Beyond Trump: Threats to the Presidency
Good afternoon, and thanks very much to Jack Solowey for that generous introduction. And thanks to Nick Gallagher and the NYU chapter of the Federalist Society for holding this important conference, and for allowing me the privilege of this podium. The invitation to speak here actually came at the very beginning of the month. You know, time was when you got an invitation four weeks in advance, you could actually prepare, and if you finished drafting your speech you could at least be assured that what sounded timely when you sat down to write it would still sound timely when you got up to deliver it. No more.
Given the pace of political events, I think the United States may be in danger of fitting Henry Kissinger’s description of Germany— which he called a country that creates more history than it can consume domestically, within its own borders. There is absolutely no assurance that what you write in the morning will necessarily be timely if you say it in the afternoon, let alone if you say it a few weeks later. Events have a way of turning prepared remarks into confetti. And of course the insights of others—which I have spent the day listening to—have a way of doing the same thing.
I think a lot of the odd behavior we have seen emanating from the White House—and from elsewhere—during the Trump Administration has led many in the opinion business—people who are paid to have and express opinions—to say that the institution of the presidency, and indeed, the country, will never again be the same as it was before Donald Trump became president. That that will damage the ability of our country to function and to protect its citizens and residents. And that it will change if not forever then certainly for the foreseeable future the relationship between the president and the citizenry, and between the executive and the other branches of government.
