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At Issue: Two Critiques Of The Trump Presidency

(WBBM Newsradio) -- Legal experts differ on how well President Trump is handling issues of Constitutional rights after nearly a year in office.

But, they say, at least some checks and balances are working.

WBBM Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports.

Conservative lawyer David Applegate wishes President Trump would stop tweeting, but he would give the president a grade of B-minus in his handling of Constitutional issues.

He says the president started with a really low level of knowledge about how government and politics work, but feels he has learned fast.

In contrast, Colleen Connell, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, has a lower opinion of President Trump.

She calls him an "existential threat to our Democracy." She says he seems not to know --or care about-- the limits of the law.

Both experts agree many of the "guardrails" of the legal system — as one calls them — are holding.

Connell says the ACLU has filed 56 lawsuits against President Trump and his actions in the past 11 months, including over the first two travel bans.

Applegate says if one good thing comes out of the Trump presidency, it will be that Congress steps up and takes back the power that it is supposed to have.

Their comments can be heard in their entirety during "At Issue," which runs 9:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. Sunday.

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