Because Trump, for all the problems and crimes, represents _action_. I hate what he has done to this country and the government, this administration is nothing but cronyism and self-enrichment the whole way down. But, it does show a different standard of action.
The wealthy are supporting candidates who offer lip service to leftist policies and then do nothing to cut through basic red tape and court challenges. The "leftist" candidates that the rich support run on building more housing, and then let the rezoning take 15 years in committee.
Here, in Seattle, Bruce Harrell would be a perfect example. He ran on transit, policing reform, and housing, and in the time he has been in office he has accomplished - nothing. No majors action has been attempted, and even minor reforms have been stuck in endless committees for this whole time. But he was happy to intervene to move a major transit station to a place less convenient for commuters and more convenient for his donors.
The next candidate the democrats put up for president is probably going to be pretty uninspiring, and talk a lot about a return to norms. But that's exactly what is wrong with the party.
The next Democrat that runs for president should be promising massive reform - if Kash Patel can fire an FBI agent for having a pride flag on their desk 3 years ago then the next guy running the FBI should be firing any agent that has ever used a slur or received a substantiated complaint about use of force or violating civil rights. If Trump can yank funding from cities for no reason, then the next Democrat in office should be cutting funding from any city with a housing shortage that doesn't enact zoning reform.
In short - wealthy donors love Democrats who talk big but wring their hands about using the power they are given. Because that keeps the system exactly the way the wealthy want it.
Most of the things you’re describing he “can’t” do, but his party won’t impeach him and the Supreme Court is complacent if not intentionally incompetent.
You can bet, with 100% certainty, the standard will change for a democratic president. There’s a reason half the shit he’s doing is being decided on the SCOTUS shadow docket and it’s because they want to be able to tell a Democrat no for doing the same thing in the future.
The court isn't complacent, the conservative justices know exactly what they're doing. They are operating under the belief that once a president from the other party gets elected again, they will still have the old rules to fall back on.
But the ultimate truth of power is that the bounds are whatever you can get away with. Both the republicans in congress and the supreme court are burning every shred of legitimacy they have left in letting Trump get away with his crimes. I am certain the standard will suddenly change when a democrat gets elected again, but the court has set itself up for a perfect "now let him enforce it" moment.
Student loan forgiveness gets blocked by the courts but the administration is allowed to block funds allocated by congress with no push back? Well, that's the new standard. I certainly won't complain much if the next democrat in office starts doing the same thing. If the republicans didn't want the president to have that power, they should do something about it.
>The wealthy are supporting candidates who offer lip service to leftist policies and then do nothing to cut through basic red tape and court challenges. The "leftist" candidates that the rich support run on building more housing, and then let the rezoning take 15 years in committee.
The wealthy don't want more than lip service because "doing things" from any political position because that would imperil the status quo in which they are wealthy.
You see the same do-nothing behavior from the "swamp" republicans who serve the same moneyed interests.