speeding further down that path would end in an ugly constitutional crash.
I have been, and remain, skeptical of Trump critics who spend their waking hours lathering in outrage porn. Their insistence that the former reality-TV host is an autocratic tyrant capable of unraveling Americas elaborate system of checks and balances is laughable. Madison and Hamiltons constitution is alive and well nearly 230 years after its adoption, and you can bet your last dollar that it will still be thriving the day Trump leaves office. While left-wing warnings about freedoms flame being extinguished are as tiring as right-wingers declaring the death of freedom daily during the Obama age, this presidency demands vigilance to ensure that history will remember these partisan threats as empty.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/02/05/joe-scarborough-trumps-reckless-shot-at-a-federal-judge/?utm_term=.05301fabd4dc&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1
tanyev
(42,550 posts)Gullible or delusional?
hlthe2b
(102,225 posts)dchill
(38,471 posts)"SMART" beyond our assumptions.
Once again, he's wrong.
Eyeball_Kid
(7,430 posts)Well, Mr. Scar, the founders NEVER anticipated the signing of the Patriot Act, which DOES give the President the power to suspend the Constitution when declaring a national emergency. The President CAN declare martial law under the Patriot Act. Trumpy and his band of Nazis have been preparing all of us for an outright defiance of the Judiciary. Look at what their DOING, Joe Scar!
Further, you now know that Trumpy DOESN'T READ HIS EXECUTIVE ORDERS! Bannon got a permanent seat on the National Security Council because he wrote the order himself and Trumpy signed it without knowing what he signed! And YOU think his aides will moderate his reactions to external events? Do YOU read the newspapers yourself, or do you just watch video replays of your show?
You're an idiot. Trumpy's an idiot. The only person in this circus who isn't an idiot is President Bannon, and he's just fucking evil.
Dustlawyer
(10,495 posts)They are dismantling our regulatory Agencies as type! We are losing the freedom to live in a relatively non-toxic environment, going from bad to deadly. We will be ripped off at an even faster and more heartless rate by Wall Street with the lifting of the bare bones Dodd-Frank protections.
Yes Joe, we will still have 3 branches of government after Trumplethinskin (probably), but we are losing the greatest thing about America, our Democracy! Trump didn't bring this on, but he benefited from voter suppression, gerrymandering, and of course the hacking of our election. He and the Republican Congress refuse to investigate and protect our elections, instead they are complicit in it, as are you and your show! You gave this fascist wanna be dictator unlimited access to media during his campaign, allowing him to call in daily to your show!
You have helped to pervert and demean the Presidency and now you want to complain? You are a shameless POS!
Paladin
(28,252 posts)You enabled Trump in every way possible, throughout the campaign. Developing some behavior and ethics standards at this point? You're late, asswipe.
Again I plead with those of you who are still tuning into Scarborough's miserable excuse for a show: walk away from it. Make his ratings tank, while making yourself feel a whole lot better.
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(107,919 posts)You might cease from kissing his hiney.