re: #125 uriel

Very true. People often forgot that Lincoln suspended habeas corpus during the Civil War simply on his authority as President. Granted, the Civil War was an unprecedented emergency, but it nonetheless set a dangerous precedent.

And then during the Cold War, Congress authorized further emergency powers for the President, usually the result of concerns regarding the continuity of government in the aftermath of an all-out nuclear war - again, somewhat understandable. But now we have Trump, a man possessed of an autocratic nature, whose wildest dreams are to be some kind of king or emperor, able to order the deaths of his foes with the stroke of a pen or verbal command.

No one ever anticipated a would-be Duce sitting in the Oval Office, or at least, such concerns were dismissed out of hand owing to “American exceptionalism”.

And here we are.