How much Power Does The US President Really Have?

 A 2015 study ranked The United Kingdom as the world leader in “soft power” that’s the ability to influence other nations by “whispering in their ear”. The United States on the other hand is the world leader in “hard power”, using their vast military might to beat other countries into submission. Put it this way, if the UK is Peter Baelish then America is The Mountain. The difference in approaches between the two nation’s foreign policies has a lot to do with the way each country’s government functions. The British government has what’s called a “division of power”, in which the Prime Minister is not the country leader but is simply the head of government as well as an advisor to Her Majesty the Queen, whom is the true head of state. The President of the United States however, is the one and only head of state and executive leader over the entire country and its people.

All this basically means that in the US, a hell of a lot of power is given to one person. Apart from perhaps Putin, there are few heads of state the have more individual power than the US president. Even Kim Jong-Un has to share his power with his deceased grandfather, who is technically still President. But in reality, how real is the American President’s power.

How much power do they really possess?
Will Donald Trump be able to build a wall without permission from Congress? Should you be scared? The President of the United States or POTUS is effectively a dictator. As long as he or she sticks within the confines of the law, the POTUS is free to do whatever they please.However, if this power was pushed to its limits, the POTUS would face impeachment, they would have their presidency swiftly removed. So for this reason, and to gain the approval of the general public, in the hopes of winning a second term in four year’s time, presidents often behave and do what the majority of the American public wants them to do. But if a President weren’t sound of mind and had no morals. 

what could they theoretically do?
Well to start with an obvious one, the President is “Commander in Chief” of the military and can do whatever they please with it 1.5 million troops and endless toys. And that’s not just the troops at home, the President has total control of 800 military bases in 70 countries across the globe. Oh, and let’s not forget the 7,000 nuclear warheads at the President’s disposal.

What about a bit closer to home?
What damage can the President do to their own peoples. Since they are in charge of powerful organizations such as the CIA, NSA and FBI, the President can find out whatever they like about pretty much anyone and enforce any punishments they so desire, in a heartbeat. The president also receives intelligence from numerous allied countries.
Lawmaking is a different kettle of fish and is often where most presidents come unstuck on their path to power. If the president wishes to amend or create laws they have to create a bill which is passed through congress. If it receives a Majority vote in congress the bill is passed to the president to sign, if he signs, it’s then the law.
Simple, right? Well, that’s only if congress is on the President’s side. That’s to say the President’s political party has more seats in congress than the opposition party. Obviously, if you have more friends on your side, then congress is more likely to vote in favor of any bills you pass.And it just so happens that when Donald Trump is inaugurated, he will have a majority number of Republican Seats, in both chambers of Congress: The House of Representatives and the Senate. In fact, the current Congress is the largest Republican majority since the 1930s. Even if Trump’s majority congress doesn’t vote in his favor of his fatuous plans, for some reason, he can always turn to an Executive Order, which is basically there so the President can turn his middle finger up at Congress and do what he likes anyway.

Congress can always pass legislation that opposes the President’s executive order, but the President is free to veto anything that Congress passes, so yeah, I think he would probably do that. If a President’s executive order is in conflict with the constitution it can be taken to the Supreme court, who have the power to either allow it or quash it. Which historically would have acted as a nice balance to stop the President’s power getting out of control – this next term however, because some supreme justices are retiring soon, and other reasons, Donald Trump will have the rare opportunity to pick who he would like to be part of the Supreme Court, giving him considerable leverage over the most powerful court in the land. He may get to replace four of the nine justices. And when you consider that the average serving time of a Supreme Court Justice is 26 years, who he picks now will affect the country for generations. Anyone who achieves the title of President of the United States is inevitably going to become one of the most powerful individuals in the world. Franklin D. Roosevelt is often thought of as the most powerful president in history. He certainly issued the most executive orders, by a mile. But with ever increasing usage of executive orders and a Republican majority at his back, some experts theories that Donald Trump will have more power at his fingertips than any predecessor. I’m sorry if you aren’t satisfied with this answer, if so, you may want to look at emigrating to any of these five countries, which statistically have the most stable political systems in the world. I’d personally go for Denmark, they have unbelievable breakfast pastries, but that’s just me. Thanks for reading My article. 

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