Law be damned, Trump asserts unilateral control over executive branch, federal service (2 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

 

[TampaJoe]

Who will force him to abide by that?

The Constitution.

 

[faceman]

The Constitution.

The document he's pissing on now?

 

[Booker]

The Constitution.

Come on man, he's been wiping his arse with the constitution since he first took office. Congress would have to hold him accountable to the constitution, and the Republican majority has made it very clear they have no intention of that. That ship has sailed.

 

[TampaJoe]

Come on man, he's been wiping his arse with the constitution since he first took office. Congress would have to hold him accountable to the constitution, and the Republican majority has made it very clear they have no intention of that. That ship has sailed.

Yes. That same document. The law of the land. Under it he loses his authority at the end of his term and that authority passes to his successor. So unless you care to explain how the military, the judiciary, the Congress, the various states and the international community and the American people will just sit back and allow him to take over because “he doesn’t want to go”, I believe the next election and transfer of power will proceed as usual. But maybe Inhave a little more confidence in our Constitution and system of government than you. I don’t think we are quite so easy to overthrow.

 

[fooferdoggie]

The Constitution.

whats that? the thing trump would not swear on the bible to uphold? what he failed to uphold last time??? the thing the SC will toss under the bus for power??

 

[TampaJoe]

whats that? the thing trump would not swear on the bible to uphold? what he failed to uphold last time??? the thing the SC will toss under the bus for power??

Yes the Constitution. The sky is not falling.

I actually watched the inauguration. I saw him take the oath. Try again.

 

[coldseat]

Yes the Constitution. The sky is not falling.

I actually watched the inauguration. I saw him take the oath. Try again.

And if Trump declares some BS emergency (like the ones he's already declared) and institutes martial law and doesn't allow the transition to take place. Because you know they're already playing with that idea.

Then what?

 

[TampaJoe]

And if Trump declares some BS emergency (like the ones he's already declared) and institutes martial law and doesn't allow the transition to take place. Because you know they're already playing with that idea.

Then what?

Read the constitution. It’s all in there.

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

Read the constitution. It’s all in there.

I'm not sure if you're being deliberately obtuse of if you're genuinely missing the point. The Constitution is not a magic spell that people can wield to stop bad things from happening. It only has power if people enforce it. Already we have Senators saying that what Trump is doing right now is unConstitutional but no one should bellyache over that (Senator Tillis). Think about that for a minute. A sitting Senator is saying that we shouldn't worry if a president is doing something unconstitutional.

You have JD Vance echoing Andrew Jackson with defiance over the Supreme Court ("let them enforce their rulings").

These are bad signs. These are things you should be pushing against, full stop.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Yes the Constitution. The sky is not falling.

I actually watched the inauguration. I saw him take the oath. Try again.

remember no hand on the bible. you must have missed that part. he also took the oath last time and then tried to overthrow an election.

 

[coldseat]

Read the constitution. It’s all in there.

I remember people like yourself saying the last time that he would hand over power peacefully. Completely oblivious to what he and those around him at the time were saying before and after the election and the warnings coming from people like me. And equally as obtuse. Then January 6th happened and you guys were nowhere to be found, silent as a mouse.

Excuse me if I don't take your acquiescence as some kind of assurance.

 

[efil4]

Read the constitution. It’s all in there.

Your understanding of what the Constitution is/can do is alarming

But your apathy towards where we are headed is even more so.

at 65 years of age, your best days are well behind you and i can understand that. But that doesnt mean you simply toss your hands up and say " oh well"

or maybe it does and you just want to live out the rest of your days in relative ignorance and peace.

After all, ignorance is bliss.

 

[TampaJoe]

I'm not sure if you're being deliberately obtuse of if you're genuinely missing the point. The Constitution is not a magic spell that people can wield to stop bad things from happening. It only has power if people enforce it. Already we have Senators saying that what Trump is doing right now is unConstitutional but no one should bellyache over that (Senator Tillis). Think about that for a minute. A sitting Senator is saying that we shouldn't worry if a president is doing something unconstitutional.

You have JD Vance echoing Andrew Jackson with defiance over the Supreme Court ("let them enforce their rulings").

These are bad signs. These are things you should be pushing against, full stop.

I’m not missing the point. YOU are missing the point. You seem to think that Trump can snap his fingers and do whatever he wants. He cannot. His term will end.

I’m all for holding the chief executive to the Constitution. I was for it during the last administration. Welcome to the party. Better late than never.

 

[TampaJoe]

I remember people like yourself saying the last time that he would hand over power peacefully. Completely oblivious to what he and those around him at the time were saying before and after the election and the warnings coming from people like me. And equally as obtuse. Then January 6th happened and you guys were nowhere to be found, silent as a mouse.

Excuse me if I don't take your acquiescence as some kind of assurance.

Yep. Jan 6 happened. Remind me again who was in office Jan 21. The Constitution worked. The system worked.

 

[coldseat]

Yep. Jan 6 happened. Remind me again who was in office Jan 21. The Constitution worked. The system worked.

Why did the system barely work last time? Might it do something with the national guard responding to the VP's orders and not the Presidents (i.e. that's not the system working, btw)? Might it have been something to do with a Democratic Congress bringing impeachment charges against Trump in the aftermath that made him pipe down and begrudgingly accept his fate? Maybe it was people at the Justice Department willing to stand up and assert their independence and apply the rule of law?

Do those things seem like they're in place next time around? It wasn't the constitution that did that, it was people willing to stand up and force/apply the constitution or in the case of Pence ignore to deal with an emergency and save his life. Your inability or desire to not critically think about these things shows why your beliefs and assurances in "the constitution" are meaningless.

Also, why is this degenerate in office now again? Because other people (i.e. Republicans) at the time were unwilling to stand up and apply/force the constitution.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Yep. Jan 6 happened. Remind me again who was in office Jan 21. The Constitution worked. The system worked.

only because trump did not have minions willing to break the law. that has changed. Now all his Peons will do anything he wants. Musk shows how real this is.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Yep. Jan 6 happened. Remind me again who was in office Jan 21. The Constitution worked. The system worked.

Yes it was just an attempted coup so it doesn’t count



And Sideshow Bob faced consequences for his attempted crime

 

[TampaJoe]

Why did the system barely work last time? Might it do something with the national guard responding to the VP's orders and not the Presidents (i.e. that's not the system working, btw)? Might it have been something to do with a Democratic Congress bringing impeachment charges against Trump in the aftermath that made him pipe down and begrudgingly accept his fate? Maybe it was people at the Justice Department willing to stand up and assert their independence and apply the rule of law?

Do those things seem like they're in place next time around? It wasn't the constitution that did that, it was people willing to stand up and force/apply the constitution or in the case of Pence ignore to deal with an emergency and save his life. Your inability or desire to not critically think about these things shows why your beliefs and assurances in "the constitution" are meaningless.

Also, why is this degenerate in office now again? Because other people (i.e. Republicans) at the time were unwilling to stand up and apply/force the constitution.

Trumps in office now because he was duly elected under the Constitution. You don’t have to like it. I don’t have to like it. It wasn’t and isn’t up to me. The voters decide.

As far as holding POTUS to account, that varies. Dems don’t hold their Presidents to account. Republicans don’t hold their Presidents to account. So if and until they get together and decide to stop this merry go round and be a true coequal branch of government and hold the Chief Executive accountable regardless of party, this won’t change.

The Democrat minority has the same rights as Republican minorities have had in the past. Mainly that’s the courts. It’s naive for you to expect Republican majorities to behave any more responsibly than Democrats majorities. That’s why we have swing elections every other term. That’s why more and more people identify as independents.