Presidency

Criminality in the White House

by John W. Whitehead January 12, 2024

“When the President does it, that means that it is not illegal.”—Richard Nixon Many years ago, a newspaper headline asked the question: “What’s the difference between a politician and a psychopath?” The answer, then and now, remains the same: None. There is no difference between psychopaths and politicians. Nor is there much of a ...

How Absolute Power Corrupted the President

by John W. Whitehead December 22, 2023

“He says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?’ I said: ‘No, no, no, other than day one. We’re closing the border, and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.’”—Donald Trump to Sean Hannity on being asked if he would abuse power after being re-elected Once a dictator, always a dictator. Power-hungry, lawless ...

Our Potemkin Presidency

by James Bovard November 1, 2023

The Founding Fathers sought to create a government that would be under the law and under the Constitution. Since World War One, presidents have amassed far more arbitrary power to rule by decree. Every recent American commander-in-chief has expanded and exploited the dictatorial potential of the presidency. Yet, because elections continue to be regularly held, most Americans do not ...

Biden the Bogus Benevolent Dictator

by James Bovard November 1, 2022

On July 4, President Biden declared, “Liberty is under assault ... rights we assumed were protected are no longer.” Biden, however, was referring solely to a few Supreme Court decisions he deplored, not to the federal supremacy he championed for almost 50 years in the Senate and the White House. Though Biden took office preaching the need for “unity,” he ...

Lessons from Biden’s Disinformation Board Debacle

by James Bovard August 1, 2022

President Biden’s campaign to banish (or maybe outlaw) political paranoia took a wallop last spring. In April, the Department of Homeland Security proudly announced that it had created a new Disinformation Governance Board. The following month, the board’s chairman resigned, and Biden administration officials claimed the board was being “paused.” But it remains in the wings awaiting the White ...

America, Meet Your New Dictator-in-Chief

by John W. Whitehead June 2, 2022

“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness have given way to permanent crisis management: to policing the planet and fighting preventative wars of ideological containment, usually on terrain chosen by, and favorable to, our enemies. Limited government and constitutional accountability have been shouldered aside by the kind of imperial presidency our constitutional system was explicitly designed to prevent.” — ...

Biden’s Executive Orders vs. American Public Opinion

by Richard M. Ebeling February 3, 2021

In the first ten days of his new administration, following his inauguration on January 20, 2021, President Joe Biden signed more than 25 executive orders changing the direction and content of federal government activities. That is four times as many executive orders as were signed in the same number of first days in the White House as Donald Trump, ...

Biden’s “Passion and Purpose” is More Political Paternalism

by Richard M. Ebeling August 26, 2020

Political election years are viewed in democracies as momentous events in the country’s history. Through ballots rather than bullets are chosen those who will hold political office, and through them the implementation and enforcement of the laws of the land and a variety of government policies considered to be in the “common good” or the “general welfare.” In other ...

The Presidential Political Circus Has Begun

by Richard M. Ebeling May 7, 2019

Like the carnival side shows at the circus, the candidates for the Democratic party nomination — do I even need to name the more than 20 of them? — are all standing in front of their respective campaign tents trying to attract the potential voter onlookers to join them inside, hope for that campaign contribution and support during the ...

Obama’s Forgotten Frauds and Debacles

by James Bovard April 1, 2019

Former President Barack Obama is again busy lecturing Americans on politics. His speeches have contained many snappy lines that would deserve attention if they came from an untainted source. But Obama as president was guilty of many of the things against which he now warns his fellow citizens. Last September, Obama received the Paul H. Douglas Award for Ethics in ...

George H.W. Bush’s Forgotten Debacles and Demagoguery

by James Bovard March 1, 2019

After former President George H.W. Bush died late last year, he was widely hailed as a great leader and patriot. At the National Cathedral funeral service, biographer Jon Meachan declared that Bush was a “twentieth-century Founding Father.” The minister of Bush’s church in Houston compared him to Jesus. Bush’s gentlemanly manners were lauded by many people outraged by President ...

Who Is the Most Qualified to Be President?

by Laurence M. Vance December 13, 2018

Perhaps it was just a coincidence. George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States, died at his home on Saturday, November 30, age 94. Just three days later, on Monday, December 3, Joseph “Joe” R. Biden, the nation’s 47th vice president, said he believed that he was the “most qualified person” to be the president of the United ...