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ElProlactintoday at 4:45 AM1 replyview on HN

You're right: the current administration would find a way because they don't care what the law says. The law, to them, is a system to be hacked when necessary.

Many Americans take for granted the idea that the US is a "nation of laws" and that "rule of law" governs above all else. But the reality is this: there is no such thing as a perfect legal system.

You can have a strong legal system by design (good oversight, various checks and balances, etc.) but in practice, any system is only as good as the most powerful people are decent and respectful of it.

If you have someone in the most powerful position (the executive) who doesn't respect the law and who isn't willing to, with wisdom in his or her heart, exercise restraint with the understanding that protecting the integrity of the system is ultimately more important than getting your way, the law stands no chance.


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bobthepandatoday at 5:42 AM

An interesting feature of Trump 2.0 is that his party has essentially entirely keeled over.

Presidents are not historically all powerful within their own parties and the nature of the big tent systems means usually it is fairly difficult to get agreement on everything within a party without some compromise. Trump has managed to defang everybody else in the GOP.

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