Leland Vittert: Trump's Executive Actions vs. Presidential Precedent

Media Portrayal of Trump's Power

• 📺 The legacy media is increasingly portraying Donald Trump as a dictator wielding unprecedented presidential power.
• 🗣️ Critics claim Trump is a threat to democracy, authoritarian, and seeking to be a king rather than president.
• 🏛️ Articles like one from Axios suggest Trump is consolidating power through a playbook of capturing, contesting, and punishing resistance.

Historical Context of Executive Power

• 📜 Every president since Woodrow Wilson has sought to maximize their control over the government.
• ✍️ Barack Obama utilized executive orders and administrative actions extensively, such as with DACA and the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion.
• ⚖️ Obama's actions included circumventing the Senate with recess appointments, unilaterally joining the Paris Accords, and using the IRS for political profiling.
• 🇺🇸 Obama's Title N procedures lowered the standard of proof for sexual offense findings, and his Clean Power rule overstepped EPA authority.
• 🚀 The intervention in Libya in 2011, described as "kinetic military action," bypassed congressional approval.

Comparing Presidential Actions and Media Reactions

• 💥 When Trump took actions similar to past presidents, such as bombing Iran for one day, it was labeled an act of war and an outrage.
• 🎯 In contrast, Obama's and Biden's similar uses of executive power did not elicit the same level of media outcry or accusations of dictatorship.
• ⚖️ The core argument is that either Obama and Biden were also dictators, or Trump is not a dictator because he is employing tactics used by nearly every president.
• 🔄 The difference lies in the media's reaction and narrative, with establishment media opposing Trump's efforts to dismantle the Obama-Biden legacy, while celebrating similar actions by previous presidents.