Jun 17, 2018 5 min read

When the American Colonies broke away from England to form the United States, we prioritized the rule of law over the rule of men. We claimed that no man is a king and everyone is equal before the law, unlike an absolute monarchy, where, according one of its greatest practitioners (Louis XIV), “l’etat c’est moi”; he was the state. Whatever he said was the law.

Under our system, everyone plays by the same rules, and people know in advance what those rules are. This is in America’s DNA, and is a bedrock principle of the American Dream; everyone has a chance to succeed, and no one’s place is assured. Tapping into the skills and ingenuity of the entire population (instead of just the select few) and giving everyone a stake in the economy has allowed the U.S. to become the richest, most powerful nation on earth. But in such a society, the powerful are not predetermined to remain in that position, so some people in power prefer systems that better secure their position: dictatorships.

Modern dictatorships, like the absolute monarchies of the past (but without the origin story) run on the whim of the “great leader,” who is allowed to change his mind (it’s almost always a “him”). Which means that what might have been good behavior one day can get you imprisoned the next. While such systems work well for the privileged few, the rest of society rarely prospers.

Unfortunately, President Trump chafes under the rule of law. He seems to think that as the leader of the most powerful country in the world, his power is limitless. He relishes his power, and uses it to reward his friends and threaten his enemies. While politics always has an element of this, for Trump, it is a consuming passion (as is documented by his Twitter feed).

One of the legacies of the royal prerogative is the presidential pardon. Previous modern presidents utilized a methodical process to determine who might be worthy of a pardon (someone suffering under an unusually harsh sentence, a model prisoner, etc.). While the process was not perfect (Clinton pardoned Marc Rich, e.g.), it was orderly. President Trump has taken the opposite approach. Instead of a bureaucratic process with input from the Department of Justice and other stakeholders, Trump makes quick decisions based on the personal appeals of the supplicants or their friends. In the ultimate test of whether anyone is above the law, Trump has asserted his right to pardon himself (like Nixon, who asserted “when the president does it, that means it is not illegal”).

Trump hates bureaucracy, because it limits his actions. Without bureaucracy, everything is based on personal power. You have to do things for people who have more power than you. But bureaucratic rules are supposed to ensure everyone is treated equally. They may be a pain, but they are predictable.

Corruption is often the avoidance of bureaucracy. Instead of playing by the rules, people bend the rules to fit their purposes. Corruption is one of the reasons many Third World countries struggle economically. Corruption is like a tax for which there is no benefit, a cost of business that goes to someone who contributes nothing. Under corrupt regimes, businesses thrive based on their connections, rather than their expertise. On a large scale, this is “crony capitalism.” Connected people get lucrative government contracts, regardless of their performance.

It’s the difference between shopping when there is a listed price that’s the same for everyone, and shopping when the price is whatever the buyer and seller negotiate. The “great negotiator” certainly thinks he can get a better deal than the average Joe (or former presidents), but such a system leads to uncertainty, making it hard to plan. Set rules create order out of chaos.

President Trump’s actions on trade demonstrate Trump’s preference for negotiation rather than consistency; instead of free trade, he imposes tariffs on countries he thinks are misbehaving, but perhaps, if they make their case to him (and flatter him appropriately, or even make the right “investments,” like China’s $500 million loan to a Trump-associated resort in Indonesia), he’ll make allowances. He likes to be the “decider,” keeping his opponents (and even his allies) off-balance, not letting the process be transparent and predictable.

President Trump is known as a “transactional president.” He’s a dealmaker; everything is negotiable, and dependent upon the relationship of the participants, not larger outside forces. He doesn’t want to be constrained by rules, conventions, or past history. The only thing that matters is the here and now, and how he relates to the person on the other side of the deal.

As a transactional president, Trump only appeals to his supporters. He rewards his friends and punishes his enemies. If you didn’t vote for him, why should he ever consider your desires? Coal barons give money to his campaign, so he violates one of the founding principles of the Republican Party (the market knows best) to require that energy suppliers buy enough coal to keep them in business.

Internationally, Trump also hates alliances, because they limit what a nation can do (they require the consideration of the interests of one’s allies), which is one reason he’s been willing to upset NATO and the G7, and pulled out of the TPP, the Iran deal and the Paris Climate Accord.

Trump is unlike any other president in American history. Time will tell whether or not that’s a good thing, but thus far we have thrived under the rule of law, and I think we abandon that at our peril.

Kent James is an East Washington resident and has degrees in history and policy from Carnegie Mellon University.