The Left’s melodramatic constitutional crisis
All of a sudden, liberals in government care about the Constitution. Just last week they hated your free speech, freedom of religion, gun rights, and the Constitution in general. Now, the left is up in arms. In their eyes, President Trump created a Constitutional crisis after Attorney General Jeff Sessions left. Trump appointed Matthew Whitaker to act temporarily as attorney general and oversee the alleged Trump-Russia collusion investigation instead of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein staying in control. Now, Democrats are crying Constitutional crisis because of Whitaker’s public comments against Mueller’s inquiry.
The day after the midterm elections, Jeff Sessions vacated the attorney general seat at the Justice Department. Many believed that he would leave after the first of the year. His sooner-than-expected departure caused the left to panic. Immediately, Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA), Senate Minority Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and other left-wing talking heads threw a fit over Trump’s temporary replacement. They argue that Rod Rosenstein should be acting head of the DOJ, since he is next in line.
The same day there were protests all over the country. Many leftists took to the streets with signs and bullhorns to pushback against Trump’s decision.
No matter how many people went into the streets, their actions were not about Whitaker. The left is still upset that Hillary lost. Democratic politicians have no answer on how they let down their base so badly except that the Russians and Trump’s campaign cheated to achieve victory.
The Democratic Party cannot allow the Russia investigation hoax to end, and Whitaker may be the catalyst. They have no message to deliver to their voters without the Trump-Russia scandal.
Simply put, there is no Constitutional crisis just because Whitaker may limit the scope of the Mueller investigation, which would bring his inquiry to an end. However, those on the left will say otherwise and use their favorite tactic, which is fear.
They make an overdramatic, sensationalized argument that Trump diminishes the Constitution, specifically Article II, Section 2, Clause 2, which covers advise and consent by the Senate in cabinet positions to confirm. If this were Obama, the left would not bat an eye.
Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe said on MSNBC that the appointment was a “slow-motion constitutional crisis.” When asked why, he said because the Senate did not confirm Whitaker, and the appointment “shouldn’t get lost in the technical details.” Well, this entire issue will be hashed out in the technical details. Trump will win this battle and Tribe knows that victory will come in the minutiae, so he does not want to go there.
Until Trump can nominate someone to replace Sessions, he is allowed to appoint an individual under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 which will enable him to pick a temporary fill-in for up to 210 days. He acted under United States Code 5 U.S.C. 3345 (a) (1) which allows a president to choose a “first assistant” who is a career civil servant that worked under the Senate confirmed officer, in this case, Jeff Sessions. These are the “technical details” Tribe did not want to breach.
Instead, this is about complete hysterics. The left tries to portray this president as someone who is out of control and does not know what he is doing. However, they rarely can point to anything specific.
Expect the left to continue a massive frenzy over Whitaker’s appointment. Each liberal network will have the same talking points. The echo chamber that is network news will be deafening. The pundits will get emotional and repetitious, but there will be no substance in what they say.
There is no constitutional crisis; just liberals being overdramatic again.
John Dempsey is a political and current events junkie with strong conservative leanings. He has also been published in BearingArms.com and can be followed on Twitter @John_Demp83.