"Trump's election is the consequence of a crisis that’s been brewing for a long time.Ours is a republic that has long since taken on the trappings of a monarchy, with the president inhabiting rarefied space as our king-emperor. The Constitution assigns responsibilities & allocates prerogatives to 3 co-equal branches of government. In practice, the executive branch enjoys primacy. Prompted by a seemingly endless series of crises, presidents have accumulated ever-greater authority, partly through usurpation, but more often than not through forfeiture. They also took on various extraconstitutional responsibilities. Americans take it for granted that the occupant of the Oval Office should function as prophet, moral philosopher, style setter, interpreter of the prevailing zeitgeist,& celebrity in chief. In short, POTUS was the bright star at the center of the American solar system."
At www.thenation.com
