General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I have suggested this before and it was pretty much dismissed as "You can't do that because [View all]zipplewrath
(16,646 posts)They argued at length that Catholics shouldn't be allowed to be president because it would risk putting the country under the influence of the Vatican. They argued that the AG should be an independently elected office. It's where the emoluments clause comes from, as well as the prohibition on foreign titles. It's why one has to be a "natural born citizen". They also envisioned that the EC would help prevent this stuff. And of course part of the point of Senate confirmation of various executive offices was in an attempt to address this problem.
Of course they couldn't figure out how to do some of this stuff, and some of it they did enact. But they also were aware of the problem of the "power vacuum". There were no "votes of confidence" in our system because they didn't want to see what Italy saw for years where there was a new government every 9 months for a while.
The reason we are here isn't because of Trump alone. It is because the Republican Party has decided not to gain a majority to govern, but in fact govern with a controlling minority. To do that requires voter suppression, gerrymandering, and to some extent this kind of political meddling. Citizens United has helped tremendously as well. As such, the congress is not doing it's job. The senate is approving cabinet members that never should have been approved. Garland should be sitting on the bench. But that would require the GOP to respect the democratic process.
The fatal flaw in the constitution is the distribution of power by states. The senate has a ridiculously distorted representation relative to the population. 30% of the population can control the senate. It distorts the EC. It distorts the senate confirmation process. And it's only going to get worse.