FIRST • PREVIOUS • NEXT • LAST
(permalink to this strip)
ALL STRIPS
SUPPORT WTFA ON PATREON

Sheep: Trump's just decided not to enforce the laws of the U.S.A. Goat: Isn't executing the law basically what the "executive" in "Executive Branch" is all about? Sheep: The Trump administration says that just the fact that Congress passed the sanctions against Russia back in July is having the effect that enforcing the law would have, so they're not going to. Goat: I'm no Constitutional scholar or anything but isn't that, I don't know, ILLEGAL? Sheep: Curiously, no. But it might be a bad idea just now since Russia is still doing the bad stuff the sanctions are supposed to curtail. Goat: I'm sure our oligarchy is strong enough to handle it! I mean, democracy.

NEW COMIC TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS AND WHEN THE MOOD STRIKES

The Trump administration has decided to ignore the law Congress passed last July to sanction Russia, or, more specifically, companies doing business with Russia's military, claiming that just the existence of the law itself is convincing Russia to play nice, so no further action is needed. This despite the fact that Mike Pompeo, Trump's apointee to head the CIA, says Russia is not playing nice.

I was surprised to find that it's not just acceptable but standard operating procedure for the Executive Branch to ignore any laws it doesn't like; evidently it's a cherished part of our government, as opposed to those namby-pampby European parliamentary systems. So there's actually nothing wrong with Trump doing this.

Of course the question then becomes, why does Trump's executive enforce some laws and not others? Why is DACA an unconstitutional overreach of the Executive (as Jefferson Beauregard Forrest Adolf Sessions would have it) but letting various profiteers off the hook on dealing with Russian gangsters is hunky dory? Especially when these sanctions were passed by Trump's own party?

Could it be some of these profiteers are...friendly?...with members of Trump's team? Or Trump himself?

Surely nyet.