Trump says he can too so order people to do what he orders them to do. Can can CAN.

President Donald Trump claimed he has the “absolute right” to “order” US companies to stop doing business with China that would involve using his broad executive authority in a new and unprecedented way under a 1977 law.

Normal presidents don’t do that, even the assholes. They don’t prance around saying they have “the absolute right” to whatever it is. They don’t do it one because it sounds babyish, and two because it sounds Stalinist, and three because it’s not true.

On Friday, China unveiled a new round of retaliatory tariffs on about $75 billion worth of US goods, the latest escalation in an on-going trade war that’s putting a strain on the world’s two largest economies. In response, Trump wrote on Twitter later Friday: “Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China including bringing …your companies HOME and making your products in the USA.”

When leaving the White House for the G7 summit in France, Trump told reporters, “I have the absolute right to do that, but we’ll see how it goes.”

Sure, he has the “right” to say stupid shit on Twitter, but that’s not really the issue. The issue is whether it’s a bad stupid idea, and it’s also whether he can enforce it. Fortunately he has his ever-present formula to deal with that problem: we’ll see what happens/how it goes/whether the sun comes up tomorrow.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, who has mounted a longshot bid against Trump for the 2020 Republican presidential nomination, called it “outrageous” that a US President would tell US companies how to conduct business.

“That he believes he can actually carry out such an outrage is the insanity of a would-be dictator,” Weld tweeted Saturday.

It’s the insanity of a would-be dictator and it’s also the stupid bullying of a nasty little boy.