EDITORIAL: Turns out Donald Trump has a pen and a phone also

Sadly, intellectual consistency has largely fallen victim to hyper partisanship in the world of Beltway politics. But the controversy ignited by President Donald Trump’s decision to bypass Congress and enact additional coronavirus relief through executive order is nonetheless a sight to behold.

After complaining that congressional Democrats were unwilling to suofficiently deal on the next round of pandemic relief, the president on Saturday announced he would take unilateral action. Mr. Trump issued orders funding an extra $300 per week in unemployment benefits, deferring payroll taxes for certain wage earners, limiting evictions and staying student loan payments through the year.

For Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and other lefitsts, it was like the years 2009-2017 never existed. Mr. Trump’s move is “absurdly unconstitutional,” Ms. Pelosi said. Mr. Schumer complained that the president was playing unfairly by choosing to rule by fiat rather than to compromise.

Funny how neither the House speaker nor the Senate minority leader expressed any such reservations when President Barack Obama — time and again — used his “pen” and “phone” to circumvent Congress and impose policies by executive order. In fact, the 44th president recognized few limits on his authority, ignoring the legislative branch and the Constitution on numerous occasions to advance his agenda on health care, immigration, recess appointments and environmental law. “I will not allow gridlock, or inaction or willful indifference to get in our way,” Mr. Obama said.

All the time that Mr. Obama was shredding the Constitution and governing like a king, Mr. Schumer and Ms. Pelosi were roaring their approval from the sidelines. It took the Supreme Court in more than one ruling to overturn Mr. Obama’s illegal edicts and to chide his administration for blatantly disregarding the checks and balances inherent in our democratic republic.

That said, Republicans do themselves no favors by looking the other way simply because Mr. Trump is now in the Oval Office. There are legitimate questions about the president’s authority to implement some of these virus relief policies, particularly because the administration has no spending authority. The Constitution delineates power among the three branches of government. The dangers of an imperial presidency or an executive branch that has usurped rule-making authority are no less worrisome because the outcome may be desirable to one party or the other.

Rather than hypocritcally sniping and stretching the limits of presidential authority, the two sides should lock themselves in a room until they’ve reached a deal that both can tolerate. That would be far preferable to watching our elected representatives treat the Constitution as optional when it suits their policy preferences.