The thought crimes of Donald Trump

[jafs]

What power does a president have to get Congress to do what he/she wants?

The whole idea of our system is that we have three distinct branches, and a variety of checks and balances on the power of each branch, right?

[Pointedstick]

What power does a president have to get Congress to do what he/she wants?

Are you joking? Were you asleep for the Clinton administration and second Bush administration? A good example is how Bush II got nearly all of the Democrats in congress to vote for invading Iraq. The Civil Rights Act was almost single-handedly Johnson's doing. The president's relationship with congress and ability to work deals and twist arms to get his legislative agenda enacted is one of the biggest determinants of presidential success. A president who can't work well with congress--even a hostile congress--can't get much done and winds up relying on weak executive orders and being frustrated a lot, which is what's happened to Obama.

[jafs]

What power does a president have to get Congress to do what he/she wants?

Are you joking? Were you asleep for the Clinton administration and second Bush administration? A good example is how Bush II got nearly all of the Democrats in congress to vote for invading Iraq. The Civil Rights Act was almost single-handedly Johnson's doing. The president's relationship with congress and ability to work deals and twist arms to get his legislative agenda enacted is one of the biggest determinants of presidential success. A president who can't work well with congress--even a hostile congress--can't get much done and winds up relying on weak executive orders and being frustrated a lot, which is what's happened to Obama.

What I remember from the Clinton years was compromise between D and R, sometimes, which has become increasingly rare with R in Congress.

And Bush managed to get folks in Congress to vote for the Iraq war by selectively processing and sharing information - you're not suggesting that's a good thing for a president to do, are you?

It's Congresses responsibility if they choose to be hostile to a president, not the president's responsibility or fault - one of the most annoying criticisms from the right is that Obama is ineffective.  Since they have devoted themselves to opposing him, that's their fault, not his.

[jafs]

From brief research into the immigration issue, Congress passes the budgets for that.

Detention centers are required to have all beds filled, and overflows are handled by local jails.

Obama has deported about 2 million people.

There was a $600 million border security bill that he signed in 2010.

The government is currently running deficits every year - where will all of this extra money for deportations, etc. come from exactly?  R in Congress are talking all the time about budget cuts, not spending more money, and they are opposed to raising taxes as well.

[Pointedstick]

What I remember from the Clinton years was compromise between D and R, sometimes, which has become increasingly rare with R in Congress.

And Bush managed to get folks in Congress to vote for the Iraq war by selectively processing and sharing information - you're not suggesting that's a good thing for a president to do, are you?

It's Congresses responsibility if they choose to be hostile to a president, not the president's responsibility or fault - one of the most annoying criticisms from the right is that Obama is ineffective.  Since they have devoted themselves to opposing him, that's their fault, not his.

I'm not sure I understand your position when it comes to the president's relationship with congress. Maybe you can spell it out clearly.

[jafs]

The president has limited power, if any at all, over Congress.

He can veto bills, but even that power can be overturned by Congress.

He doesn't appoint members of Congress - they're elected - and he can't fire them either.

He doesn't hold the purse strings for them, they vote their own salaries/benefits packages.

By design, the two branches are separate, in order to create checks and balances between branches.

The president is limited to trying to persuade Congress to do things he'd like for them to do by talking to them.  I suppose he can promise that he'll support them publicly when it comes to their re-election campaigns, but that only works if the president is popular.

If Congress makes it their mission to oppose what the president wants, as R in Congress have done, that's their decision and they should take full responsibility for it and the outcome of that decision.  Opposing a president strenuously and then criticizing him for not doing enough is the worst kind of political maneuvering, and it's transparently absurd.

They wanted him to be ineffective, and did everything they could to make that happen - they should be proudly announcing "mission accomplished!"