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Realizations about Trump's Power Grab [1]
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Date: 2025-01-30
I went through part of a list of Trump’s executive orders from last week, and two of them really stuck out. Maybe this was really obvious to everyone else, but I don’t think I’ve seen anyone frame them this way.
Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid
This put a 90 day pause on foreign aid/assistance while the administration reviews those aid programs. During this time, agencies will determine whether to resume, modify, or cease foreign assistance programs at the end of the freeze.
First of all, these funds have already been obligated. (I probably have the terminology wrong. This part is totally new to me). Congress decided that this money is going there. Full stop. The felon in chief (FiC) has no say in this. After the way the Supreme Court rolled back the Chevron Doctrine, his agencies have even less of nothing to say.
These are done deals. Full stop. End of discussion.
Except that the FiC did this. If he gets away with it, then he has that authority.
In a lot of ways, this will make Congress irrelevant. One of the only powers it has left is the power of the purse. They were supposed to be the most powerful branch of government, since they are our direct representatives, but they started ceding power to the Executive around 1787.
Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship
This order denies citizenship to certain U.S.-born children whose parents are not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. President Trump asserts these children are not subject to U.S. jurisdiction and therefore not covered by the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States.
The court system (and the SC in particular) is responsible for interpreting the laws and the way they fit into the Constitution.
The FiC proclaimed that he can do that better than they can.
This is going way beyond the SC throwing out the Roe v. Wade precedent. To be honest, that decisions was made on really shaky grounds. This is the FiC throwing out a very clearly worded Constitutional Amendment, along with 160-ish years (my math may be off...I started drinking when this realization hit me) of SC precedent.
Why This Matters
I’m going to run into Godwin’s Law here, but I cannot avoid the parallels. 53 days after Hitler was...whatever it was that made him chancellor. 53 days. Someone set fire to the Reichstag, and they decided to grant him the power to write the laws. And that was the end of their republic.
The FiC hasn’t quite claimed the power to write laws, but I’m not sure how far this is from that.
If there are any lawyers who can offer assurances about why I’m totally wrong, I’d very much appreciate them.
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