The gulf is wide between President Donald Trump' rhetoric to protect states' rights and his policies infringing on them, critics told Politico in a report on Monday.
Trump's detractors have cited several examples of the administration's attempt to trample over state autonomy, such as Attorney General Jeff Sessions suing California over its policies that shield undocumented immigrants from deportation, as well as his efforts to go after marijuana businesses in the states that have legalized cannabis sales.
In addition, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is trying to override opposition from some governors in coastal states over his plan to open federal waters to offshore drilling, while Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told states they do not have the authority to crack down on predatory practices by some of the nation's student loan companies.
Although his critics admit that he is not the first president to fail to live up to his promises, they contend that Trump's disconnect is especially jarring because he has been so vocal about the issue.
For example, in his inaugural address Trump stated that "we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another, or from one party to another, but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C., and giving it back to you, the American people," and when he first met the nation's governors, the president pledged to "make states the laboratories of democracy once again."
Backers of strong state authority say they are disappointed in Trump's failure to live up to his rhetoric, but not surprised.
"It's one thing when they're not in power, and another once they come into power," Clark Neily of the libertarian Cato Institute, told Politico.
Former New York Police Department commissioner Bill Bratton pointed out the hypocrisy recently to radio host John Catsimatidis on "The Cat's Roundtable" on AM 970 in New York, citing a pending gun-carry bill in which a GOP advocating for states' rights flips the argument on this issue.
"They are going to try to tell New York State, try to tell Massachusetts, try to tell California, all 50 states, that you're going to have to let anybody who gets a gun in another state, allow them to coming to your city, your state and carry that firearm," he said. "That's crazy."
This struggle between the powers of state and federal government have always been a part of American politics and across administrations of all ideological stripes, but critics say what makes this time different is that many from the president's own party are challenging him on the issue.
For example, GOP Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado clashed with Sessions earlier this year after he rolled back former President Barack Obama's policy of noninterference with states that legalized marijuana.
In addition, nearly half the nation's attorneys general, with several Republicans among them, objected to DeVos' move last month to shield companies that collect federal student loans from state crackdowns on abusive practices.
And governors from nearly every state along the Atlantic and Pacific, including several Republicans, have asked Zinke to take their coasts out of Interior's five-year offshore drilling plan, saying it could hurt their tourism and fishing economies.
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