Dec.18

electoral-vote.com

Dem 47

   

GOP 53

Government by Executive Order

Even though the Republicans have the trifecta, so far they have passed only one major bill, Donald Trump's BBB. Other than that, it has largely been a legislative desert. Donald Trump doesn't actually care about laws. He is too busy signing XOs. He prefers to govern by XO, since he can do that all by himself, without having to do any work. Here is a graph showing how many and how fast he is signing XOs:

So not only has Trump already signed more XOs than in his entire first term, he also has signed more than Joe Biden in total or Barack Obama in either of his terms. If you want to read them all, be our guest. Here they are. There is also a link there to download a list for Excel.

About a quarter of them relate to tariffs or economic policy. Another 14% relate to DOGE and governance. Here is a breakdown by category:

Trump didn't even write them all. In fact, he probably didn't write any of them. Stephen Miller, Will Scharf (Trump's staff secretary), and the Heritage Foundation had a hand in many of them. In fact, some were drafted in the interregnum, in hopes of there being a Trump v2.0.

Governing by XO has a slew of problems, such as these:

• XOs Are Not Laws: They can't force anyone to do anything. No one can be arrested and tried for violating an XO. They are simply instructions to the federal bureaucracy telling the workers how the president wants certain laws interpreted, or stating his priorities. For example, he could instruct IRS to go after poor people claiming their dogs as dependents vs. billionaires using shell corporations in the Cayman Islands to hide income.
  
  
• XOs Are Temporary: Since any president can sign an XO, any president can sign an XO canceling previous ones (with a few limits relating to review periods for certain kinds of policy changes). For example, on Jan. 20, 2029, the new president could sign an XO stating the following: "All Executive Orders EO 14147 through and including EO 14366 are hereby revoked." Except instead of naming EO 14366, it would name the last one Trump signed, which could well be 15xxx. Then they are all gone. Poof!
  
  
• XOs Don't Appropriate Money: XOs do not appropriate funds to do things. For example, an XO directing DHS to guard the border intensely would be legal, but wouldn't provide funds to hire more agents, buy more vehicles, or put up more walls and fences. Congress would have to pass an appropriations bill to do that. At least, that's the theory (see above).
  
  
• XOs Can Be Challenged: XOs can be challenged in court. Plaintiffs can claim some XO violates the law. A law passed by Congress cannot be challenged as illegal although it can be challenged as being unconstitutional. So taking down an XO is much easier than taking down a law. As you can see from the chart above, many of Trump's XO's have been challenged.
  
  
• XOs Are Not Self-Implementing: XOs instruct federal employees to do something or take some position. But in the end, the relevant employees have to do it. What if they don't? If they are top-level employees and the president discovers they are dragging their feet, he can fire them. But if the resistance is coming from people further down who are pretending to carry out the XO but are not really doing it and who are covered by civil service protections, there is not a great deal the president can do about it.

Trump understands some of this. He certainly understands that many of the XOs will be ignored or challenged in court as being illegal or unconstitutional. But he also understands that by inviting the press corps to watch him sign an XO, he controls the narrative. He knows there will be stories, many stories, about his latest signing. The more outrageous it is, the better. Reporters probably know this, but they are like a mouse who has watched his whole family be killed by mousetraps, and yet thinks that bit of cheese over there looks awfully delicious. (V)