The former President of the United States, Bill Clinton, has fiercely criticised the current President, Donald Trump, concerning his defiance of the legal norms and also his call for a renewed national focus on common ground, and has warned against democratic erosion and political intimidation.
Clinton has described the governing style of the current President as unprecedented in modern US history.
“We’ve never seen anything like this before in my lifetime – somebody that says, ‘Whatever I want should be the law of the land. It’s my way or the highway,’” he told CBS. “And most Americans don’t agree with that.”
Clinton also shed some light on the aggressive rhetoric as well as disregard for the norms of Donald Trump, which has eventually led to a reduction in his popularity. He said – “I like to think that he’s paid a price for this – you know, name-calling and throwing his weight around… I think it’s made him less popular.”
Clinton also reflected on the only way to counter these actions of Trump in democratic participation, saying, “Only elections are going to change this.” He stated that Democratic gains in this year’s gubernatorial race, as well as a potential House win in 2026, could significantly help gather a decent opposition against Trump. He also pointed towards the judiciary, which is the only remaining check on executive overreach.
Bill Clinton said more on Trump’s actions being in his second presidential term, and reflected on his efforts to prevent law firms from representing clients before federal agencies in case they might have opposed him.
“That ain’t America,” Clinton said. “We’ve never done that. The whole purpose of having a legal system is to have both sides be heard.”
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However, he praised the courts as well as the judges appointed by Donald Trump himself, who worked on resisting these attempts and said, “The courts are stopping the president, including a lot of judges he appointed… He is looking for ways to basically defy all these court orders. But I think he’ll have a hard time doing that. And if he does, I think it will hurt him in America.”
Clinton acknowledged the deep political division concerning the current situation of the US, but urged the countrymen to oppose humiliation and divisiveness as mutual respect is greater than these.
“Someone needs to stand up and say, ‘Damn it, what we have in common matters more. We cannot throw the legacy of this country away. We cannot destroy other people’s trust in us.”
“We gotta just calm down and try to pull people together again. That’s what I think.”
