Presidential Dictatorship

We are long past the point at which constitutional arguments have much hope of restraining the American political class, either at home or abroad. They are still worth making, though, since they serve to show the two major parties’ contempt for American law and tradition.

Ever since the Korean War, Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution — which refers to the president as the “Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States” — has been interpreted to mean that the president may...