The dictator president

By Albert DeSimone

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely

                 —Lord Acton 

Imagine the audacity of a president who, with no apparent cause or reason, arbitrarily fires a board member of a federal regulatory agency. The fired employee was appointed by the opposing party, which was his only fault. 

Then, refusing to reverse the firing, had to be told by a federal court to reinstate the employee.

Yes, that’s exactly what transpired in 1933 when Roosevelt fired an FTC commissioner for political, not performance-related, reasons. 

Roosevelt's action led to the Supreme Court decision Humphrey's Executor v. United States, which was cited to stop Trump from doing the same thing when he fired an NLRB employee, Gwynne Wilcox, without cause.

Then there’s a president who not only wanted to serve three terms, but actually was elected to four. When FDR ran for an unprecedented third term, he was criticized for breaking with tradition.  George Washington had established the tradition of not running for a third term. 

FDR’s actions led to the ratification of the 22nd Amendment, which limits a president to two terms of service, consecutive or nonconsecutive. Trump’s dalliance with a third term stops at this amendment, thanks to FDR’s disregard for tradition.

Who was it that used the 1798 Alien Enemies Act? FDR to create Japanese internment camps and Trump to send criminal gang members back to Venezuela. 

Just like Trump, FDR wasn’t afraid to challenge the Supreme Court. FDR’s court-packing plan (Judicial Reform Act of 1937) was a bully tactic to force the Supreme Court to stop blocking his New Deal program. 

The Act never passed, but FDR’s New Deal program did (through the Supreme Court). The Court’s sudden reversal is referred to as “the switch in time that saved nine.” 

Finally, Trump has acquired a reputation as a corporate-friendly, deregulatory president. FDR expressed similar policy. 

In 1933, FDR signed the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) into law. Among its provisions was a suspension of antitrust laws. This suspension caused concerns, as one might expect, that the NIRA could result in price fixing and reduced competition. 

The Supreme Court later found key sections unconstitutional, which certainly sounds like the path Trump is headed down. 

While FDR and Trump may have had different objectives—FDR’s New Deal and Trump’s Make America Great Again—they certainly used (and use) the same techniques. 

Albert DeSimone is a resident of Bishop