[ExI] Trump Says a Smart President Is All That’s Needed to Rein In A.I.

[Ben Zaiboc]

On Wednesday, 16 September 2026 at 01:03, spike at rainier66.com <spike at rainier66.com> wrote:

> 
> ...> On Behalf Of Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat

> >...Your confidence in the constitution's ability to rein him in has to boil down to your confidence in the people and institutions that have the job of upholding the constitution. Do you agree?
> 
> Ja.
> 
> >...They seem, from my perspective, to be doing a poor job so far.
> --
> Ben
> 
> _______________________________________________
> 
> Ben passing a law is difficult.


Ok, but I'm not just talking about passing laws (and presidential executive orders seem to be capable of completely bypassing any laws (which is a plausible reason for him issuing so many)).

I'm talking about Trump exceeding his authority, as laid down by the constitution, as well as other mechanisms, and getting away with it because the people and institutions that are supposed to restrain him have failed to do their job, either because they've caved in to pressure or intimidation, been sacked, or through cronyism.

I'm talking about the kinds of thing mentioned in this document:
https://www.nycbar.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/20221532_AbuseOfPresidentialPower-1.pdf

Note that that document is almost a year out-of-date.
There have been many more abuses of power since last December, including sacking military personnel for reminding troops that, in the event of a conflict between orders received and the law, they should obey the law (that one sticks in my memory because I was particularly shocked by it. In America, some people are actually /officially/ above the law!).


If he can get away with all this, I don't see what use the constitution is, and it seems that it, plus all the other checks and balances that are supposed to exist in your political system have failed, badly.

What, in practice, is to prevent his winning a third term and becoming president again in 2029? (something that, if the russians truly have any ability to influence US elections, seems very probable).

I know your default answer is 'The Constitution', but the constitution enforced how? By whom? What remaining obstacles will he need to overcome in order to serve a third term? Who will he need to sack and replace with a crony? Which institutions will he need to destroy or corrupt?

The constitution, for it to achieve anything, needs to have teeth. Which ones are left that Trump will need to pull?

---
Ben