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"Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" – Executive Order

whitehouse.gov

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Re: "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" – Executive Order

#501
post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> having our judicial branch become openly partisan A lot of the decisions that have been flagged as "openly partisan" are just the Supreme Court saying exactly what you're saying: the executive branch and judicial branch don't have the authority to write laws and both branches should really stop writing laws and force Congress to do that. We will see this year and in coming years whether this Supreme Court is partis…

What say you of the Trump vs United States (appropriately named) ruling that gives the president immunity from crimes committed while in office? Does that align with the idea that SCOTUS may reign in presidential power? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_v._United_States_(2024...

The article you attached does not say that the ruling gives the president immunity from all crimes committed while in office.

Re: "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" – Executive Order

#502

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, yes, that's how the system works: a determined President can, in fact, grab as much power as the Supreme Court will allow. That's literally what the Supreme Court is there for.

The president can arguably pack the court and with his majorities nobody will stop him If you believe the Supreme Court is an effective guardrail against tyranny then you're deeply mistaken. The only true safeguard against tyranny is the American people refusing to comply and responding with force of arms if pushed.

I don't care if you're a 3%er or a John Brown Gun Club fan, this is an absurd fantasy.

Re: "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" – Executive Order

#503
In general, people are going to interpret this EO with their own lens. Unsurprisingly, reasonable people may disagree on the merits of the EO as a whole.

However this part of the EO is pretty concerning

> 'The President and the Attorney General, subject to the President’s supervision and control, shall provide authoritative interpretations of law for the executive branch'

and later

> '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'

This can potentially enable an end run around congress and the courts in that the President can easily choose to interpret laws in a manner inconsistent with the intent of congress and courts. Now, we can argue the point and say that presidents have already done so in the past and that congress/courts should have been more specific. However it quickly gets into the issue of the impossibility of congress or the courts anticipating and specifying every detail to avoid a 'hostile' interpretation.

This part of the EO says the president's opinion is the law as far as the executive branch is concerned. Given that the executive branch implements the law, this would imply that the president's interpretation is all that matters. The other two branches have no real role left to play. Given the supreme court's ruling on presidential immunity, this is a dangerous level of power concentration.

Even if you support the current president's goals and objectives, setting up the president as the sole power center is an inherently unstable system. Nothing prevents the next president from having a radically different opinion. There is a very good reason why the founding fathers built in an elaborate system of checks and balances.

Re: "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" – Executive Order

#504

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has nothing to do with "democracy" in any way. This is the equivalent of a CEO publishing a memo telling employees how to interpret things that happen outside of the company (e.g., new laws, social trends, etc.) It's the CEO's job to align their workforce to have the same interpretation of information. Federal judges can still rule on issues brought before them but the judges have to provide Constitutional- or p…

I have a puzzle for you: Let's say we have a democracy where the only rule is highest vote wins. Let's say 51% of the people vote to enslave/oppress the other 49%. Maybe they vote for literal chattel slavery. Maybe they vote for healthcare for themselves but not the others. Maybe they vote to tax the others at the maximum possible or implement tax policies that dis-proportionally affect the 49%. Maybe they vote the 4…

That sounds like Ancient Greek democracy except the gap was much larger than 51-49.

Re: "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" – Executive Order

#505
post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Republican Senators want this. It's not about statistics. They believe in this stupid Unitary Executive thing (aka, we should have a King).

Perfect timing when he's just tweeted out that he is The King

They created the circumstances where this could happen. It's a long term project. Supreme court picks, disenfranchisement, propaganda, refusing to hold Trump accountable for his crimes.

Re: "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" – Executive Order

#506
post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Republican Senators want this. It's not about statistics. They believe in this stupid Unitary Executive thing (aka, we should have a King).

Disbanding of both the legislature and judiciary would be on any dictator's playbook from the last N centuries. I can't imagine either of those bodies would be ok with getting shuttered but it seems they are both pushing for it. Why?

They get something out of it and lack of scruples? Money, influence, seeing their religious views pushed on others, who knows what else.

Re: "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" – Executive Order

#507
post #128

This new administration lays bare what we've known all along - the legislative gridlock and dysfunction in the house of representatives and senate has made them completely incapable of governing -- the least productive in a generation. This is opened up an opportunity for a well funded strongman, and the checks and balances that were intended to protect our democracy are now mere suggestions.

Mistaking a well-funded, highly coordinated project that started over 15 years ago[1] for 'those clowns in Congress are at it again!' is a huge part of what has prevented us from digging out of this crisis.

[1] e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REDMAP

Re: "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" – Executive Order

#508

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Putting aside every instinct I have to join the choir voicing every issue I have with blaming the victim and cozying up to the agitator, or to challenge your charitable view of Trump's motivations... I'm genuinely interested to hear your take on the likely and potential repercussions of rewarding Russia/Putin for their aggression. What makes you confident that they won't reasonably perceive this outcome as tacit perm…

I have no confidence at all. In fact, preventing further Russian aggression might not be Trump's goal to begin with. After all, Trump did say he would encourage Russia to invade a country that didn't pay its due.

Re: "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" – Executive Order

#509

This is obviously alarming, and if used to disregard the Judiciary's interpretation of law, unconstitutional. But I'm puzzled by the exemption of the Federal Reserve and FOMC. He's previously beefed with them, and would presumably find the additional leverage useful. Why explicitly exclude them?

He’s scared of them. If he were to mess with the Fed it would impact Wall Street, particularly by making the market indices go down. For whatever reason he cares about that in ways he doesn’t care about his approval ratings or the historical norms of the office. See how fast he reached a deal on tariffs earlier in the month when the markets reacted to them? Since then they’ve been slowly leading tariffs to get the me…

His project2025 handlers (lets be clear hes not that smart) have calculated exactly how much opposition each outrageous thing can stand, beyond which there would be too much coordinated pushback. So its all about divide everybody against their own little thing to try and get as much fuckery through as possible

Re: "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies" – Executive Order

#510

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a puzzle for you: Let's say we have a democracy where the only rule is highest vote wins. Let's say 51% of the people vote to enslave/oppress the other 49%. Maybe they vote for literal chattel slavery. Maybe they vote for healthcare for themselves but not the others. Maybe they vote to tax the others at the maximum possible or implement tax policies that dis-proportionally affect the 49%. Maybe they vote the 4…

Well, it is a democracy, the key being that the majority of people voted for some law. Whether you'd want to live in the country is a different story. Sometimes, democracies are not always the best form of government, they are as susceptible to systemic issues as any other form of government.

So you do not understand what a democracy is and how it works.

Balance of the three branches of government and the rule of law and protection of minorities are the complementary requirements to the majority vote, to qualify for a democracy.

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