PRESIDENT - limitations of presidential power Flashcards
STAGES OF POWER
what is the imperial presidency stage?
where president is superior to congress, which usually happens after the election or during a national emergency.
Biden didn’t get this stage so he’s politically fragile - why? Because of Trump and the Capitol Riot, where 67% of Republican voters believed the election was stolen from them.
HOWEVER, presidents like Bush during 9/11 and even Biden with his reversal of Trump exec orders proves this stage still exists.
STAGES OF POWER
what is the gridlock/bipartisanship stage?
this is common during mid-terms time with focus on Congress and presidential poll bump from winning an election wane.
e.g., Obama after 2010, Trump after 2018 - they both lost control of Congress and made them weaker.
STAGES OF POWER
what is the lame duck presidency stage?
congress hinders presidential action, usually towards the end of the two-term presidency or after losing one of the chambers in the mid-terms.
Trump was a lame-duck in his final few months, having to one of only 10 vetoes in May 2020 (Iran War Powers resolution)
JOHN LEWIS VOTING RIGHTS ACT JAN 2022
two Dems Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin voted against exempting the legislation from filibuster.
the vra was reintroduced in 2021 to strengthen the 1965 act, particularly in ensuring checks by states on their changes to voting laws - having run through federal govt.
BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE BILL NOV 2021
the $1.7 trillion bill on infrastructure.
partisanship - it was a PUV.
only 13 Republicans supported it and 6 Democrats opposed it - one of which being AOC, who argued that there needed to be stronger support for Build Back Better legislation (which was more radical)
IMPEACHMENT CHARGES AGAINST TRUMP X2 JAN 2021
whilst he was impeached twice, Trump has never been convicted - 57 Senate members voted against him but it fell short of the 67 margin (2/3s) needed to impeach.
the Senate Republicans pulled through to support him.
stage in presidency
lame duck presidency, imperial presidency, gridlock etc.
divided/united govt
2022 mid-terms = Democrats are not as strong as they could be and they may lose the House (the Senate is already Republican-controlled)
global affairs
Trump and his response to Covid 2020
Biden and the Afghanistan Withdrawal in 2021
terrorist activity/emergencies
9/11 and Bush
size of electoral mandate
Biden’s mandate is weak despite getting 51% and Trump getting 47% because of the Capitol riot and the false claims of rigged elections.
personality of the president
‘lets go Brandon’ incident - Biden is BORING.
this is a political slogan that has been used as an expression for Fuck Joe Biden - this rude phrase was used many times at sporting events in Sep 2021, and it was misinterpreted as ‘Lets go Brandon’
Dec 2021 - Jill and Biden were taking phone calls for a Santa tracker when a caller ended his chat by saying lets go Brandon, to which Biden smiled and responded, ‘I agree, lets go Brandon’
economy
as of April 20th, Biden’s approval rating slipped to 38%, because inflation has been continuing to rise.
47% of respondents to the poll said the economy is ‘poor’ which has been the highest percentage in a decade.
marmite presidency
you either love the president or you hate them.
Reagan and Obama had almost identical approval ratings after 6 months BUT this masks an important statistic:
by 2009, only 26% of Republicans approved of Obama.
in 1981, 44% of Democrats approved of Reagan.
VACCINATION EXEC ORDER JAN 2022
Biden passed an exec order which said that if you were from an organisation that employs 100+ people, you must either be vaccinated or you must wear a mask and be tested weekly.
the 6-3 divide in SCOTUS concluded that the administration overstepped its authority by seeking to impose the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s vaccine-or-test rule on US businesses because 80+ million people were affected by it - it was struck down.
