Alexander stands up to Trump - finally
Lamar Alexander is Tennessee's elder U.S. senator and a Republican who announced recently that he will not seek reelection.
That means he is free to be - well, outspoken.
Last week, Alexander - a solid Republican - voted with the majority of the Senate and House for legislation to fund border security and prevent another government shutdown. But on Friday, Alexander officially disagreed with President Trump's announced national emergency on the Southern border.
"The president has made a strong case for increased border security, but declaring a national emergency is unnecessary, unwise and inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution," Alexander wrote in a statement that we commend.
"It is unnecessary because significant additional money already has been approved by Congress that he could spend on border security without declaring a national emergency. In fact, the president announced today that he would spend $3 billion of this additional funding to fund construction of the border wall. This $3 billion is in addition to the $22 billion Congress appropriated on Thursday for detention beds, technology, border patrol agents, ports of entry, replacing existing wall and 55 miles of new wall."
Alexander continued: "It is unwise because if this president can declare a national emergency to build a wall, the next president can declare a national emergency to tear it down; or declare a climate change emergency to close coal plants and build wind turbines; or a health care emergency and force into Medicare the 180 million Americans with health insurance on the job."
We think those ideas sound like pretty plans, though we know the senator righteously hates wind turbines.
Alexander, however, rightly persists: "It is inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution because, after the American Revolution against a king, our founders chose not to create a chief executive with the power to tax the people and spend their money any way he chooses. The Constitution gives that authority exclusively to a Congress elected by the people."
And on this last point, we wholeheartedly agree. President Trump is not a king, and he should not try to act like one.
We commend Alexander's stand against his national emergency declaration, but we hope he doesn't stop there.
Congress has tools to override the president's declaration, and with enough votes could even overcome his veto of such a resolution or legislation.
We urge Alexander to join with other members of Congress - Republican and Democratic - to turn this nonsense around.
Another Trump refugee dishes
So did you see the "60 Minutes" interview with former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe on Sunday? It's a must see.
It was McCabe, who took over the FBI after Donald Trump fired former FBI Director Jim Comey and who opened criminal and counterintelligence investigations into the president.
Why? Because, looking at then-available evidence and after talking with the president, McCabe was troubled.
"I was speaking to the man who had just run for the presidency and won the election and who might have done so with the aid of the government of Russia, our most formidable adversary on the world stage. And that was something that troubled me greatly," he said. "I wanted to make sure that our case was on solid ground, and if somebody came in behind me and closed it and tried to walk away from it, they would not be able to do that without creating a record of why they made that decision."
Whew. Is there any wonder why the president trumpeted the later firing of McCabe? The firing came after an inspector general investigation concluded that McCabe "lacked candor" in his statements made under oath to investigators related to a leak he authorized to a reporter.
Among other things in the "60 Minutes" interview, McCabe told correspondent Scott Pelley that he briefly discussed invoking the 25th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who brought up the possibility. The amendment gives the majority of the Cabinet and Vice President the power to remove the president from office.
McCabe, like so many other refugees from the Trump administration, has a new book out: "The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump." And, yes, the television interview was part of his book tour.
Spoiler alert: The book doesn't just dish on Trump. Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions appears as somewhat unheroic, too, according to the book's reviewers.
"The FBI was better off when 'you all only hired Irishmen,'" Sessions is said to have said in one diatribe about the bureau's workforce, according to the book. "They were drunks but they could be trusted. Not like all those new people with nose rings and tattoos - who knows what they're doing?"
Hurry, Robert Mueller. Hurry.
Happy Presidents Day
Officially, Presidents Day used to celebrate George Washington's birthday. Now the third Monday in February is popularly recognized as honoring President Washington, who was born on Feb. 22, and President Abraham Lincoln, who was born on Feb. 12. Most recently, the day is thought of as a celebration of the birthdays and lives of all U.S. presidents.
Yes, even Trump.