Trump rebuked for ‘total authority’ claim
Donald Trump has been accused of acting like a king and risking a ‘‘constitutional crisis’’ after his claim to have ‘‘total’’ authority over when US states can reopen from lockdown triggered a backlash from governors.
The US president made the remark on the breadth of his power during a heated White House briefing on Tuesday in which he also lambasted the press for their coverage of his handling of the crisis.
‘‘The president of the United States calls the shots,’’ Trump said on whether states can stay in lockdown against his wishes. ‘‘They can’t do anything without the approval of the president of the United States.’’
Pushed by reporters on where in the US Constitution the president was granted such powers, Trump said ‘‘numerous provisions’’, claiming: ‘‘When somebody’s the president of the United States, the authority is total.’’
The claim to ‘‘total’’ authority made immediate headlines. Mike Pence, the US vice president, did not repeat the comments when asked later in the briefing if he agreed.
The row reflects tensions during the Covid-19 crisis between Trump’s eagerness to reopen the economy by loosening restrictions and warnings from health experts and political opponents about the importance of retaining social distancing.
It also marks another switch in tone from Trump towards Democratic governors, who he has at points both praised, talking up the spirit of bipartisanship, and criticised over not showing the US government enough appreciation. Within 24 hours of his comments a string of governors, who hold executive powers to run US states, publicly disagreed with Trump, warning him against trying to reopen states if they do not approve of the move.
Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic governor of New York – the US state worst affected by the Covid-19 crisis – told CNN: ‘‘You don’t become king because of a national emergency.’’
Cuomo said in an interview that he would defy the US president if ordered to reopen New York before he thought it was appropriate. ‘‘If he says to me, ‘I declare it open,’ and that is a public health risk or it’s reckless with the welfare of the people of my state, I will oppose it,’’ Cuomo said on MSNBC.
‘‘And then we will have a constitutional crisis like you haven’t seen in decades, where states tell the federal government, ‘We’re not going to follow your order.’ It would be terrible for this country. It would be terrible for this president.’’
He was joined by other Democrats.
Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan thought to be in the running to become Joe Biden’s vice presidential pick, said: ‘‘The government doesn’t get opened up via Twitter, it gets opened up at the state level.’’
Ned Lamont, the Democratic governor of Connecticut, warned not to ‘‘let the verbal hand grenades from the president distract from other good work that’s going on’’.
Trump had been reacting to news that some states have decided to group together to discuss among themselves when to loosen restrictions put in place to slow the spread of Covid-19.
Two such groupings have been announced. One is of seven eastern states: Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. The other contains three western states: California, Oregon and Washington.