Trump signs executive orders limiting power of agencies

He can replace people. I was talking more about the wisdom of it. Every agency has its political appointees that lead the agency and make sure it aligns with the interests of the president. Trump has been no different in that. Each agency also has Staff, the apolitical people who do the work. Trump and his water-carriers want to say these are little despots doing their own thing. But that's a lie. There is no fourth branch of government. Staff follow orders from the political appointees (executive power) and as constrained by the law (legislative power), interpreted by the courts (judicial power). Staff remain Admin to Admin and the political appointees are routinely replaced. Where Trump is different is he is cutting deeper than just the political layer, down into the apolitical layer. Some of these workers may object to the complete about-face in policy Trump is ordering them to conduct, but they don't have any power. At best, they can engage in symbolic protest resignations, or quietly drag their feet. Trump can avoid some foot-dragging by firing people, but he's losing a lot of expertise by doing so. Maybe for changing the culture to a more MAGA culture it's necessary, but it comes at a cost.

Now, what he doesn't have a right to do is hamstring these agencies so completely that they can't fulfill their missions as defined in law. He has a constitutional obligation to faithfully execute the law. Some of his cuts are aimed at the additions of functionality ordered by past presidents, which is fine. But, in some of the more egregious examples, he's obviously aiming to undermine the agencies' ability to execute on its mission defined by Congress, which is a dereliction of his duty.

That's about the only thing about his behavior I'm happy about. I think he's a control freak who is really bad at delegating authority and building good working relationships with lieutenants. I think it's terrible leadership. But, the usual caveats I extend to presidents for performance failures won't be extended to him because he's asserted direct control over everything. Where I wouldn't blame past presidents for the price of eggs, or the price of gas, or inflation, or recession, or prosecutions, etc, I will blame Trump directly because he has insisted. Which is not to say I believe he's fine with taking blame. He always finds a scapegoat to blame for his failures. I challenge anyone to find an example of a mea culpa coming out of Trump's mouth.

Now you're being ridiculous. They arrested and indicted him because he committed crimes. Even if you can't accept he is guilty of crimes, I hope you can at least acknowledge that there was probable cause enough to suspect in good faith he might have committed crimes. And probable cause justifies some investigation. But, you're asserting he should not even be investigated.

I guess I don't realize because I still don't buy that he believes in God at all. Certainly not a Christian God. If he was called by God, maybe he's more in the mold of Nebuchadnezzar than he is David. I do think he doesn't believe in the political rules other politicians play by. But that's narcissism talking, not divine revelation.

 

You should put this comment in that nice thread you created

https://bbs.clutchfans.net/threads/...aindead-boomer-cultists-thread.323548/page-45

 

Apolitical LMAO

He will carry out the duties that the laws says he needs to carry out. He just will be carrying out this mission with different employess. You know employees that are aligned with mission the voters put him in office to carry out.

He's showing great leadership, he's put people in place that have save taxpayers 211 BILLION dollars in the 1st 30 days. He's working on ending the wars and has made great progress. If you take everything literally Trump says then that's foolish. There was no way he was going to be able to fix the mess that was left for him in the first 30 days. However he has stopped the flood of illegals and started shipping the worst of the worst out of the country and for that I applaud him. He's accomplished more in 30 days than Biden did in 4 years thankfully. Since we've seen what Biden's policies were.

The charges in Florida were dropped and Smith's team tried to fabricate evidence and invaded a former POTUS privacy. So no he didn't commit a crime. For that the FBI will be paying a huge price once Patel is confirmed later on today. Kash knows where the bodies are buried in the FBI and I cant wait for the hammer to fall.

As far as your last paragraph goes, I'm certainly not going to change your mind.

 

Whatever unconstitutional actions that Biden took (or perceived to be unconstitutional) were litigated by the courts and he was constrained.

Trump is not abiding by the courts decisions. That's a huge difference.

 

examples?

 

even the Washington Post acknowledges that while he is close to the line, he has not crossed it

Trump comes close to the red line of openly defying judges, experts say
Faced with judges’ orders to block certain initiatives, the Trump administration has found ways to tell courts it still has the authority to act.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/02/20/trump-judge-orders-comply-defy-usaid/

 

USAID decision.

 

that doesn't really explain anything . . .

 

Why do you keep posting this video when you know it's not true. Jesus you're a shitty individual. Biden did not do mass cancelation after the courts shut him down. He only did targeting cancelation according to the PSLF program.

I don't know why you folks @Sweet Lou 4 2 talk to him in good faith. He knows he's posting bullshit but continues to do so. Slimy individual with no morals

 

Courts ordered an unfreezing of the money to USAID. Admin ignored it.

 

We're friends. Why is that hard to understand?

Just because we disagree on politics doesn't mean anything beyond that.

 

I'd need more details than that. Again, my understanding is that direct-to-recipient aid continued to flow; things like aid to Ukrainian state media are likely still on hold.

if you've got detailed examples, I'll take a look at them

 

I mean it's all over - even on the front page of the NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/20/health/usaid-freeze-hiv-tb-nutrition.html

Nonprofits are suing the admin for contempt. Medicines, procedures, treatments for people impacted by agent orange from the US going back to the Vietnam War - all on hold.

 

yes, I am seeing the contempt filing right now

https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-...49716/trump-officials-foreign-aid-usaid-judge

but as even NPR acknowledges, there is "wiggle room":

But the judge's order appeared to provide USAID some wiggle room. Ali said it would not prohibit the agency from "enforcing the terms of contracts or grants."

In its filing Tuesday, USAID cited that provision to justify its moves. The agency says it reviewed the terms of contracts and found they explicitly or "implicitly" allow USAID to end most of them.

USAID says it has already terminated nearly 500 contracts, including some because they focused on diversity, equity and inclusion and others because they promoted sustainability and combatted climate change.

USAID officials said other contracts were cancelled because they supported "Regime Change, 'Civic Society' or 'Democracy Promotion.'"

USAID has not killed all foreign aid. It says it has spared more than 20 contracts worth more than $250 million. That is a tiny fraction of the agency's annual spending.
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more

so not sure the issue is so clear cut. Virtually all of Trump's actions thus far in this administration seem aimed at testing the law(s) in court. This freeze on USAID money is certainly a big part of that.

 

and I'll add . . . that's an article filed at 4:23 pm ET, which is about a half hour ago. Sorry I missed it.

 

the article I cited discusses the USAID situation:

Federal judges have blocked President Donald Trump’s attempts to freeze trillions in federal grants and loans, halt billions in foreign assistance and dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development.

But in each case, the administration has said it still has legal authority to do at least some of those things, prompting judges and those challenging Trump’s actions to accuse him of failing to comply.

Legal experts said the administration’s aggressive maneuvers have approached the red line of openly flouting court orders, as Trump and his top aides and advisers assert vast presidential powers.

The most dramatic example came Wednesday. Plaintiffs in a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration’s 90-day pause on foreign aid asked a judge to hold the administration in civil contempt for violating his temporary restraining order blocking the freeze.

A day earlier, attorneys for the government said agencies could keep a hold on much of the funds despite Judge Amir Ali’s order, based onstatutes and regulations that exist separately from Trump’s executive directive. The government said Ali’s order was “silent” on those otherpowers and vowed to continue suspension of aid unless the judge clarified his ruling.
​

Granted, the article goes on to quote people who believe the Trump administration has come close to crossing the line with these responses:

Legal experts and a former federal judge said doing so despite a court order was extraordinary and troubling. David Super, a Georgetown University law professor, said the administration was “one step short of outright defiance” of a federal judge.

“This response is quite consistent with what I am seeing across many of the challenges to the new administration’s sweeping actions: they insist that injunctions relate only to one source of legal authority and then manufacture another to keep doing what they have been ordered not to do,” Super wrote in an email.
​

But even this individual (Super) says the administration's response is "one step short of outright defiance."

​

 

Remember the SCOTUS College Loan forgiveness ruling that Biden chose to ignore?

 

If I was Trump I would do the same thing since these federal judges are trying to subvert what Trump was elected to do. He's just keeping the left busy while keeping the ball rolling along.

Anybody that takes over a business pays only the bills to keep the doors open until a forensic audit is complete. That's what Trump's doing, Musk is the auditor. What scares the crap of of the bureaucrats is that Musk is a genius level person who has surrounded himself genius level people who are going to find out where at least 90% of the waste and fraud is.

 

He did not ignore it. He abided by the decision and switched to a different program that lowered monthly payments. You can't just follow what some Republican politician posts on X. So much misinformation out there.