WESTMINSTER — Elayne Clift stresses that there is not a political crisis but a constitutional crisis, yet the examples she gives are all political, not constitutional.
The U.S. presidency has become steadily more autocratic over decades, most dramatically under Bush and Obama. Trump has actually attempted to correct that imbalance by returning policymaking to Congress when it belongs there.
Perhaps that is the constitutional crisis that Clift is stressed about: that Congress long ago abdicated so many of its responsibilities and now refuses to take them back.
Indeed, Trump did not write the Patriot Act or oversee spying on every American. Trump did not assassinate American citizens. Trump did not revise the rules of Congress to allow religious headgear on the floor. He hasn't even overthrown another country yet!
The autocratic crimes of previous administrations are legion, and we are living with their consequences still.
The present administration is a lamb in comparison.