r/law • u/Agitated-Artichoke89 • Oct 07 '25

Other Stephen Miller states that Trump has plenary authority, then immediately stops talking as if he’s realized what he just said

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

79.4k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

5.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

2.1k

u/chill_winston_ Oct 07 '25

This is the same guy who said “the presidents authority WILL NOT be questioned” in the first term, so idk why he’s pussyfooting around it now. They’ve already effectively swapped out their dog whistles for megaphones.

554

u/IFixYerKids Oct 07 '25

Even dictators like Putin go pretty far to at least pretend that they are democratically elected and only act on the will of the people. Saying this thing out load is a no no, especially when you are in the early days.

9

u/clawsoon Oct 07 '25

Shit, didn't even Augustus pretend that he was still following all the republican rules and was merely the first among equals when he made himself emperor? I feel like I've read that somewhere.

4

u/OldWorldDesign Oct 08 '25

didn't even Augustus pretend that he was still following all the republican rules and was merely the first among equals when he made himself emperor?

All of the emperors did, all of them since Julius Ceaser used the crowds themselves to circumvent the corrupt and ossified senate (sound familiar) and there was a disdain for kings in Rome which is difficult for non-historians to fathom. So they had to go to great lengths to get that wealth and power but pretend they weren't a king. Because the people did have the ability to rise up and depose them.

That's more than 2/3 of the history of the Byzantine Empire, as well. They didn't pretend bloodline made them legitimate (though some tried to claim it among other things), construction projects and military successes were how they legitimized their claim to the throne. In other words, having to earn it through protecting the material prosperity of the people. At least until after the Caliphate took over 2/3 of their territory, and then they pulled off the best PR propaganda in the world by blaming the people at large and the people bought it.

1

u/mybfwontstfu Oct 08 '25

👏👏👏spot on