- cross-posted to:
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- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
Summary
Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared himself acting administrator of USAID as the State Department took control of the humanitarian agency.
The move follows Elon Musk’s claim that Trump approved shutting down USAID. Employees were told to stay home, and its headquarters was stripped of logos and access to internal systems.
Critics argue Trump lacks the authority to dissolve USAID, while Democratic congressional staffers vow to fight the takeover.
Meanwhile, senior USAID officials have been fired or placed on leave, and its website and social media accounts have gone dark.
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I’m having whiplash
That’s the goal.
Just shoveling all that soft power we’ve built over the past 80 years into the ditch and setting it on fire.
Critics argue Trump lacks the authority to dissolve USAID
Here’s the problem:
- Who says he doesn’t? (This is a legitimate question. Since it’s never been done before, there’s really nothing in the law that says he can’t do it either.)
- What are you planning on doing about it?
Remember, a lot of the time we say “Well the President can’t do this” or “The President can’t do that”, we are relying on long-standing norms, expectations, and traditions. Not actual law. Trump is challenging all of that. He’s not relying on those long-standing norms. He’s challenging them. Instead of saying “I can’t”, he’s saying “Why can’t i? And what are you going to do about it if I do?”, and finding out that nobody really has an answer for that.
Forget 250 years of this country’s history. The rule going forward is going to be incredibly simple. As far as Trump and his administration are concerned, unless there is something explicitly stating he can’t do something, they are going to act as if he is empowered to do it. And the Dems are in absolutely no position to do anything about it.
This is just one prime example. There is (to my knowledge) nothing explicitly stating he can’t shut down USAID or any other agency. So as far as he’s concerned, he can. And he did. Anyone gonna do something about it? I’m not holding my breath.
USAID is one of the few cases where the President probably can shut it down, because it was created by an executive order. That is not true of most other agencies that are currently being gutted.
Under the Constitution, the Congress passes laws to create agencies and control the budget. The President is responsible for executing those laws, but does not have the power to remove them or change them. Malicious compliance is a violation of the oath of office. Failing to comply at all is just plain illegal. If Congress were doing its job there would be a quick impeachment and removal from office.
The problem we face is not that the Constitution allows most of what’s going on. It is that the checks and balances in the Constitution rely on the majority of Congress and the courts to act in good faith. The founders never imagined a situation where a majority of those people would be so corrupt that they would allow a situation like this.
Remember, a lot of the time we say “Well the President can’t do this” or “The President can’t do that”, we are relying on long-standing norms, expectations, and traditions. Not actual law. Trump is challenging all of that. He’s not relying on those long-standing norms. He’s challenging them. Instead of saying “I can’t”, he’s saying “Why can’t i? And what are you going to do about it if I do?”, and finding out that nobody really has an answer for that.
We will call this new style of politics “air bud politics”. Where we find out that basically if we didn’t say the president can’t do something, it’s assumed he implicitly can.
Guarantee in spite of all this the American voters still won’t take the midterms seriously.
What midterms?
He’s just after their refreshing stash of bottled water.
