Was it Lenin that said “when it comes time to hang all the capitalists, they will sell us the rope”?
You would think China was a pretty sketchy place to do business, yet USian and EU corporations flooded in, their eyes full of dollar signs, at the prospect of getting at a market with so many potential customers.
TIG is probably thinking the same thing. The US market is so big, and so profitable, that he can do whatever he wants, including blatant extortion, and companies will pay up, to get at the US market. I saw this mind set at work: “JCs” that think they are such hot stuff, they can gouge their customers, and poo on them, and people will still stampede to give the company their money.
I have seen the same thing elsewhere. Fixed one company and the JC chose to not pay me. So, a few years later, when the JC screwed up again, guess who they could not use? They went bk and the JC (and his relatives) lost it all. They deserved it.
A number of years ago, I observed the path the US was on, and said words to the effect “we saw what it took to knock down the regime in Germany in 45. Who will do the same for the US?” Because I don’t see the US reversing this trend on it’s own.
No a President cannot make law. But a dysfunctional Congress that fails to get the job done makes room for executive orders that serve temporarily while we wait for Congress.