“Romney is going to be an important player,” added James Curry, a political science professor at the University of Utah. But they and others say they don’t want to overstate that power, which they still see as limited and varying on each issue that may arise.
James Curry, associate professor of political science at the University of Utah, said there are certain benefits that the president would only lose if the Senate removed him from office before January 20. “The Former Presidents Act provides ex-presidents with a number of benefits, including a $200k annual pension, a travel allowance, lifetime Secret Service detail, and more.”
Even though those rights were privileges in the legal sense, the perception that they were rights, and that they were being taken away, fueled the original Sagebrush Rebels, McCool said. “The roots of the Sagebrush Rebellion were when they no longer got what they wanted,” he said. “There’s a direct line from there to the Bundy groups active today.”
“County commissioners in rural areas probably had better access to the federal government than they ever have had because of President Trump.” While Trump pushed an energy dominant agenda, Biden clearly takes global warming more seriously, Burbank added.“Any efforts to have a strong extractive energy policy will be seen through the light of the concern over global warming.”
President Joe Biden will have both houses of Congress in his corner — by some of the narrowest margins in history — but that is not a free pass, experts say.
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