Op/Ed
Editorial: Trump’s orders make the nation weaker, less just

ANGELO LYNN
Of the dozens of executive orders President Trump enacted during his first two days of offices, most are more ordinary than not, some are more vengeful than impactful, others seek to reorder the way government has governed for the past several decades and will cause disruption and havoc.
Among the frivolous orders are the ridiculous suggestions to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and Mount Denali to Mount McKinley; and flying the flag at full staff on Monday because Trump’s ego couldn’t stand it being at half-mast to honor the late president Jimmy Carter.
Among the vengeful orders were a move to end birthright citizenship, which is patently unconstitutional and already has drawn legal suits from 23 states, including Vermont, and will tie up the courts with an order that has no positive outcome; suspend the Refugee Admissions Program “until such time as the further entry into the United States aligns with” national interests (as if allowing the Afghanistan people who supported American troops there during the war doesn’t now align with American interests?); terminating D.E.I. programs across the federal government and removing safety protections for transgender people in federal prisons. How do those things make America stronger or more just?
Among the ordinary are a raft of executive orders that call for the review of previous practices or agreements to be sure they align with policy objectives — Trump made a big deal of what are normal occurrences to create the appearance of a heavy-handed leader.
Other orders are significant and will be detrimental to the nation’s well-being. Those include: implementing a category of federal workers known as Schedule F, which would create a political bureaucracy beholden to the president. That could set the stage for a complete upheaval of government employees going forward for each new administration, akin to that in dictatorships or oligarchies; grant top secret security clearances to White House staff without going through traditional vetting procedures (if those individuals are trustworthy, why not go through the process?); withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement and World Health Organization to join the handful of rogue nations (North Korea and Iran, for instance) who don’t; preparing to impose high tariffs on neighbors and allies such as Canada and Mexico, which will significantly raise the cost of goods for Americans and spur inflation; and pardoning 1,600 convicted felons, some of whom attacked capitol police officers, spreading the message that political violence will be condoned by this president and his party.
Several more of his executive orders, pertaining to energy and the environment, will only cause more carbon emissions, stall America’s advancement on renewable energy and EV vehicles and possibly cede any chance of competing in those industries to China.
In short, Trump’s orders represent huge steps backward and move us further-and-further from the strong democratic state Americans strive to project.
Angelo Lynn
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