MICHAEL CANNON: The president has given illegal subsidies to members of Congress to protect them from the harms that Obamacare inflicts on them. He is imposing taxes that the law does not authorize, issuing other subsidies the law does not authorize, and the point that I was making was that we had run through all of these options that you have for restraining an executive, and the point that I was making was that there's this other one, and you don't want to do anything that gives people such nutty ideas. You want to make sure the executive is very faithful to the laws because you don't want to be giving anyone any reason to think that's a good idea.
MARTHA MACCALLUM: Understood. But we, you know, we played your sound bite. I'm not suggesting that you think we are on the verge of revolt. What I'm suggesting is that you're saying that you think that this is such a serious - um, such a serious issue in terms of how this presidency is handling these issues, and the bounds that have been overstepped, that historically, President Lincoln suggested, that when that happens, the American people when they see laws being not upheld by the executive branch, it leaves them to sort of logically conclude that perhaps those laws don't apply to them either and that that can and has historically led to either changing government, and in some very rare cases, revolt.
CANNON: You don't want to do anything that causes the American people to lose faith in the laws.
MACCALLUM: Right.
CANNON: And certainly when the president oversteps his, oversteps his bounds, does things that Congress is not authorized, does not faithfully execute the laws, then that can happen.
