But what are they going to do when Trump simply directs an agency not to spend funds appropriated by Congress? Sue? Impeach?
I suppose if it comes to that, yeah. But more likely they’ll do what politicians do; refuse to fund/pass Trump’s pet projects in retribution. Quid pro quo is pretty much the name of the game, and that’s why I’m pretty sure they’re not going to roll over and show their bellies so easily.
The new variable in this equation is that in addition to worries about losing their power, which may have been enough in the past to motivate their resistance, they now have to worry about their physical safety if they oppose him. Trump eggs his followers on to violence and they are eager to comply. People he doesn’t like get death threats and worse…it’s a well-known pattern. If the thought of losing their power isn’t enough to make recalcitrant legislators fall in line, the threat of them or their families losing their lives might be.
And this is new. The lone unhinged crazy has always been with us but a president openly exhorting violence against his political opponents has not. And when he is gone, will that remain as a fixture of American politics? I hope not but I am very afraid for the future.
The Supreme Court already agreed that the President could have them assassinated with impunity. It’s hard to get a much larger abrogation of power than that.