Wall Street Journal (April 2)
“There is something not at all right when the weightiest decisions of a democratic republic depend so much on the mood of one man.” Before Trump, “there were forms and traditions and processes, there were strictures, rules, the law, expectations, all of which would hem in the head of the executive branch.” Today, however, the “president’s mood” determines everything. “People have become habituated to this, tolerate it, factor it in. But of course when you factor it in you are enabling and continuing it.”
Tags: Decisions, Democratic republic, Enabling, Executive branch, Expectations, Habituated, Law, Mood, Processes, Rules, Strictures, Tolerate, Traditions, Trump, Weightiest
Foreign Policy (November 24)
“The pro-business Free Democratic Party is about to wield power in Berlin, thanks to the country’s youngest voters—but doesn’t yet know what it wants.” Whether the voters will ultimately “regret their choice is an open question. All of the party’s appeals to philosophical traditions and grand concepts have left more open questions than concrete approaches to governing,” but skyrocketing COVID-19 cases will increase the urgency to produce “concrete proposals for governance.”
Tags: Berlin, Concepts, Concrete approaches, COVID-19, FDP, Governing, Power, Pro-business, Questions, Regret, Skyrocketing, Traditions, Voters
