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The argument I saw for this was that a president shouldn't have to second guess every action they take while in office. That if they are held liable for everything they do, they may be paralyzed to make changes to the government.
I kinda thought that was kinda what the founders wanted to happen...
Not really. The founders wanted a 3 pronged, balanced government with each branch checking the others' power. Now the legislative essentially can't do anything against the executive, and neither can the judicial unless SCOTUS changes its mind.
They specifically didn't want another king
Correct but as the commander and chief there are military actions that need to be considered. An example i can think of is the droning of American citizens by the Obama administration. He's not going to be charged with murder for that as it was an official act. At least that's how i have thought about it.
Sure, but the difference was he could've been charged for murder if, let's say, the person he ordered to be killed was a political opponent and not a clear threat to the nation. And Congress or judges would've had some power to make that call before, whereas they don't really seem to have that power anymore.
Also, strictly speaking in terms of what the founders wanted - they did not want the president to have those kinds of powers. Most of these things were really brought in during FDR's tenure during WWII where he took a lot of power for the executive branch. And it's a trend that's been continuing since.