Trump doubter now says prez governs like 'constitutional conservative'

President Donald J. Trump sees off the USNS Comfort Saturday, March 28, 2020, as she departs Naval Air Station Norfolk Pier 8 in Norfolk, Virginia, and sets sail for New York City. (Official White House photo by Shealah Craighead)

Berkeley long has been considered, with reason, a hotbed of liberalism.

Even those on the conservative side of the campus spectrum have been acutely aware of the arguments from the other side.

Like celebrated conservative legal expert John Yoo.

In 2016, for example, he considered Donald Trump a step too far.

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"His many personal and professional flaws, including his bankruptcies, sexual scandals, crude and cruel language, repelled me. I saw him as a populist, even a demagogue, who had not prepared for the heavy responsibilities of the presidency," he said in a new book, which was profiled by Paul Bedard in his Washington Secrets column.

Yoo worried, at the time, that Trump would "test, evade, or even violate the Constitution."

How that's changed.

In a new book, Defender in Chief, he bluntly states, "Boy was I wrong. Trump campaigns like a populist but governs like a constitutional conservative."

Bedard explains, "Over the course of 300 pages comparing Trump moves to the wishes of the Founding Fathers, Yoo discovered that despite constant criticism that Trump was destroying the Constitution, he was actually propping it up and using it to defend the presidency."

Bedard obtained an advance copy of the book by All Points Books, which is due out next month.

"Rather than a sword, the Constitution has become Trump’s shield. Even though he had not had any previous government or military office or public policy experience, Trump has defended the constitutional text, structure, and design for an independent, vigorous executive," the professor wrote.

Bedard explained that Yoo supports "virtually every move by Trump, from busting the FBI, fighting impeachment from Democrats, withdrawing from key international agreements, and adding Republicans to the federal bench."

He also said a move against the Electoral College, spurred by Trump's victory, would only help some "future demagogue" who might appear.

"Under pure majority vote, a future populist need only appeal to urban majorities to win the presidency," he wrote.

Yoo said Trump's actions actually have helped future presidents.

"Because the resistance to Trump sought to sweep away constitutional norms, it made Trump’s defense of his own policies a defense of the institution of the presidency as well."

He said, "He has returned to the Framers' original vision of the presidency as an office of unity, vigor, and independence. In securing the benefits of an energetic executive for his successors, Trump may have done the nation his greatest service."