Nothing more or less than -does the president have absolute power- is about to be decided

by Heather Cox Richardson

Today the president tweeted a lot, even for him. In one hour this morning, he tweeted or retweeted 52 times. By the end of the day he had averaged a tweet every 7.5 minutes. None of the tweets mentioned the almost 80,000 Americans who have died from Covid-19, or any plans for addressing the pandemic.

Trump appears to be upset about the recent prominence of former President Barack Obama in the news. On Friday, a tape of Obama talking to about 3000 former staffers leaked. In it, Obama expressed dismay over the decision of the Justice Department to try to drop the case against former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. He warned that “our basic understanding of the rule of law is at risk,” and noted that once a nation abandons the rule of law the destruction of its legal government is often rapid. He also called Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic an “absolute chaotic disaster.” Since leaks from Obama officials are scarcer than hen’s teeth, we have to assume this leak was deliberate.

Trump’s morning tweetstorm makes the president seem preoccupied with Obama. He seems tied to the idea that the FBI was investigating the links of some of the people on his campaign to Russia, a situation he called “OBAMAGATE!” on Twitter this morning. He retweeted the claim by conservative talk show host Buck Sexton that Obama “used his last weeks in office to target incoming officials and sabotage the new administration.” Trump added to the tweet “The biggest political crime in American history, by far!” He retweeted an account that, at the time, had 43 followers, saying, “Unless people are indited [sic] and put in prison the corruption will continue. People will continue to run with fake news and conspiracies until they are shown individuals being handcuffed and prosecuted. Its [sic] also time to fire people from the FBI, CIA, DOJ, DNI #CleanHouse.”

Trump’s power struggle against any oversight of his presidency is approaching a critical moment. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments about whether Congress or state prosecutors can investigate him for potential wrongdoing. There are three different cases, which involve two issues.

Lots more:
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-10-2020?utm_campaig