Presidential historian Michael Beschloss explained during an MSNBC interview Sunday that in 100 years, there will be people looking back at President Donald Trump and will see him as the person who could have done things that helped the coronavirus crisis, but didn't.
"In that sense, he has a lot of power that presidents oftentimes do not have," he said. "To say he has total authority, you are absolutely right under the Constitution, as you well know, the Constitution makes it very clear that we've got other branches of government and governors and local officials who are there to check the power of the president. That having been said, we're seeing things now that we have not seen before."
He noted that during the press conference Sunday, Trump was on air for about 90 minutes night after night, he's talking for hours. It's a degree of influence that most presidents haven't had. He recalled that Franklin Roosevelt gave fireside chats during WWII "every once in a while," but it certainly wasn't a daily event he had time to deal with.
"He is going to have a lot of influence over those trillions of dollars you have been talking about tonight, how that's spent," Beschloss continued. "That's something you don't see with normal presidents. The other thing is this is someone who loves power, loves to expand his power, is always talking about it. Remember last year he gave a speech saying, 'Article II gives me all sorts of power but I don't even talk about that,' as if it's almost a mystery that we should be worried about?"
Watch below:
