Law be damned, Trump asserts unilateral control over executive branch, federal service (1 Viewer)

[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

 

[UriUT]

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 .....

Yeah, I have a family member that's convinced that they paid less taxes under Trump ver 1, than Biden. I know there is an elephant in the room that's quite obviously why that's the case personally for their household. Sometimes I want to scream something, but I'm reminded of this segment from the Moth Radio hour:

The Moth (en-US) | Stories | Rare Romance, Well-Done Marriage

A husband and wife's ongoing argument comes to a head.

themoth.org

Moral: Don't cross that line. You never get to cross back.

And

They still believe he can "fix it", whatever that means.

is rooted in the Hitler cult of personality.

Adolf Hitler's cult of personality - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Beginning in the early years of the Nazi Party, Nazi propaganda depicted the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler as an iconic figure who was the only person capable of saving Germany.

Since we've been talking about fascism so much, I've got to plug this great video essay about fascism that I've seen sometimes back. It's well researched, well cited, and well presented. It has expanded my understanding of fascism.



One key point is this myth of the "greatness of a nation".