I'm for Trump

Yes, I know that's the opposite of what I wrote last week and that what I wrote last week was the opposite of what I wrote the week before which differed from the week before that by roughly 180 degrees - but hell, that's the joy of this blog, it's never predictable!  Anyway, it's not my fault that 'the cousins', in their infinite madness, have chosen the worst pair of candidates in a lifetime.

Now, I do remember a few weeks ago - I can't remember where but my archivist, JK, is  no doubt 'poised in the slips' - writing that the single factor that would gain my - entirely theoretical - vote for Trump would be the make-up of the Supreme Court.  Then Trump opened his big, nay, gigantic, mouth and said something incredibly 'stoopid' even by his dire standards and so, with peg firmly on my nose and trembling hands I wrote that the truly hideous 'HillBilly' would have my support.

But yesterday courtesy of IHTM, I read an article by Mr. Hugh Hewitt (no, me neither) at The Washington Examiner.  Amongst other things, Mr. Hewitt, a former lawyer himself, teaches law at a college, so he has some expertise in matters pertaining to the Supreme Court.  For the benefit of my non-American readers I should emphasise the absolutely critical role the SCOTUS has in American affairs.  Originally, its purpose was to compare any legal/political decisions taken either by lower courts or by State or National governments and test them against the template of the original Constitution - and their word was final!

These days, of course, judges, on the whole, and particularly the Left-wing activist ones, are anything but neutral.  They all have their pet political axes to grind and many of them will not hesitate to ignore the tenets of the Constitution in order to reach what they consider to be a greater good.  So, as Mr. Hewitt emphasises, if 'HillBilly' reaches the White House she will choose who occupies the vacant seat on the SCOTUS which will then be split 5 Lefties against 3 Conservatives and 1 Neutral.  If any of the non-Lefties die or retire then the SCOTUS will be Left-wing dominated for decades!  The very worst sort of radical Left notions will then be made sacrosanct and, frankly, 'the cousins' might just as well have a ceremonial burning of the Constitution.

Yes, Trump is 'stoopid' and loudmouthed but he will probably only last for four years.  A radical Left-wing SCOTUS will be with us for decades and their influence will grip the American body-politic for a century!

VOTE TRUMP!

 

 

Comments

[backofanenvelope]

Mrs Clinton can appoint who she likes; but they have to be confirmed by the Senate. They might just roll over for her, but they seem to have stopped Obama appointing someone to replace Scalia.

[David Duff]

Quite right, BOE, but as you indicate, the GOP grandees in the Senate have backbones of jelly - and anyway, with Trump's unpopularity who knows if the Senate might not be flipped.

[AussieD]

Yay Duffers.

Vote early, vote often.

Though I'm not sure we qualify to vote in the cousin's election.

[David Duff]

Well, AussieD, you'd think they would have the good manners to give me a vote considering the amount of good advice I've offered them over the years!

[Antisthenes]

AD/DD the amount of vote rigging that goes on I suspect if we speak to the right people getting the chance to vote for which is the least undesirable to be the next President of the once great but going down the drain fast USA.

The Americans will be thanking the current president and the next one for decades to come for the distressed state of the union if they have not hung them all from a lamppost before then.

[Andrew Duffin]

Bit surprised that you've only just noticed this, old chap.

[Bob]

David, here's one correct answer:

Bring back The Supreme Governor of the Church of England! Cut out all the stoopid middlemen and make Elizabeth II ruler in fact! Have Her appoint a court! GB should abandon half-measures and have the bravery to reject the modern world completely! Start working on a new fleet of wooden war ships while you're at it!

[TheBigHenry]

David,

As I commented @ Saturday, 30 July 2016 at 18:29

IMHO (he said facetiously) the principal issue of the 2016 Presidential election is the future complement of the Supreme Court. From the time of the Constitution's ratification, which created this Nation of laws (not men), the Judicial Branch of the Federal Government has gradually crept to supremacy by usurping the power of making the law (via proactive "interpretation") from its presumed co-equal Legislative and Executive Branches.

The future of the United States, and I venture to say the rest of the West, is very much in the hands of the Supremes. God help us all if we get another "wise Latina" and a facsimile for the expiring Ginsberg.

[Dom]

Sorry Henry, but I don't think the big issue is SCOTUS. That can be handled by a senate with backbone. The big issue in the next 4 to 8 years is foreign policy. Trump can not be trusted. He is coddling up to Russia, he will betray our allies, and he will make an even bigger mess of the ME that Obama has done.

The idea that he will have people who can handle this for him doesn't wash with me. I can see now the people around him. I'm not impressed.

All things considered, I'm still voting for not-Trump.

[Loz]

It's interesting to see how you value a constitution, and the independence of the people who maintain it, against the ever expansionist executive.

Then on the other hand, you say Blighty will be fine without one, at the mercy of the executive, and now with not even the surrogate constitution of the EU single market to restrain HMG.

What's America got that it should be granted a checks and balances governance, while Blighty has none?

SoD

[TheBigHenry]

Dom,

I disagree. The big issue is SCOTUS because it will affect all of us for decades, not just 4-8 years. And the Senate's power of denying confirmation is only a stop-gap if its majority is the party that is not that of the President's. And that majority can change party every other year because a third of the Senate must stand for re-election at every Congressional election (every even numbered year, such as this year). If HRC is elected, her running mate becomes the tie-breaker in the Senate, and it is also possible (if not likely) that the Senate's majority becomes the Democrat Party.

SoD,

Yes, everyone is familiar with the expansionist Executive Branch, but executive orders are active only while the President who orders them is active, unlike laws that are upheld (or overturned) by the Supremes, whose rulings stand until (and only then) a future Supreme Court overturns the ruling.

In effect, if there are 4 "Progressive" Justices, 4 Conservative Justices, and 1 Neutral Justice (as was the case before Scalia died), the Neutral Justice becomes the most powerful man (or woman) in the world!

That is something many people are presumably not aware of.

[AussieD]

TBH I seem to recall reading a novel waaaay back about the systematic assassination of Supreme Court Justices of one persuasion so that a rogue executive could rig the court. Cannot remember the title or author and, in this case, Google is not my friend.

[Up2L8]

AussieD;

There is a 1993 movie titled The Pelican Brief. A political thriller based on the novel of the same name by John Grisham. About two Supreme Court justices are assassinated by a professional assassin and a Law School student who wrote a legal brief detailing her theory on why they were killed and under whose orders.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pelican_Brief_%28film%29

[Loz]

BigHen,

Great, can Blighty have one of those Supreme Court thingies to "check the exec" and verify that laws are not contrary to our constitution (better have a constitution too), please?

The exec is about to enact a law in Blighty that allows the state to prosecute people for being tax efficient if the perfectly legal (apart from this new law) avoidances used were "contrary to the wishes of the state".

In other words ISA's are ok, because the state endorses them. Any other form of tax efficiency that is legal will now face prosecution under this blanket law of "the executive doesn't wish it".

The executive has effectively legalized the application of arbitrary power by the state, and we have no constitution or institution to prevent it. Where's magna carta and the common law now, eh?

How could this be happening to dear old Blighty?

Because we always had a deformed democracy, whose empire flattered to deceive, and allowed the home population to believe it was free by way of magna carta, common law, blah, blah, when that freedom was actually achieved by exporting the executive actors to the empire colonies, thereby leaving a "vacuum Liberty", a special form of "accidental Liberty", in the homeland.

The first action after Brexit for Blighty should be a written constitution and institution to back it up. But it ain't gonna happen.

So decline and fall will repeat itself, as it did 1945-1975.

SoD

[Loz]

Magna carta, common law, my arse: -

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/19/man-who-must-tell-police-of-sex-plans-john-oneil-says-the-order/

We were better off being run by foreigners with an individual rights based constitution and the ECJ as the supreme court to enforce them.

SoD

[TheBigHenry]

SoD,

Sorry, dude. Blighty can't have one of those thingies. Because unlike the United States, which is a nation of laws, Blighty is a nation of men! And the reason we have a nation of laws, not men is our enshrined Constitution, which was made possible by the American victory over Blighty lead by "the greatest man in the world", George Washington.

[Loz]

What about the 51st state?

Can you squeeze us in?

We can leave the Paddies, Sweaties, and Taffies behind too, if you wish.

SoD

[TheBigHenry]

Well, sure we can. There may be a slight problem squeezing in the 51st star in our flag's field of blue, but we've overcome much more difficult issues in the past.

Wait a minute, I just solved the flag problem:

********** (10)
******* (7)
********** (10)
******* (7)
********** (10)
******* (7)

It's not pretty, but we can get Betsy Ross to clean it up a bit.

[David Duff]

Jolly well done, Henry, and by the way, bit of a gal that Betsy Ross!

[Loz]

Wouldn't 898989 be a bit smoother? : -

******** (8)
********* (9)
******** (8)
********* (9)
******** (8)
********* (9)

SoD

[TheBigHenry]

SoD,

I officially designate you the inaugural recipient of the "Betsy Ross Medal of Intrepid Stardom".

Now, work on the vertical (up/down) symmetry.

[TheBigHenry]

   *********     9
************ 12
   *********     9
************ 12
   *********     9

[backofanenvelope]

Somehow, jumping out of the European frying pan into the American fire, doesn't seem to be the Brexit message.

[TheBigHenry]

BoE,

If America is on fire, then Europe is not a "frying pan" but a handbasket in Hell.