Tom Steyer And Convenient Constitutionalism

Liberal billionaire financier Tom Steyer like many on the left is still smarting that Donald Trump is now President of the United States. So much so, that he has recently launched a $10 million campaign to have him impeached. Steyer released a 60 second television ad in which he calls President Trump "mentally unstable" and a "clear and present danger". Steyer alleges that Trump has brought the U.S. to "the brink of nuclear war” with North Korea and is accuses him of "obstructing justice” with his May firing of then-FBI Director James Comey. Also of violating the Constitution by taking money from foreign governments and threatening to shut down news organizations that report the truth." How did Donald Trump spark Mr. Steyer's sudden interest in the constitution? He obviously didn't have the same interest during the past 8 years. In a 2013 congressional hearing, left leaning constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley stated: "The problem with what the president is doing is that he's not simply posing a danger to the constitutional system. He's becoming the very danger the Constitution was designed to avoid".  Turley seemed to be the only person on that side of the aisle willing to hold our constitution above his worship of the novelty of America's first black President.

Mr. Steyer who is considering a run for senate in California has been a longtime outspoken advocate of climate change legislation. There are many challenges that can be made against his case for impeachment. His allegations of obstruction of justice have been debunked by legal scholars on both sides of the political spectrum.This thin obstruction charge has virtually no legal legs-except those that Steyer gives it. His allegation that President Trump is bringing the nation to the brink of nuclear war is curious. He absolves mad man Kim Jung un of his penchant for shooting rockets over our allies' heads.Would he have said the same about President Kennedy in the Cuban missile crisis in 1962? After all, he should have just ignored the Soviet Union and allowed nuclear missiles just 90 miles from Miami's beaches.

If Mr. Steyer likes constitutional challenges, he certainly missed out on a few during the previous administration. He apparently was too busy earning billions from the fossil fuels which he now despises. Former President Obama was rebuked by the courts on several occasions for doing the 'River Dance' on the constitution. Starting with his crowning legislative debacle: Obamacare. Its implementation violated numerous constitutional precepts. Extending tax credits to groups congress never intended, exempting unions from fees, and Obamacare spending for subsidies which trampled over congress' power of the purse outlined in the constitution. Congress never appropriated the funds so the administration simply moved money from other programs. Congress then sued to uphold its constitutional position and a federal court agreed. The 5th circuit ruled Obama's DACA executive order as unconstitutional which exempted five million illegal immigrants from deportation-without  a whisper from the left. You want more Mr. Steyer? Obama also waived the mandatory work requirement contained in the 1996 welfare reform bill. The supreme court unanimously ruled that the administration violated the separation of powers provision by making unilateral appointments to the National Labor Relations Board while congress was in session. More recently Obama committed the United States to the Iran Nuclear deal, bypassing the senate's treaty ratification power.

 For the sake of time, I won't mention Obama's environmental tyranny by re-writing both the Clean Air and Water Acts. For all the turmoil in Washington currently, there is debate within the Republican party. Conservative Republican Senators Mike Lee and Ted Cruz, Congressmen Jim Jordan, Paul Labrador and Mark Meadows among others have all pushed back against their Republican President when so inclined. There was no such courage displayed during the Camelot 2.0 Obama years. One would be at a loss to name a single Democrat member of the house or senate who so much as wagged a finger at the Former President's multiple constitutional transgressions. For Tom Steyer and the left, their affinity for constitutional fidelity ends when a Democrat administration begins.