I’m Mr. Beat, a dude who often makes videos about American presidents on the internet
But what does the President of the United States do?
(Office space clip)
There are a lot of misconceptions about what the president’s job actually is. A lot of people
mistakenly think they control the economy. They don’t. A lot of people mistakenly think
they can declare war. They can’t. Even more people think they control how much money the
federal government spends. Well, they definitely have a big influence over government spending,
but ultimately Congress has the most control over spending. It’s the power of the purse, baby!
The United States Constitution spells out exactly what the President can do.
There’s actually not much there. Article 1, Section 7 says a president can sign a bill,
or wannabe law, if they approve of it, or VETO a bill, if…ya know…they don’t like it. That said,
Congress can override that veto with a 2/3 majority vote in both houses.
Article 2 of the Constitution spells out the rest. It says the president is the commander
in chief of the armed forces and all state militias that are called into service. It says
the president can grant powers to officers. It says the president can appoint people to
be in charge of executive departments, ambassadors, Supreme Court justices,
and other top dawgs…pending Senate approval. It says the president can recommend that Congress
do stuff and it says the president has to inform Congress of the State of the Union
from time to time. It says the president can call either or both houses of Congress into
special sessions. It says the president can make treaties…again…pending Senate approval.
It says the president, in most cases, can pardon people convicted of federal crimes and prevent
their punishments. It says the president can host foreign guests. And last but DEFINITELY not least,
it says the president must do what they can to make sure laws passed by Congress are enforced.
But that’s basically it as far as what the Constitution explicitly says. The
president also has what we call “inherent” powers,
meaning they are powers not explicitly stated in the Constitution, but still viewed as necessary
in order to CARRY OUT those explicitly stated powers, know what I mean? Arguably the most
visible form of inherent presidential powers come in the form of “executive orders,” or
presidential orders meant to carry out policies described in laws.
(Saturday Night Live clip)
Due to all these inherent powers,
we’re going to have to break down presidential powers quite a bit more.
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Anyway, so what IS the president’s job? Well, the president actually has five main jobs,
which just so happens to be the amount of fingers on my right hand.
Chief Executive
The President enforces the law. They carry out the laws out that Congress has passed. Think of
them like the Police. No, not the BAND The Police, like…the law enforcement police. If there’s a huge
emergency, like a riot or natural disaster, the president can do quite a bit to make sure order
is restored. And this includes martial law, or placing an area under the control of a military.
Not only does the president enforce laws, but they also enforce federal court decisions and
treaties. It's a pretty big task, so literally millions of people help the president out with
the whole enforcement thing. In fact, Congress has created entire DEPARTMENTS
dedicated to certain areas of enforcement. For example, there’s the Department of the Interior,
which is responsible for maintaining and conserving most federal land and natural
resources. The head of these departments make up what’s known as the Cabinet, who act as advisors
to the president. And the president is also their boss- they hire them, they can fire them.
As I mentioned earlier, the President also acts as Chief Executive by granting
pardons and reducing punishments. So if you’re thinking about committing a
bunch of federal crimes, all you gotta do is become BFFs with the
president. It’s that easy. (pause) For legal reasons that was a joke.
Chief Legislator
The President can not only SIGN bills into law and VETO bills they don’t like, but they can also
RECOMMEND bills they like to Congress. And since the president is a pretty influential person,
often Congress listens. Ok well sometimes they do. Every year, the president also
submits a budget to Congress and Congress is always like “awwww that’s so cute. We’re gonna
spend how we’re gonna spend anyway, but thanks for playing!” and they pass their own budget.
As I mentioned earlier, the president can also call special sessions of Congress and
promote their legislative priorities in their State of the Union address. This all said,
when the president doesn’t have a majority of people who agree with
them on major issues in Congress, their role as Chief Legislator is bigly diminished.
For the next three jobs, you’ll hopefully see how the president has
a huge role shaping foreign policy, or how the country interacts with other countries.
Chief Diplomat
A big part of the president’s job is dealing with foreign countries, and yes that means often
meeting up with foreign leaders. A president is the top representative to the rest of the
world. Making friendships, keeping friendships, well keeping dialogues open at least, even when
these meetings might be awkward. If you ever want to be president, I hope you like traveling. The
current president, Joe Biden, has made trips to 23 countries throughout his presidency. The president
before him, Donald Trump, made trips to 24 countries. The president before him, Barack Obama,
went to 58 countries…holy dang. In addition to negotiating treaties with other countries,
the president makes what’s known as executive agreements, which are deals between two heads of
government of two or more countries that haven't been approved by any legislature or treaty.
There’s also TREMENDOUS weight on whether or not a president says another country's
government is legitimate. Speaking of which, I’m still waiting for the president to recognize the
country I started in Antarctica. Come on, recognize Matt Beat Land already.
Commander in Chief
The president is in charge of the armed forces. Now, this doesn’t mean that the president actually
commands troops out on the battlefield, but the Constitution does say that they have the final
say regarding the military’s actions. And, if the president believes there’s a military threat to
Americans, they can send troops to defend against that threat. But that doesn’t mean the president
can just send troops around the world as if wasn’t no thing but a bunch of chicken wings.
Due to the War Powers Resolution, a law Congress passed back in 1973 to make sure
the president just doesn’t send a bunch of troops off to fight wars indefinitely,
the president can only commit troops for up to 90 days in response to a military threat. After that,
Congress has to approve, man. And remember, only Congress can declare war! That said,
the last time they actually FORMALLY declared war was World War Two. And yet,
strangely the United States has been at war quite a bit ever since. Hmmmmm.
Anyway, being commander in chief makes the president the only individual in the
United States who has the authority to launch nuclear weapons. (worried look)
Chief of State In this role, the President is the
symbol that represents the entire country. That’s uh…one person representing 335 million people,
so uh…NO PRESSURE, RIGHT. Often the rest of the world sees the United States as they see the
president. Because of this, many see the president as the spokesperson for the entire country. If
you’re wondering why people are so overly critical about how the president talks, that’s often why.
As Chief of State, the president does ceremonial stuff, like honoring heroes,
dedicating new parks and museums, saving the life of a turkey every Thanksgiving,
and lighting this giant tree every Christmas. Oh,
and any time a foreign head of state visits, it’s customary for the president to greet them.
Another thing that’s definitely NOT in the Constitution but still part of the
president’s job these days is being the de facto leader of a political party. After all,
a sitting or former president often helps raise a lot of money for their political
party. They campaign for party members running for lower offices. Also, they almost always
nominate people to the federal government who are in the same political party as them.
Still (pointing), those are the big five,
as those are the five things referenced in the Constitution.
Keep in mind that the power of the presidency has significantly grown since George Washington
was the country’s first president. Not because the Constitution has changed,
but because presidents themselves have expanded their inherent powers. In particular,
I’m looking at you, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt,
Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, and George W. Bush.
That all said, the president doesn’t control everything, man. So maybe,
I don’t know, pay attention to OTHER PEOPLE running for public office this year?
So what did I leave out regarding presidential responsibilities also I am planning a follow-up
video to this one about what makes a good president according to the experts not
my opinion but hey I want to hear your opinion what makes a good president you
know because y'all are experts too let me know down below thanks for watching