Angler

I've been reading Angler, a book about the Cheney Vice Presidency. I had heard of the idea of a "unitary presidency", and knew that Cheney supported it, but I really had no idea how extreme the position of the White House was.

Dick Cheney believes that by arming and maintaining an Army, the Congress gives the President Carte Blanche to use that Army anywhere, at any time, and for any purpose, and that no action they take can reduce that ability.

You may know that if the President and Vice President were to die, the power would devolve unto the Speaker of the House, then the most senior member of the Senate. After that, it would move on to the members of the Presidential Cabinet. The internal Cheney position on this was that the presidency could not devolve to the members of congress. This position has not been voiced publicly. Presumably, the plan was to spring the largest constitutional crisis on the country with absolutely no warning whatsoever. This position would inevitably create a "dual presidency" crisis if we were to suffer some catastrophic attack, but some people think that it's better to keep it a secret.

I'm not going to list every crazy position here, but I'll summarize by saying that every single position they have is as extreme as you could possibly conceive.