Some Republicans join backlash over Trump’s claim of ‘total’ authority over coronavirus response
Christina Prignano 4 hrs ago
Republicans are joining Democrats in a growing backlash against comments from President Trump Monday asserting “total” authority over deciding when to lift stay-at-home orders implemented by governors to combat the coronavirus spread.
© DOUG MILLS President Trump.
“When somebody’s the president of the United States, the authority is total,” Trump said during a raucous briefing Monday night, as he was pressed on his claims that he could overrule local officials in reopening businesses and schools. The comment sparked an immediate outcry from the president’s critics, who said it was another example of Trump’s disregard for the constitutional limits of his office.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday he would refuse to reopen the economy if Trump mandated he do so in a way that could harm New Yorkers, and chided him for acting like a “king."
But those critics also were joined by some Republicans, who traditionally have been the loudest in supporting a less powerful federal government in favor of the states, but who often have been reluctant to criticize Trump on the issue.
1/50 SLIDES © Mario Tama/Getty Images
Registered nurses and healthcare workers protest what they say is a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) available for frontline workers at UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica, Calif., on April 13. Nurses across the country have raised concerns about the lack of PPE available as the spread of COVID-19 continues.
Among them was Liz Cheney, a congresswoman from Wyoming and daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney.
twitter.com/Liz_Cheney/status/1249845408127488000
Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, did not directly respond to Trump’s comments but said the reopening decisions should be left to the states, citing “the Constitution & common sense.”
twitter.com/marcorubio/status/1250053154768662528
Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law professor at George Washington University who testified during Trump’s impeachment hearings that the abuse of power claims brought by the House did not rise to the level of impeachment, also rebuked Trump in a tweet Monday evening.
www.pbs.org/newshour/poli...trump-impeachment-hearing
Trump’s comments could even spark a new challenge in November. Representative Justin Amash, a former Republican who left the party last summer, tweeted Monday that he believed “Americans who believe in limited government deserve another option,” and hinted that he was looking at a run “closely.”
twitter.com/HannahCox7/status/1249846693740400642
Both Republican and Democratic governors on Monday pushed back on Trump’s assertions that he could reopen the economy unilaterally.
“All of these executive orders are state executive orders and so therefore it would be up to the state and the governor to undo a lot of that," New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, a Republican, said Monday. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, another Republican and chair of the National Governors Association, echoed those sentiments.
“Governors made decisions to take various actions in their states based on what they thought was right for their state, based on the facts on the ground,” Hogan said on CNN. “And I think individual governors who made those decisions will have the ultimate decision about what to do with their states.”
While Trump has issued national recommendations advising people stay home, it has been governors and local leaders who have instituted mandatory restrictions, including shuttering schools and closing nonessential businesses. Some of those orders carry fines or other penalties, and in some jurisdictions they extend into the early summer.
Trump's Monday comments came not long after Democratic leaders in the Northeast and along the West Coast announced separate state compacts to coordinate their efforts to scale back stay-at-home orders or reopen businesses on their own timetables.
In the Northeast, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Rhode Island agreed to coordinate their actions. And the governors of California, Oregon and Washington announced a similar pact, saying they will work together and put their residents’ health first and let science guide their decisions.
Poster Comment:
I hope Trump gets a handle on this wrong headedness.
#1: NeoconsNailed To: BTP Holdings (#0)
If the people demand permanent martial law, they have ever CONSTITUTIONAL CONFRONTATIONAL right to it! They would just LOVE to hand absolute power to the right commie, tho. In fact it's what the last 4 presidents have been.
It surely sounds like "WE will decide, stamp stamp, how many years from now the crackdown will be over -- not you, snort snort!!" Trump just got to blunt with it, that's the only issue.
NeoconsNailed posted on 2020-04-14 18:08:23 Reply Private Reply
#2: Pinguinite To: BTP Holdings (#0)
Pinguinite posted on 2020-04-14 18:41:09 Reply Private Reply
#3: BTP Holdings To: Pinguinite (#2)
They pulled one reporters press credentials and you would think there was an earthquake that measured 8 on the Richter scale after that happened. ;)
BTP Holdings posted on 2020-04-14 20:45:06 Reply Private Reply
#4: Lod To: Pinguinite (#2)
Agree, just having fireside chats a couple times a week would be plenty.
Lod posted on 2020-04-14 21:25:47 Reply Private Reply
#5: Pinguinite To: BTP Holdings (#3)
That's a separate issue from Trump deciding to appear before these people. He doesn't have to do that.
Pinguinite posted on 2020-04-15 02:08:57 Reply Private Reply
#6: noone222 To: BTP Holdings (#0)
I'd like to see Americans all over the country select a day (Not May 1st), today would have been a good day to protest, April 15, the real April FOOL's DAY.
It strikes me as more than a little ironic that a country that is allegedly free and transparent can use a false flag event to start an aggressive action like in Vietnam. The "war" in Vietnam was never a declared war, it was a "mere" conflict, but wasn't there a mandatory draft ? Are you fucking kidding me, a MANDATORY DRAFT to support a "conflict" ?
D.C. has proven itself incompetent and destructive of American values and principles. The majority of people have been removed from having any impact upon the decision making process that occurs in D.C. and in many cases in their own State.
The trust and consent demanded of a democratic republic was lost in my case when time and again the FEDS have been caught lying to it's citizens.
noone222 posted on 2020-04-15 05:32:25 Reply Private Reply
#7: Lod To: noone222 (#6)
It just seems like it.
Lod posted on 2020-04-15 07:36:40 Reply Private Reply
#8: NeoconsNailed To: Lod, noone222, Cynicom (#7)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN-49qYHMGY
NeoconsNailed posted on 2020-04-15 07:59:33 Reply Private Reply
#9: noone222 To: Lod (#7)
noone222 posted on 2020-04-15 08:23:17 Reply Private Reply
#10: NeoconsNailed To: noone222 (#9)
NeoconsNailed posted on 2020-04-15 08:41:21 Reply Private Reply
#11: noone222 To: NeoconsNailed (#8)
Cute ... old fashioned !
noone222 posted on 2020-04-16 04:05:57 Reply Private Reply
#12: NeoconsNailed To: noone222 (#11)
NeoconsNailed posted on 2020-04-16 09:12:32 Reply Private Reply
#13: BTP Holdings To: noone222 (#11)
When they started to body surf there was no way to keep them off the stage in front.
There was a barricade out in the crowd with 15 guys standing around doing nothing. I called the Supervisor out there on the radio and told him, "Send half your crew up the the stage to help out."
My boss was hollering he didn't want anyone on stage. I told him, "You're not going to be able to keep them off. It's going to be just like Woodstock."
I saw a guy at the local Wal Mart not long ago. He was wearing a "POISON" T-shirt. It turned out his brother worked for Upstaging. They are the people that ship stages across the country.
It's a small world indeed. ;)
BTP Holdings posted on 2020-04-16 09:25:10 Reply Private Reply
#14: BTP Holdings To: NeoconsNailed (#12)
At the 1968 Democrat Convention in Chicago, the SDS was throwing baseballs with nails in them at the cops.
They didn't have the kind of protection that is used today for protests like shields and such. Ouch! ;)
BTP Holdings posted on 2020-04-16 09:28:14 Reply Private Reply
#15: NeoconsNailed To: BTP Holdings (#14)
NeoconsNailed posted on 2020-04-16 09:31:57 Reply Private Reply
#16: hondo68 To: BTP Holdings (#0)
hondo68 posted on 2020-04-16 10:17:25 Reply Private Reply
#17: BTP Holdings To: NeoconsNailed (#15)
I saw this good looking female Deputy Sheriff in the donut shop a few years back.
I told her when I worked for State of Illinois, one of the guys on the crew told this good looking female cop, "Are you going to arrest me, handcuff me and police brutalitize me?" LOL
BTP Holdings posted on 2020-04-16 10:39:19 Reply Private Reply
#18: NeoconsNailed To: BTP Holdings (#17)
When there was a huge 'sexual harassment' ruckus over Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court nomination she said "Well I wish somebody would sexually harass ME" -- and meant it ;)
NeoconsNailed posted on 2020-04-16 11:18:01 Reply Private Reply