Dem
51
GOP
49
How many times are we going to have to utilize the Maya Angelou quote this cycle: "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time"? We probably should make a macro of that, or something.
In any event, as he campaigns around his court schedule, Donald Trump gave two good reminders as to the kind of person he is, and the kind of president he would be, if elevated to the White House a second time. Both were in a pair of interviews he did with Time's Eric Cortellessa.
First up, and getting much more attention, was Trump's claim/promise that, if it came down to it, he would be willing to deploy the U.S. military to evict undocumented immigrants from the United States. The former president has suggested his openness to doing this before, but never has he promised it so clearly and directly. Trump said that it is necessary to be more extreme, because the immigration situation is so much worse than it was when he was president.
There is the small problem of the Posse Comitatus Act, however, which makes it illegal to use the U.S. army against civilians. Cortellessa pointed this out, and apparently Trump has been fed an answer by the Federalist Society, or the Heritage Foundation, or one of the other right-wing groups that seeks to turn the U.S. into a military theocracy. His justification is that if people are not citizens, they do not count as civilians, and so it's open season upon them. This is a very dubious interpretation of the word "civilian," and it is not likely that most military commanders would obey Trump's orders. That said, it only takes one Michael Flynn type. And is there really any doubt that, if Trump is able to use the army against immigrants, he would then move on to using it against, say, college protesters?
Cortellessa also held Trump's feet to the fire on abortion, pressing for an answer on whether or not Trump would veto a national abortion ban, should one cross his desk. The once-and-would-be-future president hemmed and hawed, and said there was no reason to worry about that question, since there is no way an abortion ban would get through Congress. That was as much as the reporter could get out of Trump, despite repeating the question several times. Obviously, if Trump won't even commit to vetoing an abortion ban, then he certainly isn't going to do anything if members of his administration use various non-legislative tools to effectively ban the procedure. It's hardly a secret that he doesn't care one way or the other, and that he'll do whatever best serves his political needs, but the interview served to underscore that with bright red lines. (Z)