WHAT TRUMP AND MAGA GET WRONG: CONGRESS IS SUPPOSED TO WORK WITH THE PRESIDENT - NOT FOR HIM.
The US Constitution is a fairly short read. It consists of 7 articles and 27 amendments. Including the preamble and most of the required signatures, the original ran for 4,543 words. Adding in the 27 amendments brings that count up to 7,591. Not any of those words indicate that the US Congress is in any way a sidekick to the POTUS. In fact, since the legislative is the first one set up in the Constitution, a compelling argument can be made that Congress is the "first among equals" of the three branches of the federal government.
Obviously, no one told recent Congresses or Donald Trump this. Congress has been backing slowly away, ceding power - and thus responsibility - to the executive branch ever since the FDR era. Trump is the president who has taken the fullest advantage of this trend. He has openly declared himself the boss, claiming often and publicly that he "runs" the country. He has openly threatened Senators and Representatives who challenge him with dire consequences for their opposition. Republican legislators in both houses have cravenly bent the knee and scurried to escape his wrath and do his bidding.
This is the latest example of the spinelessness of the GOP. A Republican Congressman (Mark Alford, R-MO) actually had this Trump-glorifying poster made up and brought it to the debate over the "One Big Beautiful Bill" that Trump's White House crafted and is trying to ram through Congress by July 4th. In the world the country's founders envisioned, budgets would be crafted by collaboration between the two branches for the good of the nation as a whole. Foolish founders. This bill baldly and boldly takes from the poor and gives to the rich. The constituents of many GOP Senators and Reps. will be among the hardest hit. That seems to matter not at all. These days Donald Trump says, "This is what I want!" and Republicans can't wait to hand it over.
And that's the way it goes ....
Posted Jul 2, 2025, 11:02 PM UTC