title:  Even The Author Of Bush’s Torture Memos Says Trump Has Gone Too Far (DETAILS)
text: The legal mind behind the Bush Administration s illegal wiretapping, torture and other violations of the Geneva Conventions, John Yoo, says that Donald Trump has gone too far with his executive power. When the man who wrote memos that  gave  the president the power to circumvent international law and ignore acts of Congress thinks you ve gone too far, you ve gone too far.Since Trump took office and began a string of questionable presidential actions, Yoo has become an in-vogue political pundit again. It s kind of like an old criminal helping the authorities profile the new criminal, except they never caught Yoo. In a New York Times op-ed Yoo wrote earlier this year, he suggested that Trump understand the Constitution s grant of executive power.  He went on to say that the new President should lead,  the executive branch in a unified direction, rather than viewing the government as the enemy. He should realize that the Constitution channels the president toward protecting the nation from foreign threats, while cooperating with Congress on matters at home. According to Charlie Savage, Pulitzer Prize-winning executive powers expert, Yoo thought that the President could do literally anything to stop terror and didn t have to confer with Congress when it came to war-time efforts. But surprisingly, John Yoo argued that the construction of a border wall and the withdrawal from trade deals, like NAFTA and TPP were unconstitutional. He even came out against Trump s Muslim ban.But before anyone thought about celebrating this most unlikely Trump critic, Twitter made sure to ask why anyone was listening to him anyway.Why am I still outraged the NY Times would give John Yoo, the Nazi torture jurist, op-ed space  Dan O Sullivan (RIP) (@Bro_Pair) May 19, 2017It really, really bothers me that war criminal John Yoo is still an in-demand political pundit  Will Bunch (@Will_Bunch) May 18, 2017This one really digs in Dear @axios, please don t describe John Yoo as  a leading thinker on executive power.  Better to say  Torture Memos author.  Peter Daou (@peterdaou) May 18, 2017Yoo s most recent New York Times article is titled,  Forget Watergate. Think Iran-Contra.  It s hard to read a cerebral breakdown of executive powers dos and don ts this evil   it feels like he s giving Trump actually good advice. The last thing we need is Trump to have an actual expert as an adviser. He writes that Trump should treat the Russia-Comey scandal like Reagan did the Iran-Contra. Reagan definitely got away with that. Yoo is definitely trying to help Trump. Though, he may have said to much. There is one reminder   a silver lining   in Yoo s article. It s a point that may have been forgotten. Contrary to common wisdom, impeachment does not require the president to commit a crime but instead refers to extreme political mistakes or even incompetence. 