Personal swipes, which this is, aren't allowed in HN comments.
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14317152 and marked it off-topic.
Aside from that, he or she can issue Executive Orders, which "have significant influence over the internal affairs of government, deciding how and to what degree legislation will be enforced, dealing with emergencies, waging wars, and in general fine-tuning policy choices in the implementation of broad statutes."
Except that when those orders go to far against the wishes of the permanent government, the orders get blocked by the courts.
The issue is that it takes virtual all of a president's political capital to fight the permanent government (the bureaucracy, the courts, academia, the credentialed media, the party apparatus). So while in theory they have quite a bit of authority, if they wish to use that authority in a way that goes against the interests of the permanent government, they will find themselves in a huge battle. They can win at most, maybe one or two of these battles a term, and only these in a limited way.
For one, he or she can nominate Supreme Court judges. This alone is huge, considering the SC is the final arbiter in the most important conflicts in the nation.
Aside from that, he or she can issue Executive Orders, which "have significant influence over the internal affairs of government, deciding how and to what degree legislation will be enforced, dealing with emergencies, waging wars, and in general fine-tuning policy choices in the implementation of broad statutes."[1]
The POTUS can also veto legislation passed by Congress. Historically, Congress has been able to override these vetoes only 7% of the time[2], which means the POTUS has a serious amount of influence in the direction the country goes in as well.
And of course, he or she is also the Commander in Chief of the world's most powerful military, and the country's supreme representative in foreign affairs.
Bottom line: POTUS is much more than a "punching bag."
[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_order_(United_States...
[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veto#United_States