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Comment by wernercd

5 years ago

> Obama jailed a journalist? Who?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/shocked-by-th...

I don't see anything about jailing them - and I remember reading a story awhile back about but can't find it. So if I'm wrong on that point, I stand corrected.

With that said - Obama definitely attacked journalists from DC. Spying on them, following them, etc.

> Trump removing various people

Those people work at the Presidents discretion. All previous Presidents have fired staff at various stages for various reasons.

Trump is a businessman who is known for firing people... You may have seen his Reality TV Show. His catch line? YOURE FIRED!

https://www.rollcall.com/2017/05/10/a-list-of-notable-presid...

He has the ability to fire people at will.

https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/165983

> The final vote was ten in favor and ten opposed, so Adams, exercising for the first time his Constitutional authority to break a tie, settled the matter in favor of the president’s exclusive removal power.

> The president’s authority to dismiss an appointee is now settled law, but with the text unclear, it had to be settled by the First Federal Congress.

> autocracy

Trump doesn't have the "unlimited powers" of a King or a Dictator though... you can claim it but he's got the same power as those before.

You could argue about "incremental" movements... but Trump hasn't moved the needle any further that I know of. Previous Presidents? Definitely... but Trump has been using everything previous Presidents have used - from Obama on back.