Law be damned, Trump asserts unilateral control over executive branch, federal service (25 Viewers)

[superchuck500]

Following the Project 2025 playbook, in the last week, Trump and his newly installed loyalists have moved to (1) dismiss federal officials deemed unreliable to do his bidding (including 17 inspectors general) - many of which have protections from arbitrary dismissal, (2) freeze all science and public health activity until he can wrest full control, (3) freeze all federal assistance and grant activity deemed inconsistent with Trump's agenda, and (4) moved to terminate all federal employee telework and DEI programs.

The problem is much of this is controlled by federal law and not subject to sudden and complete change by the president through executive order. Most notably is the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 that simply codifies what is the constitutional allocation of resources where Congress appropriates money to the executive branch for a specific purpose, the executive branch must carry out that statutory purpose. This is indeed a constitutional crisis and even if Congress abdicates to Trump by acquiescing, the courts must still apply the law - or rule it unconstitutional.

And meanwhile the architect of much of this unlawful action is Russell Vought, Trump’s OMB nominee who the Senate appears ready to confirm.

120. The Impoundment Crisis of 2025

The Trump administration's Monday spending freeze is likely to provoke a crisis over the constitutionality of "impoundment"—one that the justices could well have to resolve *very* soon.

www.stevevladeck.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Trump freezes $1 billion in food aid given to local schools and food banks

The Trump administration reportedly said it had determined this funding ‘no longer effectuates agency priorities and that termination of the award is appropriate’

www.independent.co.uk

 

[bird]

There just isn’t anything too petty for them, the party of freedom, am I right?

Don’t these forking people have anything at all better to do?

 

[Huntn]

Following the Project 2025 playbook, in the last week, Trump and his newly installed loyalists have moved to (1) dismiss federal officials deemed unreliable to do his bidding (including 17 inspectors general) - many of which have protections from arbitrary dismissal, (2) freeze all science and public health activity until he can wrest full control, (3) freeze all federal assistance and grant activity deemed inconsistent with Trump's agenda, and (4) moved to terminate all federal employee telework and DEI programs.

The problem is much of this is controlled by federal law and not subject to sudden and complete change by the president through executive order. Most notably is the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 that simply codifies what is the constitutional allocation of resources where Congress appropriates money to the executive branch for a specific purpose, the executive branch must carry out that statutory purpose. This is indeed a constitutional crisis and even if Congress abdicates to Trump by acquiescing, the courts must still apply the law - or rule it unconstitutional.

And meanwhile the architect of much of this unlawful action is Russell Vought, Trump’s OMB nominee who the Senate appears ready to confirm.

120. The Impoundment Crisis of 2025

The Trump administration's Monday spending freeze is likely to provoke a crisis over the constitutionality of "impoundment"—one that the justices could well have to resolve *very* soon.

www.stevevladeck.com

The Peice of work has taken a wrecking ball to DC arguably the country, and is doing his best to alienate and sever all ties with our Allies and trading partners. It’s an unmitigated disaster in the making, and 1/3 of our citizens think this is just great! Bring on the pain, the sooner, the better, the sharp slap of reality is what the doctor ordered.

 

[Optimus Prime]

The Peice of work has taken a wrecking ball to DC arguably the country, and is doing his best to alienate and sever all ties with our Allies and trading partners. It’s an unmitigated disaster in the making, and 1/3 of our citizens think this is just great! Bring on the pain, the sooner, the better, the sharp slap of reality is what the doctor ordered.

That 1/3 of people (and GOP) will still swear that it’s great, Trump is great and “Cry harder libs!”

And that will be true no matter how bad it gets

 

[Huntn]

That 1/3 of people (and GOP) will still swear that it’s great, Trump is great and “Cry harder libs!”

And that will be true no matter how bad it gets

I question this, unless of course the 1/3 has a death wish. Pain and personal suffering is the only possible way that we might snap out of this, but I agree that even so, it’s uncertain we can recover intact. We might just be finished as the United States of America.

 

[Optimus Prime]

I question this, unless of course the 1/3 has a death wish. Pain and personal suffering is the only possible way that we might snap out of this, but I agree that even so, it’s uncertain we can recover intact. We might just be finished as the United States of America.

You can argue that they already have a death wish. After chaos of 1st term, covid, Jan 6th, charges, convictions, project 2025 they voted for him anyway

And I believe a large portion of that 1/3 would be fine with the end of the United States of America because in their mind what will emerge is a country that's set up the way they've always dreamed it should be (and that is truly terrifying)

 

[Optimus Prime]

Is there a way to hold Congress accountable for not holding the Trump Admin accountable?

If (God willing) there is a blue wave in the midterms I’m sure there will be inquiries, investigations and committees

After all kinds of illegal forkery is revealed can Congress members get in trouble for not pursuing it?

I’m sure they have discretion to decide what investigations to do but is there a limit to it?

There is a difference between a cop letting a speeder off with a warning and a cop knowing about a meth lab or witnessing a murder and not doing anything about it

When does discretion turn into to duty?

I asked this a month ago

Is the only consequence to Congress not doing their duty is for them to get voted out of office? Or just removed from committees if they're reelected?

Beyond that no one is going to have to answer for why they allowed trump and Musk to get away with all of this? (Literally answer, under oath)

 

[Incumbent]

That 1/3 of people (and GOP) will still swear that it’s great, Trump is great and “Cry harder libs!”

And that will be true no matter how bad it gets

The Trump regime is steadfast in the rhetoric that this is all the fault of Democrats and once we (not them) get through the pain, it will all be beautiful and wonderful.

It’s isn’t. It won’t.

 

[DJ1BigTymer]

This retired AF vet gets it! This is exactly how I feel about what has happened to our country!

 

[Huntn]

The Trump regime is steadfast in the rhetoric that this is all the fault of Democrats and once we (not them) get through the pain, it will all be beautiful and wonderful.

It’s isn’t. It won’t.

Trump: He projects everything, everything he can, everything his dummies allow him to get away with, everything he does, such as calling people traitors, when he’s the biggest traitor of our time, “crooks” when he’s the Freaking Head Crook. And he RELIES on his Cult to swallow his piss.

We are in the process of breaking, maybe we can recover, but, if we can’t,think about how wonderful The Third Reich was, check out V for Vendetta (for a taste of fascism) or some dystopian future where Evil roams the land. I really wonder if the average Trumpet thinks it could go that far, or if they are fantasizing about wearing brown shirts, black boots, and kicking the shirt out of the unanointed?

 

[Huntn]

I asked this a month ago

Is the only consequence to Congress not doing their duty is for them to get voted out of office? Or just removed from committees if they're reelected?

Beyond that no one is going to have to answer for why they allowed trump and Musk to get away with all of this? (Literally answer, under oath)

Wait till the Midterms, only 2 years away. Will we be doing elections by then?

 

[Huntn]

You can argue that they already have a death wish. After chaos of 1st term, covid, Jan 6th, charges, convictions, project 2025 they voted for him anyway

And I believe a large portion of that 1/3 would be fine with the end of the United States of America because in their mind what will emerge is a country that's set up the way they've always dreamed it should be (and that is truly terrifying)

Today I was at the gym, rubbing elbows with the locals. I live in a red state Texas. I assume most of them are maga, and sometimes I’m surprised. Today, I was not surprised. In the locker, some comments about the economy were made, a Canadian, who apparently spends his winters in Texas offered his two cents after I had left the locker room.

While I was working out on a machine, a guy who I am friendly with came up to confidentially tell me he was embarrassed that he had gotten into it with the Canadian when tariffs came up and the damage they caused. He told the Canadian that was all bullshirt.

So he’s confiding in me, and I tell him “I’ve got a secret for you, I hate Trump‘s guts” and went onto explain some reasons, and he told me he agreed with me about how haphazardly they were chopping up the federal government. But did he really agree or was just being diplomatic? He lives down the street from me and we text about things in the neighborhood so I thought I’d send them a link for the recent article about how easy it might be for Russia to hack us now that the Dept of Defense Cyber Command (or whatever it’s called) has stopped all offensive action against Russia.

In almost a flash, I got a message back from him well before he could’ve read much of anything telling me “ you have TDS, don’t believe the link.” Well then I knew he was just being polite in the gym because he didn’t want to get into it with me too.

And this is what we’re faced with…The Unquestioning Cult of Trump, down is up, right is left, Trump can drive the economy into the ground, and it’s liberal faults, but “all is well because we’re vanquishing evil Democrats. Hey what happened to our jobs?”

 

[UriUT]

Today I was at the gym, rubbing elbows with the locals. I live in a red state Texas. I assume most of them are maga, and sometimes I’m surprised. Today, I was not surprised. In the locker, some comments about the economy were made, a Canadian, who apparently spends his winters in Texas offered his two cents after I had left the locker room.

While I was working out on a machine, a guy who I am friendly with came up to confidentially tell me he was embarrassed that he had gotten into it with the Canadian when tariffs came up and the damage they caused. He told the Canadian that was all bullshirt.

So he’s confiding in me, and I tell him “I’ve got a secret for you, I hate Trump‘s guts” and went onto explain some reasons, and he told me he agreed with me about how haphazardly they were chopping up the federal government. But did he really agree or was just being diplomatic? He lives down the street from me and we text about things in the neighborhood so I thought I’d send them a link for the recent article about how easy it might be for Russia to hack us now that the Dept of Defense Cyber Command (or whatever it’s called) has stopped all offensive action against Russia.

In almost a flash, I got a message back from him well before he could’ve read much of anything telling me “ you have TDS, don’t believe the link.” Well then I knew he was just being polite in the gym because he didn’t want to get into it with me too.

And this is what we’re faced with…The Unquestioning Cult of Trump, down is up, right is left, Trump can drive the economy into the ground, and it’s liberal faults, but “all is well because we’re vanquishing evil Democrats. Hey what happened to our jobs?”

 

[DJ1BigTymer]

That, right there, is why I hold a higher disdain towards the GOP than I have for trump! He's just a symptom of the disease that is the Republican party and its voters.

Edit: So much for "there are fine people...on both sides". The Bill of Rights are only applicable to "Real" Americans, not Hyphenated-Americans!

 

[wardorican]

That was last month. Let's see how this month looks.

 

[Lapaz]

It seems a lot of the funds that were supposed to be paid by 10 MAR, still hasn’t been paid. Can they sue? Will they be owed interest?

Groups working with USAID say the government still has not paid what it owes for their work

The court-ordered deadline for the government to pay outstanding bills to some USAID groups has come and gone. Scripps News has learned some groups still haven't received what they're owed.

www.wtxl.com

 

[UriUT]

That was last month. Let's see how this month looks.

A 58% shift when there were virtually zero changes to the economy. Nothing screams party loyalty more. And should we forget that tariffs, a key campaign position for Trump, is what these people want? And we have folks here screaming for a federal bureaucracy purge. These aren't the consequences types. And the cherry on the top, these Maga talking heads are telling their supporters that recessions are good for us, while treating biden's widely accepted as great economic numbers to be a train wreck.

Yes, we will see. Sure dems anxiety can't get lower. The independents may see changes. These 58%? Yeah...we'll see.

 

[coldseat]

That graph is the reason we're royally forked. Republicans have no idea how or ability to run a country. They're so full of right wing propoganda they have no objective reasoning. And they're willing to loyaly follow a crazy, vindictive, egomaniacal, moran into oblivion regardless of the price. They still believe he can "fix it", whatever that means. And Independents .....