Trump Moves To Grab Absolute Power

His executive order puts many federal entities under his total control

Donald Trump yesterday made his move toward complete control of the federal government. He issued an Executive Order claiming total authority over regulatory agencies established by Congress, meant to be outside executive control.

The order requires all agencies to vet new regulations by the White House. The agencies spending power is eliminated, taken over by the Office of Management and Budget. Any spending must comport with Trump’s agenda. All White House interpretations are binding on the agencies.

The questions is, what will Congress do now that Trump has stripped them of any control over the agencies they established through legislative acts.

The primary agencies affected include the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission and the National Labor Relations Board. However, the administration did not assert complete control over the Federal Reserve Board. The Board will maintain its control over interest rates.

While the president has a role in supervising these agencies, they report to Congress, which created them. This is a power grab of breathtaking magnitude and will have to be decided by the Supreme Court. If it supports Trump’s position, the executive will strip Congress of much of its authority and completely upend the system of checks and balances. In effect, the executive and the judiciary will have relegated Congress, quite literally, to third class status.

The order provides that the White House’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought (one of the main architects of Project 2025) can sequester funds for any programs that conflict with Trump’s.

Vought will have the authority to “adjust such agencies’ apportionments by activity, function, project, or object, as necessary and appropriate, to advance the president’s policies and programs.”

The order goes on to say, “no employee of the executive branch acting in their official capacity may advance an interpretation of the law as the position of the United States that contravenes the president or the attorney general’s opinion on a matter of law, including but not limited to the issuance of regulations, guidance, and positions advanced in litigation” without clearance from the White House and DOJ.

Trump claims that the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 is unconstitutional. The law stipulates that Congress can require the executive to spend funds that it has appropriated.

This all stems from a conservative doctrine which underpins Project 2025, called the unitary executive theory, under which the Constitution ought to be reinterpreted to essentially prevent Congress from impinging on executive supremacy.

The conservative Supreme Court has so far supported most of Trump’s preposterous claims, chipping away at Congress’s authority. One would expect them to follow form in this instance, but this may be a step too far even for this Court. It violates the separation of powers and strips Congress of authority conferred upon it by the Constitution.

The public may not see the impact of these actions, but they will when the White House’s decisions begin affecting their lives in a tangible manner.

Trump is making his move before his opponents have time to react. It is now up to the courts to put the brakes on this gross usurpation of power. It is in their hands whether the nation descends into turmoil because of their decisions.

Trump has overreached. We will soon see whether he is supported or slapped down. If it is not the latter, this crisis will deepen and circumstances will speed toward critical mass.

He has to be stopped, by any legal means possible. Our democracy is already truly on the line only a month into this administration. To quote David Brinkley signing off the night of November 22, 1963, “what

has happened has been too much, too fast and too ugly.”