On Monday’s broadcast of “America Live” with host Megyn Kelly, conservative radio talk show host Mark Levin made an appearance to elaborate on remarks he made on his radio show last week about the president and his disregard for the Constitution.
Levin referred to Obama as an “imperial president” and pointed to his rhetoric about what he will do in lieu of legislative action by Congress by using executive order.
“I’m not into imperial presidents who act imperial and speak imperial and Obama forgets there’s a Constitution,” Levin said. “Yes, he keeps telling us he won re-election, congratulations. But guess what, the Constitution wasn’t up for election. It’s not up for a plebiscite or referendum. He has to comply with it, too. He was sent back to Washington, but he’s got a strict list of rules that he has to follow as president. So when he gets up there and starts saying, ‘If Congress doesn’t do this I’m going to do this unilaterally,’ it violates separation of powers a lot of the times. And this a man who’s been pushing the edge of the envelope as far as I’m concerned, whether it’s the appointment clause, whether it’s his unilateral on immigration, whether it’s his trashing the commerce clause and tax clause under ObamaCare. Now they’re talking about executive orders on the Second Amendment. They’ve issued regulations on the First Amendment attacking religious liberty. This notion that he might be able to lift the debt ceiling, you know, unilaterally under the 14th amendment.”
“What the hell is this?” Levin said. “He was elected president. Congratulations. This guy makes Richard Nixon look like a man who followed the law all the time. I think we have an imperial president. He sounds imperial, he’s arrogant as hell and so, I’m furious about this and I’m going to tell you why. We are a magnificent country. We don’t need to be turned upside-down. We don’t need to run from crisis to crisis to crisis. He’s bankrupting this country. He says, ‘We’ve had a discussion about the debt.’ When did we have a discussion about the debt? We’ve had a debate about taxes. The man is never around to have a discussion about anything. So, yes, he causes me to be furious when I watch and listen to him.”
Levin, author of “Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America,” said much of this was part of a larger track record with the president and then reiterated his insistence on honoring the Constitution.
“They can talk about past presidents,” he said. “We can talk about Lincoln. We can have a grand old time. We can go through all the past presidents. Nobody compares to this guy though. I mean, this guy is having a hell after time bankrupting the country, seizing power from Congress, threatening the courts, attacking successful people. You know, even when it came to bankruptcy and the automobile industry, rewriting the bankruptcy laws. People better wake up to this. This is not what Bush did or what anybody else did. This president is different and in a very, very negative way. And the fact that a lot of people voted for him, that’s extremely troubling, but the Constitution, as I said, that wasn’t up for grabs and it’s still not up for grabs.”
The conservative talker also had criticisms of the media for not asking tough enough questions for some of these proposed efforts that have been mentioned as possibilities with Obama and acting on the debt ceiling.
“There are a lot of big lies with this president,” Levin said. “First of all, I call it the pretend media. I mean what do the media do? When he talks about the debt ceiling and the 14th Amendment, do they say, ‘Mr. President, that’s not actually been done before and that’s not the point of it. Can you explain that being the constitutional genius you are? No, we have a debate on the debt ceiling. Can we actually talk about the debt? Oh, all Bush’s fault, OK. Let’s talk about guns, there’s not a single idea that’s leaked out of this White House or pushed on Capitol Hill that would have prevented the horrific mass murder in Connecticut. They’re dusting off all their wants and demands and they’re trying to pour it into this tragedy like they always do. We have a Second Amendment. The Second Amendment matters. And so it’s not up for grabs whether Biden and Obama or the goofball governor of Maryland or all the rest of them. But yet, and yet you would think that the Constitution is just another statute for these guys to play with. This is why I’m furious, because once we lose the Constitution, and we’re losing it big, what’s left? I mean, how do we keep these people in check?”
Levin predicted the president’s next steps on gun control will be unprecedented.
“He’ll be the first to do whatever he’s does,” Levin said. “By the way, he’s proud of it. He — it’s not a criticism, he wouldn’t take it as a criticism. He thinks it’s a wonderful thing. Look, all presidents issue executive orders. The question is what executive order, and under what conditions have they issued. The purpose of an executive order isn’t to substitute the president’s legislative agenda for Congress’ legislative agenda. The purpose of an executive order, frankly, is an administerial — an administrative act where the president who runs the executive branch has to put a policy in place to comply with the law. This president is beating his chest talking about using executive order in lieu of congressional legislation. How is it going to play out? I don’t know, but not very pretty.”