My Thoughts Today

I was watching some news last night; I like to watch some of the news talk shows; and I ended up on Fox News watching Mark Levin talking about Donald Trump, Congress, the Judicial Branch, and the Constitution. I felt as though his logic, at least in the 2-3 minutes that I watched him until a commercial break, was severely flawed. Please keep in mind, I only saw a brief portion of his angrily-toned rant, but it was enough for me to formulate that Mark Levin does not get it.

We should all know, by now at least, that Congress has the power of the purse; they control the money. If you are unfamiliar with how that works, let me give a quick explanation. The government shuts down if Congress cannot agree on appropriations funding, such as the National Defense Appropriations Act (NDAA). The NDAA is the appropriation which funds the Department of Defense (DoD). If they allocate $105 billion to the DoD, the DoD then chooses how to allocate those funds, usually with budgets from each of the branches which contains budgets for all units down to the lowest levels. It all starts with Congress’ power of the purse.

Mark’s argument is that since Congress allocated the money and the President is the Chief Executive, then the President ultimately gets to decide how that money is spent. I am sorry Mark, but he does NOT have that power. Why do I say that? After Congress goes through the motions of back and forth to agree on the terms of appropriating money, the spending bill goes to the President for signature. That, Mark Levin, is where the President’s authority ends. He or she either signs it to approve it or does not and it goes back to Congress for more back and forth. Once the President signs the bill, his or her hands cannot, per the Constitution, muddle with that money. And, that is where we stand right now; the President has his hand in the purse and no Republicans have stood up to him to slap his hand like a parent and send him to his room. Thus, we now see the Judicial Branch coming into play.

The Judicial Branch will be key to saving our democratic republic in the coming days, weeks, months, etc. Congress has already shown that they cannot control the President; the Executive Branch has gone rogue. With the Legislative Branch, Congress, rolling over and bowing to the wishes of a rogue Executive Branch, the President and the Department of Justice, it will be up to the Judicial Branch, the Federal Courts, to ensure that our Constitution survives this mob attack on its very foundations which have guided us as a nation for nearly 236 years, having been ratified in 1788.

We either need the Republicans in Congress to develop a backbone and keep Trump within his legal, constitutional limits, or we need the Judicial Branch to protect us. The right thing for Republicans to do, should they wish to show the American people that they truly believe in our Republic, is to move to impeach Trump from the presidency and Vance from the vice presidency. Vance has already shown the entire world he is unfit to lead the United States of America.