You are off your fucking rocker if you think Bush 43 either understood or respected the laws and institutions of the country. We were dealing with a Constitutional Crisis every other week during the last two years of his Presidency.

I did not mean to say he “respected” them, far from it. But he did successfully reshape them. Bush did more to redefine US policy in the 21st century than any other president to come after. What does it matter that he ran up against constitutional crises, when the Democratic administration to succeed him just adopted most of his changes as the new normal?

I’m trying to say that while Bush reshaped and redefined US institutions for those to come after, Trump is just breaking them. There is no way for a successor administration to use USaid, because there just is no USaid anymore. And I suspect Dems will shrug and accept that world as the new normal as well (hell, they’ll probably keep ICE largely unchanged and claim its different now that they’re in the drivers seat).

I don’t know that its ever been quite as much a moron as this guy. Dubba was dumb, but not “rip out USaid” dumb.

Love 'em or hate 'em, most presidents (or at least their cabinets) understood that the laws and institutions of the country were all broadly weighted in their favor, even if that meant occasionally accepting this or that particular limitation.