Trump claimed on Saturday that the Founders needed him to have immunity, however Alexander Hamilton wrote the alternative in The Federalist Papers.
Trump posted on Reality Social, “With out Presidential Immunity, the Presidency will lose its energy and status, and underneath some Leaders, don’t have any energy in any respect. The Presidency might be consumed by the opposite Branches of Authorities. THAT IS NOT WHAT OUR FOUNDERS WANTED.”
Trump’s declare is absolute gibberish.
The Founders made their view of government energy and its limits very clear.
In Federalist 69, Alexander Hamilton wrote to distinction the facility of the presidency with that of a king or a despot:
The President of the US could be an officer elected by the individuals for FOUR years; the king of Nice Britain is a perpetual and HEREDITARY prince. The one could be amenable to non-public punishment and shame; the particular person of the opposite is sacred and inviolable. The one would have a QUALIFIED detrimental upon the acts of the legislative physique; the opposite has an ABSOLUTE detrimental. The one would have a proper to command the navy and naval forces of the nation; the opposite, along with this proper, possesses that of DECLARING warfare, and of RAISING and REGULATING fleets and armies by his personal authority. The one would have a concurrent energy with a department of the legislature within the formation of treaties; the opposite is the SOLE POSSESSOR of the facility of creating treaties. The one would have a like concurrent authority in appointing to workplaces; the opposite is the only real creator of all appointments.
The one can confer no privileges no matter; the opposite could make denizens of aliens, noblemen of commoners; can erect firms with all of the rights incident to company our bodies. The one can prescribe no guidelines in regards to the commerce or forex of the nation; the opposite is in a number of respects the arbiter of commerce, and on this capability can set up markets and festivals, can regulate weights and measures, can lay embargoes for a restricted time, can coin cash, can authorize or prohibit the circulation of overseas coin. The one has no particle of religious jurisdiction; the opposite is the supreme head and governor of the nationwide church! What reply we could give to those that would persuade us that issues so in contrast to resemble one another? The identical that should be given to those that inform us {that a} authorities, the entire energy of which might be within the palms of the elective and periodical servants of the individuals, is an aristocracy, a monarchy, and a despotism.
The Founders designed a system the place the president will not be a king. By design, a president doesn’t have absolute or limitless energy with zero accountability.
Studying the phrases of the Founders highlights the Supreme Courtroom listening to Trump’s declare of immunity.
Donald Trump didn’t have limitless immunity as president, and he doesn’t have limitless immunity as an ex-president.
Hamilton wrote that presidents should not aristocrats, monarchs, or despots.
Presidential energy is proscribed, and no president, regardless of how a lot they wish to be, is above the regulation.
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