A top Fox News judge just blindsided Trump with serious accusations of violating the Constitution

It’s become abundantly clear to most Americans that President Trump is a criminal, a wannabe mobster who managed to con his way into the Oval Office and who is now abusing the substantial powers of the executive branch to enrich himself and his cronies while using those same powers to evade and obstruct justice.

Despite this obvious fact, most of the Republican Party remains lockstep behind their blatantly corrupt leader, refusing to denounce him no matter how low he sinks. With that in mind, it’s always worth highlighting the rare conservative with the moral courage to condemn the president’s actions.

Newsweek reports that yesterday former Judge Andrew Napolitano of Fox News called attention to the “very dangerous trend” he’s observed in Trump’s behavior during his digital segment Judge Napolitano’s Chamber. He asserted that the president has violated the constitutionally decreed “separation of powers” three times in the past week.

The former judge pointed to Trump ordering Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan to ignore a decision by Congress to buy a missile defense system and instructing him to instead divert the money towards his pet border wall as the first violation.

The second incident was when Trump ordered American troops to the Mexican border despite the fact that the president is forbidden from deploying military personnel to address domestic problems. It’s a direct challenge to the separation of powers doctrine and marks a dangerous power grab on the part of the president.

The third violation was Trump’s announcement that he is putting a 25% tariff on Chinese imports because it’s basically him imposing a “national federal sales tax” since tariffs are essentially a tax on consumers. Under the Constitution, Congress is the branch with the power to levy and collect taxes.

“It is dangerous when presidents write their own laws, impose their own taxes, spend money how they want and Congress looks the other way. It’s dangerous because it’s too much of an accumulation of power in the presidency, and it imbalances that delicate balance that the separation of powers created,” said Napolitano.

The former judge should be commended for calling out the president. Unless this kind of behavior is condemned and consequences imposed on Trump, he will continue to shred our Constitution in his drive to accumulate more and more power for himself and his family.

Watch Napolitano’s levelheaded and fair assessment below.

Natalie Dickinson

Natalie is a staff writer for the Washington Press. She graduated from Oberlin College in 2010 and has been freelance blogging and writing for progressive outlets ever since.