A lot of adjectives are being used to describe the actions of the Trump administration: chaotic, inconsistent, vengeful, spiteful, juvenile, racist, bigoted, fascist, unconstitutional, and reckless are some of the few that come to mind right away. But one term that should NOT be used to describe the actions of the Executive Branch in the past five months (yes, it has been less than five months) is “unprecedented”. Because there is nothing unprecedented about the actions of this President.
Right now you are thinking: “But what about the unprecedent deportation of immigrants? What about the unprecedented use of executive orders? What about the unprecedented use of the National Guard without the approval of the governor? What about the unprecedented stifling of the press? What about the blatant disregard of federal court rulings? What about the pardons for convicted felons and January 6th insurrectionists?” To quote a song title from one of my favorite bands, the Barenaked Ladies: It’s all been done before.
You think the United States hasn’t ejected people living here without “due process” before? Let me tell you about James Madison, Franklin Roosevelt and the Alien Enemies Act. The law gives the President authority to deport anyone he deems dangerous to the peace and security of the United States. The country doesn’t need to be in a declared war, and that person need not even commit a crime. However, Madison invoked the Act at the outset of the War of 1812 on British citizens still living in the United States. Roosevelt invoked it in justified the detaining of Japanese-Americans during World War II. The Supreme Court upheld Roosevelt’s order in several legal challenges. Today, Trump is using it to deport those in the country illegally most of whom have been charged with or convicted of crimes–or are suspected of working with gangs and drug cartels. Precedent had been set.
You think the United States Government hasn’t attempted to suppress free speech and the practice of free journalism? You should know about the Sedition Act. That law made it illegal to print “false, scandalous, and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States, or either house of the Congress of the United States, or the President of the United States.” John Adams had newspaper publishers that criticized his administration arrested and charged with crimes. Most were convicted–including a sitting member of Congress–Matthew Lyon of Vermont–who wrote a opinion piece in a local newspaper taking Adams to task. Consider that a precedent set for California Senator Alex Padilla and his handling by federal officers this week.
You think Donald Trump is the first President to call up the National Guard without the permission of a Governor? Perhaps you have forgotten about Dwight Eisenhower ordering the Arkansas National Guard to enforce the Supreme Court ruling integrating public schools in Little Rock in 1957. Or the National Guard escorting black students to class at the University of Alabama in 1963 and being met by Governor George Wallace at the door? Or two years later when President Lyndon Johnson again bypassed Wallace and ordered the Alabama National Guard to protect civil rights marchers and protesters from the fire hoses and the attack dogs.
You think no President has ruled as much by fiat as Donald Trump and his executive orders? According to the American Presidency Project, Franklin Roosevelt issued more than 37-hundred during his 12-years in office–or 307 a year. Woodrow Wilson issued more than 18-hundred in eight years–for 225 a year. Donald Trump is currently at around 380 if you include his first four years in office and the five months of this term. That’s an average of 85 a year–so he has a long way to go to catch up to his predecessor.
You think Donald Trump is the first President to tell a federal court–or the Supreme Court–to pound sand after issuing a ruling against the Executive Branch? In 1832 the Supreme Court ruled that the states had no authority to remove Native Americans from their lands and ship them to reservations in other states. Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan all refused to enforce the order–and the forced relocation of tribes continued until 1861. Venerated President Abraham Lincoln defied a Supreme Court ruling that he could not suspend the right of Habeus Corpus during the Civil War, until Congress passed a law granting the President that power two years later. It should be noted that Jackson is Trump’s favorite President–and is serving as a true inspiration for his system of governance.
You think the pardons granted by Trump to January 6th attacks on the Capitol are egregious? Andrew Johnson issued more than 76-hundred pardons during his four-year term–including thousands for those that spearheaded the cessation of the Confederacy along with the planning and execution of Civil War attacks on Union troops. Jimmy Carter issued blanket pardons for more than 200-thousand men that evaded the draft during the Vietnam War. And Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon for using the Oval Office to coordinate a coverup effort to hide his knowledge of the Watergate break-in. It helps to put ole Buffalo-Face-Paint Guy in perspective for putting his feet up on Nancy Pelosi’s desk.
This weekend, perhaps millions of Americans will march in the streets in protests of all the actions that Donald Trump has undertaken after precedent was established by his predecessors in the White House. I’d like to think that they are joining the camp of those of us that have been calling for a retraction in Federal Government powers–especially those of the Executive Branch. But I know that as soon as a President exceeds his authority granted by Article II of the Constitution those same protesters will be lauding him or her only because he or she will be doing what they want.
