Much is being made of President Trump's remarks at a private fundraiser today at Mar-a-Lago in which he praised Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent consolidation power. Trump stated:
He's now president for life. President for life. No, he's great. And look, he was able to do that. I think it's great. Maybe
we'll have to give that a shot some day.
This remark is hardly surprising of the man who praised the Chinese Communists' brutal response to the Tiananmen Square way back in 1990. Demagoguery comes naturally to Trump.
Yet it must be remembered that President Obama also envied the power wielded by his Chinese counterpart. Consider this passage from a New York Times piece at the height of the Arab Spring, seven years ago this month:
Mr. Obama has told people it would be so much easier to be President of China. As one official put it, "No one is scrutinizing Hu Jintao's words in Tahrir Square."
Barack Obama and Donald Trump may possess different temperaments, but the fact both Presidents covet the power possessed by their Chinese counterparts demonstrates their lack of respect for our Republic and the constitutional limits on the offices the people have seen fit to bestow upon them. American Presidents ought to be the biggest champions of our system of government and the biggest defenders of the limits on their authority.
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