The U.S. Constitution clearly prescribes both the authority and limitations of our president, and the relative roles and responsibilities of federal and state governments. While we quite properly pay attention to how well our elected leaders operate within those well-defined boundaries, shouldn’t we employ roughly similar yardsticks in evaluating them?

The answer, unfortunately, is that when it comes to politics, there are inevitably double standards.

The most obvious example is the Left’s ongoing compulsion to equate the Donald Trump era with 1930s Nazi Germany. We’ve been bombarded with the same tiresome litany ever since candidate Trump first arrived on the political scene in 2016: Trump is Hitler and a fascist, ICE is the Gestapo, and the MAGA movement is, as former CNN talkinghead Don Lemon put it just last week, the “modern version of the Nazi Party.” It’s baseless, lazy, and ridiculous.

But wait. How can leftists be so insistent that President Trump is excessively “authoritative,” while they idolize their new superhero, NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani? Until just a few days ago, Mamdani promised to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — for “war crimes against humanity” — the moment he sets foot in New York City to address the United Nations General Assembly.

The notion of a U.S.city mayor arresting the prime minister of a sovereign nation was not just an offhand idea posited by Mamdani; it was a campaign promise, nurtured and often repeated. Even after he acknowledged that he does not have the legal authority to do so (that pesky Constitution and numerous laws stand in the way), he announced somberly that Netanyahu is not welcome in New York City and urged New Yorkers to protest his presence.

Hitleresque? Ya think so? Can you summon up any comparable example of an elected leader so blissfully willing to overstep his legal authority? Has Mamdani not been paying attention to the central message of those “No Kings” rallies excoriating Trump?

Notice the deafening silence from leftists seemingly so concerned about elected executives who go too far, too fast. On the contrary, many seem comfortable with Mamdani’s brand of authoritarianism. As one example, persistent Trump critic and California Congressman Ro Khanna, finger in the air to check which way the wind is blowing, announced this weekend that he too thinks arresting Netanyahu is a great idea.

Example #2: Remember, not long ago, the frantic, flashing red light alarms warning of imminent loss of American democracy under the ruthless Trump administration? Hold that thought for a minute and also take a look at the policy platform rolled out just last week by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) now taking root in the far left wing of the Democrat Party.

The DSA’s plan for the nation, clearly stated, is to eliminate not only democracy but the entire Constitution. Their platform is a doozy: no more U.S. Senate, no more Supreme Court, a president subordinate to Congress, no borders, amnesty for all, no prisons, no police. They may argue that what they propose is a more pure form of democracy than that we currently enjoy in our Republic, but we know exactly what socialism is — communism on training wheels, with an unaccountable government owning and controlling everything.

And people were worried about the impact of Trump’s bluster and his scary executive orders?

Example #3: We’re told that Jim Crow is back — that our nation’s century-old crusade to eradicate racial discrimination is now being systematically reversed by Trump administration policy and legislation. The most recent case in point: the SAVE America Act and its voter ID requirements, which the Left claims would suppress minority voting.

Let’s recalibrate. The Jim Crow era left an indefensible stain on our history. The voting policies and practices of that era — such as poll taxes, literacy tests, and physical intimidation at polling places — were clearly intended to keep black Americans from voting. We cannot allow that to happen again — and I don’t believe that anyone, Left or Right, feels otherwise.

But the proposed voter ID requirements would have exactly the opposite effect. Instead of impeding voting because of the color of one’s skin as in the Jim Crow days, identification that confirms one’s citizenship is a ticket to vote. Moreover, furnishing proper ID is an everyday reality of 21st-century life (just try to board an airplane or buy a beer without ID); the idea that doing so would place a disproportionate burden on minorities makes little sense.

Where is the voter suppression? The specifics of the ID required to register and vote, as specified in the SAVE Act, may be too cumbersome — if so, they should be revised, not abandoned. More importantly, in a nation now occupied by tens of millions of noncitizens, nearly all Americans support requiring voters to verify citizenship. Let’s just work out the details and get it done.

In summary, can we not all, Left and Right, simply agree that we have no desire to replicate fascism here in our great country? That we fully support the democratic underpinnings of our constitutional Republic? And that we have zero interest in suppressing voting by citizens of any color or ethnicity?

Of course we can. Done!