Political Quotes

“They burned down the Presidential palace. They shot the President. Maybe they killed his family. They tore up the Constitution, and they said: Here is the new deal. But now that rarely happens in comparison to the new version in which democracies are put into the grave, and that new version is by elected individuals who start to erode the separation of powers. If you think about it that way, you just really need three things to become an authoritarian state. You need a Congress that says ``Our role is to just back up and do what the President says''--a rubberstamp Congress. In large part, we have that right now. I can't tell you how many times colleagues have said: I can't take that position because it would upset the President even though I am not happy about the situation. So there is that. Then you need a court that confirms or conveys more power to the President, and we have seen court decision after court decision that has conveyed more power, like Trump vs. United States, saying the President is above the law. You combine the President being above the law, as long as it is shielded by an active government, and pardon power, and now the whole executive branch feels, well, we are all above the law. Then the President comes into office and just starts ignoring one law after another. I think a real early one that got a lot of attention was the firing of inspectors general.”