As of this writing, we are five days into the second round of a Trump administration and what we are seeing is being called by some political observers, “governing by chaos”. This seems to be a pretty accurate description of Trump’s methodology of governance. He tends to not be “a policy guy”. Policy making is a deliberative and often painstaking process that requires collaboration, focused thought and input from various folks with deeper background and knowledge than any one person possesses. Policy makers are required to craft and use language in a clear, precise manner. Anyone who has been involved in policy development will know what I mean. Trump is not that guy. He favors more of a “move fast and break things approach.” Let’s look at the evidence.
We have seen a flurry of Executive Orders from Trump. Presidents of both political parties have, at times, used Executive Orders (EOs). These kinds of edicts have limits to their impact and effectiveness. They circumvent the deliberative process that takes place when a Bill comes before Congress. They give the President the ability to implement his wishes and preferences quickly. In a sense, they allow a President to take action when he knows that Congress may not agree. A cynical viewpoint might be that EOs can create the appearance of decisive action and the keeping of campaign promises, but they do not carry the full weight of laws that are passed through the legislative process. Thus, they are easily swept aside by a subsequent administration. Trump issued a number of EOs that rescind some of President Biden’s EOs, like EO 13988, which prevented discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation in the workplace, EO 14091, which addressed the problem of inequality of underserved communities by the federal government, and EO 13937 which supported the improved access to certain life-saving medications for elderly and low-income individuals.
It would seem that doing away with EOs that prevent discrimination, acknowledge the need for increased government support for underprivileged communities and that help lower prices so that folks can afford their prescription drugs, would be things that a President “of the people” would want to support, but Trump is playing to the MAGA base rather than the broader American electorate. Maybe we’ll see him attack the high price of eggs in the next few weeks.
Furthermore, Trump has issued an order to shut down all federal government DEI offices and has put all federal employees working in such programs on leave. Trump’s team threatened federal employees with “adverse consequences” if they don’t comply with his orders. He has frozen all Civil Rights cases currently being handled by the Department of Justice and has ordered the Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health to stop issuing health advisories, scientific reports and updates to their websites and social media posts. He fired U.S. Coast Guard commandant Admiral Linda Lee Fagan and ordered the Coast Guard to surge resources to waters around Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, Hawaii and the U.S. territories of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Coast Guard is already covering these areas but are short of the funds, personnel and ships needed to comply with the edict.
During the halcyon days of his Presidential campaign, Trump said that he had a plan to end the war in Ukraine on day one. Some wondered what that plan might entail, and in a recent social media post, Trump revealed it. He tweeted that he warned Putin that he would place high taxes, tariffs and sanctions on goods being sold by Russia to the U.S. That’s it. That’s the big plan.
And then, there’s the pardoning of all the January 6th insurrectionists. Marc Caputo of Axios reported that a Trump advisor told him that “it was a spur of the moment decision” presumably because Trump wanted to get the issue behind him. The process of reviewing all of the 1,500 cases of convicted January 6 insurrectionists proved to be too much, so the pardons were given without consideration of the nature of the crimes that the individual perpetrators committed. Law enforcement officers from all over the country are weighing in on this and included below is a link to a YouTube video featuring the reaction of Officer Harry Dunn and others who were at the Capitol on that day. Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, in a pathetic display of sycophantic devotion, stated that he “won’t second guess the President” on the January 6 pardons.
Finally, there was Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship which is enshrined in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, granted citizenship rights to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States”. The Amendment circumvented the efforts of wealthy white slave owners who, in the post Civil War era, wanted to continue the practice of denying equal protection under the law to people who were formerly enslaved. One wonders if Trump even knew or cared that his action was unconstitutional. Thankfully, a Federal Judge has temporarily blocked this Trumpian edict and hopefully that decision will hold.
Last summer, I was talking to an elected State Representative. We were discussing the vitriolic nature of deceptive political campaign literature and discourse. Admittedly, both sides of the political aisle have engaged in such tactics. I was shocked, though, when the representative responded to a comment I made about vitriolic MAGA rhetoric by saying, “MAGA simply means make America great again.” Personally, I couldn’t disagree more. MAGA is not simply a slogan. It is a political ideology that bears serious scrutiny. A common tactic of would be authoritarians is to overwhelm the population by moving fast and breaking things, by reinforcing people’s fears rather than speaking truthfully and using logic. That seems to be what is happening in Washington under a MAGA President. Vigilance is needed because, in the final analysis, we are the guardrails of our democracy. No one is going to save us except us.
Sources:
PBS: What is an executive order? Here’s what the tool can do.
The Federal Register: Implementation of Executive Order 13937
Axios: “F–k it: Release ‘em all”: Why Trump embraced broad Jan.6 pardons
Washington Post: Layoffs loom as Trump administration orders leave for federal DEI workers
Healthline: Trump Orders Federal Health Agencies to Halt Public Reports
USNI News: Recruiting Shortfall Means Coast Guard ‘Can’t Crew All Our Ships.
Reuters: Trump threatens Russia, others with tariffs if Ukraine deal not reached.
You Tube: Donald Trump Jan. 6 pardon reactions by police who were injured during the Capitol Insurrection
CNN: Birthright citizenship: Judge blocks Trump’s ‘blatantly unconstitutional order”.
