Will Trump cause some on the left to rethink big government?
A right-left coalition to restore the constitutional order is an intriguing, if far-fetched, idea.
In recent episodes of The Optimistic American podcast, host Paul Johnson, the former Phoenix mayor, and I have briefly batted around what is, to me, a fascinating question and possibility: Having seen what Donald Trump is doing with the powers of a big national government, will it cause some on the left to rethink their commitment to it?
I suspect the answer is: It should, but probably won’t.
To a small-government conservative, not to be confused with a MAGA populist, the rise of someone like Trump to helm an overweening national government is not only unsurprising, it is almost inevitable. Particularly if the authority of that national government has been concentrated in the presidency.
By “someone like Trump”, I mean someone who uses the office for personal gain, to suppress political opposition, and to consolidate and perpetuate personal power.
To guard against this, small-government conservatives favor institutional restraints. A division of responsibility between the national government and state and local governments, with the bulk of governing important to daily living done by the latter. Within the national government, the separation of powers and a system of checks and balances.
This was the constitutional order the founders established. It has been eroded over time by a variety of factors. The courts have failed to enforce the division of responsibilities between the levels of government, and today there is nothing that is beyond the ambit of the national government. Congress, which was intended to be where the most important policy action took place, has abdicated its role, passing vague laws and deferring to the executive branch to do the real legislating through regulation. We haven’t had a president truly committed to the circumspect constitutional role of the office since Calvin Coolidge.
Tariffs offer a clear and highly relevant illustration of this erosion. The Constitution unambiguously vests the authority to regulate international trade in Congress, not the president. For most of our history, Congress debated and passed highly detailed tariff bills, specific amounts levied on specific goods. Post World War II, however, Congress has passed legislation delegating the specifics to the president. Today, Trump asserts the authority to set any tariff he wants, for any reason he wants, at any time he wants. And to change them on a whim. There is some question whether the self-proclaimed originalists and textualists on the U.S. Supreme Court will actually state the obvious: that violates the constitutional order.
Historically, the left has supported this expansion of the ambit of the national government and the consolidation of power in the presidency. So long as this erosion of the constitutional order served ends the left supported, they applauded it. Two recent examples.
As the Constitution gives the authority over tariffs unambiguously to Congress, it also gives unambiguous authority over immigration to it. Early in his presidency, Barack Obama said, correctly, that he did not have the constitutional authority to grant legal status to dreamers, young people brought to this country illegally as children. Later, he established a program to do exactly that. The left applauded this bypass of a Congress stalemated over immigration policy.
The courts serially told President Joe Biden that he didn’t have the authority to offer extensive and broad-based forgiveness of student loan debt. Biden kept tweaking the program in an attempt to get as much student debt off the books before the courts struck down the latest iteration. The left applauded his perseverance.
So, there are liberal antecedents to Trump’s abuses of the constitutional order. But Trump is pursuing a political scorched-earth campaign that is unprecedented in American history. And the left is properly incensed about it.
Small-government conservatives haven’t covered themselves in glory during this moment. Too few of them are also incensed. Too many have accommodated, rationalized, and excused it. True small-government conservatives are politically homeless right now. The overlap between their principles and MAGA Republican actions is vanishingly small. How small government conservatives might exercise electoral influence is a difficult question.
However, we are entitled to at least one I-told-you-so. If you create an overweening national government and consolidate authority in the president, you are likely one day to get a Trump.
Might the reality of an overweening national government in the hands of Trump and his MAGA henchmen cause at least some on the left to recommit to the institutional and constitutional arrangements intended to protect the body politic against the sort of political scorched-earth campaign Trump is conducting?
The idea of a right-left coalition for the restoration of the constitutional order, however far-fetched, is intriguing. There has never been a time in our country’s history when the need was clearer or more pressing.
Reach Robb at robtrobb@gmail.com.