America has no reason for hope – and there’s no way the nation can escape hopelessness – CBS 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl says in a fearmongering PBS special purporting to examine the boundaries of presidential authority.
Stahl is a panelist in PBS’s misleadingly titled How Much Executive Power Is Too Much? Breaking the Deadlock: A Power Play – a transparently manipulative effort to vilify President Donald Trump by portraying the threat-to-democracy deeds of a hypothetical “President Powerton.”
After leading viewers to a foregone conclusion that Americans should fear and reject the drunk-with-power “President Powerton,” Moderator Aaron Tang asks panelists the following question:
“One last question: folks, is there any reason for hope?”
Not only is there no reason for hope, but there’s hope of having hope, because “all” of the nation’s institutions are irredeemable, Stahl answered:
“I am not hopeful. I look at all our institutions, all of which have lost the respect and trust of the American people. I worry about the future of democracy, obviously.
And, I don’t see a path out. So, I’m kind of down.”
Not all panelists’ responses are shown, but the other ones that PBS chose to air express either hope for the nation or, at least, cautious optimism.
“America is crumbling because of this president,” Stahl declared earlier in the program.
Coincidentally, the PBS program aired after President Trump issued an executive order canceling funding of taxpayer-funded public media – including PBS.
While the program claims to examine the limits of presidential authority, it actually presents a hypothetical series of events in which Trump surrogate “President Powerton” looks to defy a Supreme Court ruling striking down his executive order:
- President Powerton issues an executive order canceling a “green,” farm grant, without which farmers will go bankrupt and lose their farms.
- A state attorney general sues the president, challenging Pres. Powerton’s authority to cancel the grant.
- A court rules Pres. Powerton can’t cancel the grant checks – so the president tries to bribe a member of his administration to stop the payments, anyway.
- The Supreme Court strikes down Pres. Powerton’s executive order when he appeals the decision.
- Pres. Powerton looks to defy the Supreme Court’s ruling.
- Powerton orders the U.S. attorney general to find dirt on the state attorney general who sued him, then fires the AG when he refuses to prosecute.
- When the state attorney wins a Senate seat, a Powerton supporter tries to kill him, gravely injuring the senator-elect.
- After the would-be assassin is convicted of felony assault, Pres. Powerton decides to pardon him, despite being advised not to by members of his administration.
Throughout the program, panelists make thinly-veiled references to Trump while warning of the threat of what a power-mad president might do.
“The president thinks every single thing he does is justified, just because he won an election – he’s wrong,” panelist Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) says.
Goldman is a former assistant U.S. attorney who led the first impeachment of President Donald Trump.
