Dangerous Expansion of the Executive Branch, As We Watch it Happen

 

We're all watching it happen before our eyes.
Donald Trump is expanding his own power, in part, by nominating unqualified actors to his cabinet and to other appointments. I was reading an opinion piece article in the Washington Post today called Four Ways Trump will Undermine the Authority of Congress and I felt my heart fall to my feet. All predictions of his administration that I've seen so far show his likelihood of creating an authoritarian regime that minimizes the power of the other branches of the government and increases the power and authority of the executive branch. I'm learning more and more every single day...

We are seeing him prepare for this already. Since this article is behind a pay wall, allow me to share some of it with you. 

The Washington Post article is written by Ruth Marcus, associate editor and columnist for the Post. Her credentials are better and more substantial than all of the Trump cabinet nominees combined. Anyway.

According to Marcus, "the president-elect is setting the stage for an even more alarming takeover: a vast, dangerous and unconstitutional expansion of presidential power. This agenda includes not just emasculating the Senate’s advice-and-consent role but also refusing to spend money that lawmakers have appropriated, curbing the independence of federal regulatory agencies and eviscerating the nonpartisan civil service."

First, taking back the power of the purse from the Senate. He has placed a Project 2025 architect, Russell Vought, as Director of the Office of Management and Budget. The Purse. Constitutionally the Congress and lawmakers have the power to decide how to spend money, how much and where it should go. The executive branches job is to OK that decision and to make it so. This has been so for over two hundred years.

Donald Trump has said that on his first day he will challenge this procedure as a "usurpation" of presidential power and he will decide for himself where huge cuts and savings are possible in order to "crush inflation" and to, in his words, stop the "deep state", according to DonaldTrump.com. In other words, the power of Congress to make these decisions is being taken by the president-elect on Day One, delivering MAGA their big dream. While we watch it happen.

A second audacious Day One plan Donald Trump is planning is, in effect, to push the Senate to take a recess so that he can push his nominations for his cabinet through without vetting, interviews, or FBI background checks. For this plan he is, again, going back to a horse-and-buggy era pronouncement making it possible for these nominees to serve for two years before the Senate can confirm or deny the nomination. Two full years. While we watch it happen.

Would the Senate do this? Would they recess as his behest? What do you think?
The Republican-held Senate has not shown a single time that they will do what is right rather than what he asks them to do.

The third plan that Donald Trump is talking about relates to our media. He wants the president to take back the power of the Fourth Estate, our media. According to the Post article and a quote by Donald Trump, “I will bring the independent regulatory agencies, such as the FCC and the FTC, back under presidential authority, as the Constitution demands,” he said in an April 2023 video, referring to the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission. “ These agencies do not get to become a fourth branch of government, issuing rules and edicts all by themselves.”

What would this mean for such agencies, which also include the Federal Reserve, Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, National Labor Relations Board and Consumer Product Safety Commission? Simply put, Russell Vought states “What we’re trying to do is identify the pockets of independence and seize them." These independent entities will be under the power and authority of the executive branch. As we watch it happening.

And finally, a fourth Day One agenda item, the president-elect wants to eliminate tens of thousands of civil servants who are not already in his pocket. Currently these employees have job security, but Trump plans on increasing his power over these workers in order to, you guessed it, "root out the deep state." His cattle call of choice whenever he's looking for unfettered power and control, use this scary word tactic. All while we watch it happen.

Our Constitution architects and writers took pains to create a document and a nation that shares power and authority with three entities: the Judicial Branch, the Executive Branch, and the Legislative Branch, the Senate. The Judicial Branch interprets the law, the Legislative Branch makes the law, and the Executive Branch enforces the law. Trump's power hungry grab will ensure that he is not only enforcing laws, but making the laws as well...All as we watch from the side lines...

What Do You Think?

 
Homework: Look up Impoundment Power