Following mounting criticism for its inaction, the Biden administration is claiming it is powerless to stop the Israeli onslaught against Gaza. This is a sick evasion, given how much military and diplomatic support the US unquestioningly provides Israel.
At least part of the claim is that the president himself has little power. It’s the stupid finger-pointing game. “Biden needs Congress’ permission to do anything at all, ever.” 🙄
A useful excuse when the president doesn’t want to do anything. Falls flat on its face when he actually wants to bomb, shoot, or cage the shit out of any brown people, foreign or domestic.
As far as I understand the US political process, the President is allowed to do virtually anything so long as it doesn’t step on the states’ toes, but Congress has to pass funding and anything done by Executive Order can be done but can’t stick beyond his or her tenure.
Yeah, pretty much. The president has enormous power, and that power is even greater outside the country’s borders. Especially because of things like the “Authorization to Use Military Force” which gives him pretty much carte blanche to “fight terrorism” anytime and anywhere he likes.
There’s also this general process by which the president historically just does what he wants, and the rest of the government shrugs its shoulders and rolls over, and thus his office essentially just has that de facto power, no matter what the constitution or other laws say: Renegade Cut: No More Presidents.
The U.S. president is more powerful than any empire in the world has ever been, is pretty much a king, and basically does what he wants. Liberals often make excuses about how his hands are tied. It would be great if that were the case, but it’s really, really not.