The President That Plays by No Rules

Jamie Stiehm
Tue, 03 Mar 2026 17:11:13 -0800
Opinion

Donald Trump breaks every rule in the book, and he's never read the book of rules.

Time after time, Americans see he's constitutionally unable to follow the Constitution. To wit, he, with Israel, just started a war on Iran that ricochets around the Middle East. Contrary to the War Powers Resolution and the Constitution, he did not seek approval from Congress. The deed was just done.

Trump let loose the arsenals of winter, which assassinated Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, igniting a firestorm of attacks across the world's most volatile region. Iranian drone strikes hit the American embassy in Saudi Arabia and a high-rise luxury hotel in Dubai.
Updated: Wed Mar 04, 2026

Donald Trump breaks every rule in the book, and he's never read the book of rules.

Time after time, Americans see he's constitutionally unable to follow the Constitution. To wit, he, with Israel, just started a war on Iran that ricochets around the Middle East. Contrary to the War Powers Resolution and the Constitution, he did not seek approval from Congress. The deed was just done.

Trump let loose the arsenals of winter, which assassinated Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, igniting a firestorm of attacks across the world's most volatile region. Iranian drone strikes hit the American embassy in Saudi Arabia and a high-rise luxury hotel in Dubai.

Very nice.

These whims of Trump and hotheaded Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth now plunge into a thick brew of bubbling hate, with untold consequences.

Military experts agree there was no threat that made sense as a reason for the joint strike.

Let me name a few: chiefly, the unreleased files on Jeffrey Epstein, Trump's Palm Beach pal for many years. Also, if you recall, the vicious ape video of the Obamas. That seems like ages ago.

Trump is a master at the art of distraction and forgetting. He reads (and directs) the public's scattered attention shrewdly, one post after another. Give him that.

But back to Trump's crushing the "We the People" voice in the Constitution's opening line, which reads like political poetry. In fact, it celebrates the true birth of American democracy and lays down the three-way structure of government. Oh, right.

"Checks and balances," so constitutional author James Madison and company in Philadelphia say once upon a time.

Madison was an intellectual giant, despite his slight height, and a Princeton man. Real estate mogul Trump barely cracked a book, unless it was his own "The Art of the Deal," as he somehow climbed to the highest office.

Trump defined the presidency as "doing whatever I want." We the people did not truly believe him. Yet he meant it literally. His wasteland shows us that, barely into his second term. The federal government is a walking shadow, denuded of its force of experts.

Here's the rub, people.

Trump has no reason not to believe he can do whatever he wants. He holds the Republican House and Senate by the throat. He treats the White House press gaggle like compliant suckers and smacks down any who dare to challenge him. He dishes out ugly insults to all that cross him, even the Supreme Court, which struck down his ruinous tariffs.

(Notably, that was the only time the Republican 6-3 high court defied him, even granting immunity from crimes committed in office.)

These are pillars of our democracy — the legislative branch, freedom of the press, and the judiciary.

Only the lower courts have done their job properly, thank goodness. But they alone can't arrest the violations of liberty and rights that Trump has wrought on thousands of immigrant families in Democratic cities and states.

Meanwhile, congressional Republicans play pattycake with Trump. Democrats can't even get into the game. They're always reacting and catching up to yesterday's news, like a war breaking out.

Bless their hearts, Democrats try to fight fair on the floor and in opposing one outrage after another. That's their fatal flaw. There's no such thing as fighting fair with Trump. The convicted felon has no code of law, ethics or honor.

In short, Democrats must stoop to conquer the raging president.

Trump ordered the attack on Iran early Saturday morning, and declared the bombing would go on for weeks. He charged ahead despite his top brass counseling caution. Congress was out of session, a crafty dodge of the War Powers Resolution.

Let this be a lesson to us. When Trump says something, he means it. The 2026 midterms are approaching fast. He says he'd like to "nationalize" the election, using the loaded word "rigged." If he can find a way to call the whole thing off, he'll do it. His third impeachment looms large if Democrats take the House.

As those of us who were there inside the Capitol when his mob stormed in know, Trump will do absolutely anything to win.

The rules are, no rules.