If the first two weeks of President Donald Trump’s return to the White House are any indication, we are in for a challenging ride over the next four years. And in the process, we face the real prospect of large segments of government policy being decided in the courts rather than in Congress.
Trump ran on the promise to shake things up in Washington and around the world. He is doing that. He pledged to bend government to conform to his agenda and to exercise control to the fullest extent of presidential power and influence. That’s exactly what he is trying to do, as he tests the limits of executive power.
This time around, Trump has surrounded himself with advisors who have sworn fealty to him. They follow Trump’s lead rather than serving as “guardrails” to help evaluate, consider and direct his decisions. And now, with Trump’s greater control of the Republican Party, a majority in Congress and what appears to be a more favorable Supreme Court, the stage is set to test the limits of a strongman presidency.
Trump’s disrupter approach follows the narrative of an electorate frustrated by traditional governance and dissatisfied with the status quo. Change is necessary to make us bigger, better and stronger. And, in Trump’s world, no existing rules or conventions may interfere with his objectives.
Trump communicates through social media, monitoring real-time feedback though platforms like X and Truth Social and uses public sentiment as the measure for decision making.
His incessant promotion of voter disillusionment is designed to feed into an acceptance by the public of efforts to bypass entrenched systems in order to deliver promised “change.”
Trump’s first two weeks were jam-packed with executive orders, programmatic pronouncements on domestic issues, and international barbs, threats and pledges.
Perhaps his most provocative move came last week when his administration announced a temporary halt to all payments made by the federal government to make sure that the funded program activity complied with Trump’s order barring diversity programs.
The federal payment directive was extraordinary in its reach and impact. It generated concern at every level of society given the enormous reach of federal funding activities. The directive was quickly blocked by a federal judge, who stopped the process of potentially pulling trillions of dollars from police departments, domestic violence shelters, nutrition services, disaster relief efforts, and community security programs that rely on federal grants. Trump then backed down and directed the Office of Management and Budget to rescind the pause in funding directive.
While the reversal was significant, the funding cutoff was just one of many new initiatives that Trump and his advisors are pursuing to materially change the way Washington and the federal government do business.
They stumbled on the funding issue and are running into significant legal challenges to efforts to change the law on birthright citizenship. But the list of potential targets is long and the commitment to make change, focus on America first and exclude those who are different is gaining interest and support from the public.
We are holding our breath to see what Trump’s weeks three and four will bring. ■
Where were the guardrails on the Biden administration? Open borders, use of the law as a political weapon and passivity in the face of attacks on Jewish students. Trump’s actions aren’t happening in a vacuum.