curated citations to news sources

Trump is but a paper tiger in the very places he asserts he can act with impunity
On Wednesday, during a cabinet meeting, Donald Trump declared he has the “right to do anything I want” because “I’m the President of the United States.”
It was a telling summary of not only his state of mind but where we find ourselves as a nation: teetering on the brink of autocracy and fascism. Some argue we are already plunged deep into it.
But as many commentators have urged, we must watch what Trump does, and not get sucked into what he says. And when we zoom out a bit and examine strictly what he has tried to do, ignoring his constant lies and bluster, there’s quite a different picture than the monarch who can do anything he wants.
The markets understand that Trump’s word is not worth much. His constant threats and inevitable retreats on tariffs have led to the “TACO” presidency, because Trump really does “always chicken out” in the end.
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Today, I want to discuss four significant constraints upon the man who believes he can do anything simply because he is the President of the United States. These are powerful forces that act every day to limit his options and rein him in. I want to lay them out plainly, not only to give us some basis for hope that we can survive his second term (however long or short it winds up being) but also to highlight where we should focus our own attention and lend our support.
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