The Presidency is Extremely Powerful, Stop Pretending It Isn’t

After Nader’s failed 2000 run that ended with Al Gore conceding to Bush in a close Florida vote, mainly claimed that third parties that run for the Presidency are spoilers and instead should focus on building progress through state houses or congressional seats first.

While I don’t think a third party could be successful in the Presidency, the impulse that it is uniquely powerful to carry out an platform separated from corporate interests is extremely persuasive.

The Presidency has unique powers that could be utilized by outsiders to oust corporate interests.

Here’s the power the Presidency holds domestically:

• Signature. The Presidency has the power to sign bills into law once they are presented by passing both houses and sent to the President’s desk. This has immense power because it shapes all legislation to their desire. Add in the fact that the President is the leader of their respective party and that means there is an immense amount of leverage, since those parties give money to congressional members and help aid reelection efforts.
• Set Administrative Priorities. The Presidency has the power to appoint and give executive orders (how administrative bodies will interpret legislation). Many people think executive orders are the most powerful because they have been used a lot more given the polarization of Congress since 2008. However, more can be said for a political implementation of the appointment process, which until Trump had been boorish Harvard imps who who could get thumbs up from the Senatorial country club. Trump’s political use of the appointment process was three fold. Obviously the Federalist Society pump into the judiciary was the most covered. But he also pursued non-appointments, where he pushed many political actors into roles as “Acting Director” which functioned like emergency appointments for many administrative arms.
• Trump also used political appointments for traditionally non-political administrative arms — famously the Department of Justice. Trumps appointments obviously were terrible failures because of their political views, but the idea of using the Department of Justice to go after corporate donors and corrupt politicians is an extremely powerful unexplored tool.
• Bully Pulpit. The President can command an audience. However, in total, I think this is the weakest power and is often overstated by many. Much of the media is owned by corporate interests and all coverage would be spun to meet those demands.