this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2025
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USpolitics

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cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/8171943

Bear with the slightly extreme wording of the copy-paste below from Reddit - it's actually very similar energy to the actual Executive Order if you want to read the direct source instead.

This Executive Order does the following:

❧ All federal agencies, including independent regulatory commissions, are now subject to direct White House control.

❧ Regulations cannot be issued without presidential approval.

❧ The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) can now withhold funding from independent agencies if they don’t align with White House priorities.

❧ All federal employees must follow the President’s and Attorney General’s interpretation of the law, eliminating legal independence.

❧ A White House Liaison is to be installed in every independent regulatory agency to enforce direct presidential control.

⚠️ This is the biggest executive power grab in U.S. history. ⚠️

This formally ends the concept of an “independent” regulatory agency, dismantling one of the last barriers to absolute executive power.

📍 This order effectively erases the last major restraints on executive power. 📍 The federal government no longer operates with checks and balances. 📍 Regulations and laws are now dictated solely by the President. 📍 If left unchecked, this is the moment the U.S. ceases to function as a democratic republic.

1️⃣ The President Now Controls All Regulatory Agencies

✅ The SEC, FTC, FCC, and FEC are no longer independent.

The Stock Market is now subject to White House control, enabling insider trading, favoritism, and targeting of political opponents. Antitrust laws can be selectively enforced, allowing administration-friendly monopolies to expand unchecked. Political opponents in the tech sector, media, or finance can be targeted with regulatory action while allies are protected. Elections are now influenced by direct White House oversight of the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

✅ The FDA, EPA, and consumer protection agencies are fully politicized.

Drug approvals, food safety regulations, and environmental policies can be rewritten for political or corporate interests. Climate change regulations can be erased overnight. Scientific research is now subject to White House approval before public release.

🚨 Implication: There is no longer any neutral enforcement of economic, environmental, or election laws. Everything is now dictated by political loyalty.

2️⃣ The White House Can Block Agency Budgets or Direct Funds Elsewhere

✅ The OMB can now adjust funding allocations for independent agencies.

This gives the President the power to defund agencies without needing Congress. Regulatory agencies that challenge presidential policies will be quietly strangled of resources. Agencies loyal to the President will receive full funding—even illegally. 🚨 Implication: Congress no longer controls federal spending on regulatory enforcement. The executive branch can choke out opposition agencies and reward allies.

3️⃣ The President & Attorney General Have Final Say on All Legal Interpretations ✅ All federal employees must follow White House interpretations of the law.

The Attorney General’s opinions override agency lawyers, inspectors general, and independent counsel. Agencies cannot adopt their own interpretations of legal statutes—everything must align with the President’s views. The President can rewrite federal legal interpretations overnight. 🚨 Implication: Legal consistency is gone. Agencies cannot push back against corrupt, illegal, or unconstitutional directives because the President’s interpretation is the only interpretation allowed.

4️⃣ Installing White House Liaisons in All Regulatory Agencies ✅ A “White House Liaison” will be placed in every independent agency.

This ensures constant presidential oversight of daily operations. These liaisons will report agency actions back to the White House and enforce political compliance. Agency directors will no longer have the ability to act without White House approval.

🚨 Implication: There is now a direct enforcement arm inside every regulatory body. Even agencies that resist presidential control will be internally monitored and controlled.

📍 Every regulatory body—from financial markets to environmental protections—is now politicized. 📍 Congress no longer controls federal funding—agencies must obey the White House or risk defunding. 📍 The President’s legal interpretations override all agency autonomy, eliminating independent enforcement of federal laws. 📍 The federal bureaucracy, once designed to be resistant to corruption, is now completely subject to presidential loyalty.

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[–] SocialMediaRefugee 24 points 18 hours ago (3 children)

Can't happen unless others let it happen

[–] [email protected] 10 points 15 hours ago

Those who have the power to actually do anything about it are letting it happen.

[–] riodoro1 4 points 17 hours ago

It’s already happening.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

So it will totally happen? 😅

[–] SocialMediaRefugee 5 points 17 hours ago

Looking at congress...sobbing

[–] [email protected] 10 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Just like playbook of communists of russia 😂 I wonder how reps are going to tell this for themselves? US has become 47th oblast of russia. Nice, two hundred years of democracy ruined just in two months.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 15 hours ago

I think you are correct. Especially the thing about "liaisons," reminds me of the political officers in the Soviet Union. They were the pillars of a reign of terror.

[–] olafurp 42 points 1 day ago (1 children)

More commonly known as a dictatorship.

[–] taanegl 4 points 1 day ago

Thanks for the summation.

[–] Stamau123 2 points 13 hours ago

the Enabling Act already?

[–] pulsewidth 17 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Hey I saw this in a movie.

The citizens did not have a good time, and (spoilers) >!it didn't end well for the president or his staff either.!<

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/civil_war_2024

[–] Acidbath 6 points 23 hours ago

I think about this movie on a daily basis. I'm fucking scared. I don't know what else to say.

[–] Goodmorningsunshine 29 points 1 day ago

Lol "potentially"? Dude, it's happening undefended. There's no "potentially." It's here.

[–] FauxLiving 28 points 1 day ago

Well, when the IRS says I owe taxes, I'm going to ask to see the notes that Trump used to work that out.

[–] GaMEChld 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Wolf-PAC, we might need that constitutional convention sooner rather than later...

[–] UnderpantsWeevil 6 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

https://www.gregabbott.com/texasplan/

Governor Greg Abbott Calls for an Article V Convention of States to restore our Constitution

[–] RedAggroBest 4 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Fucking Greg Abbott of all people...

[–] HasturInYellow 2 points 14 hours ago

This makes me highly suspicious of it. I think it could be a good idea, but I do not trust him as far as he can run.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] Lemminary 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

We ran out of noble blue blood. You get greedy-green blood, dollar tree discount "royals". Sorry!

[–] FlashMobOfOne 59 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (11 children)

LOL, this is going to get tossed out by the courts as quickly as the funding freeze was.

Putting "By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered" in front of something unconstitutional doesn't magically make it constitutional.

[–] Goodmorningsunshine 23 points 1 day ago (2 children)

LOL, this is going to get tossed out by the courts as quickly as the funding freeze was.

You still believe in something, huh?

[–] FauxLiving 5 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

The alternative is to feign cynicism while surrendering.

"Nothing can be done, the courts can't do anything, we should just stop trying" is actively harmful in this situation.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

"The courts can do something' is a bigger barrier to effective action than doomerism, especially if it isn't true

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[–] Makeitstop 59 points 1 day ago (2 children)

It's blatantly illegal and unconstitutional. The courts will order them to stop, and those court orders will be ignored.

[–] ninja 40 points 1 day ago (3 children)

It's funny that the supreme court didn't consider that consequence of telling the president that he's immune to the courts.

[–] chuckleslord 34 points 1 day ago

Yeah... they definitely didn't consider this happening. Certainly wasn't the plan /s

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[–] FlashMobOfOne 1 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

those court orders will be ignored.

What happened with the funding freeze, though? And birthright citizenship? And the DOT incursion?

More importantly, why is everyone just ignoring that the judiciary is, in fact, doing a pretty good job of reversing these power grabs?

[–] Makeitstop 3 points 18 hours ago

As I understand it, the funding is still mostly frozen, they just deny that what they are doing is violating the court orders.

And they are going to appeal birthright citizenship all the way to the Supreme Court, but how much that decision even matters will depend on just how much due process people get before being shipped off to gitmo.

Not sure what the latest is on the DoT situation. But the overall trend of taking over agencies, shutting down operations, firing people and accessing restricted data has mostly been happening fast enough that the courts can't prevent it, they can only tell them to fix it after the fact.

I'm not trying to shit on the courts. It's vital that they keep pushing back and keep applying the law. The problem is that they can only do so much if the executive branch won't cooperate. They are dealing with an administration that is hostile to the very notion of the rule of law, and which is dismantling every mechanism that exists to keep them honest and accountable. Trying to apply the law to Trump has always been like nailing jelly to the wall. And that was before he was declared above the law by the Supreme Court, before the purging of anyone with a shred of ethics at the DoJ, and before declaring that he and his AG have the sole power to interpret law in the executive branch (which would of course include decisions about what it means to comply with a court order).

[–] Bieren 34 points 1 day ago

Like trump gives a fuck what happens in the courts at this point. He’s just going to do it. The scotus gave him ultimate power and they are so busy sucking his balls dry they won’t stop this. Not to mention all the lower courts where the path is being set to replace all the judges with his loyal subjects.

[–] Ultraviolet 14 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

That doesn't matter. The only reason the law has the ability to stop anyone from doing anything is that if you refuse for long enough, eventually, someone will show up with a gun to force the issue. If he knows that won't happen, he can act with impunity.

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[–] cultsuperstar 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Since the GOP controls Congress, could they amend the Constitution to give Trump specifically, absolute power? Like they basically say Trump is no longer subject to checks and balances?

[–] Bonskreeskreeskree 21 points 1 day ago (1 children)

70% control required of congress to amend the constitution

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

yeah? who's gonna enforce that

[–] UnderpantsWeevil 7 points 23 hours ago

Taking a sharpie to the Constitution is predicated on people acknowledging the changes.

We barely give a shit about the document in its current state. I'm hard pressed to imagine a Unitary Executive's rewrites would matter since it's been Calvinball Rules since Marbury v Madison.

[–] [email protected] 59 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Exactly as expected and foretold.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yeah, as of Feb. 12 2025 no U.S. federal body can be accepted as credible. All information flowing from the CDC, department of education, energy, health and human services, EPA, FDIC, DOJ and on and on and on. All federal bodies should be IGNORED until credibility is returned.

All of the employees should just go home at this point and let it all collapse so the courts and legislature are forced to act.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil 9 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

All federal bodies should be IGNORED until credibility is returned.

Sounds of planes crashing into one another

[–] WraithGear 4 points 16 hours ago

I mean why imagine? It’s already happening

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