Gunner Quinn
January 20, 2025 was a pivotal day in American political history. President Donald J. Trump (DJT) was ushered into office on a very cold day that necessitated an indoor ceremony inside the Capitol rotunda, beneath the Apotheosis painting vowed to “dismantle government bureaucracy.” On that day, many of the Deep State inhabitants of the District of Criminals gave DJT a cold reception. A few Democrat Governors have even promised to actively resist DJT’s planned reforms. So has the leftist ACLU.
Just as he promised, DJT signed more than 100 executive orders (EOs) in the first 28 hours of his second term in office. One of these forthrightly reversed 78 of Joe Biden’s ill-conceived EOs. The general gist of the tally of EOs was toward less government. As described the White House web page, some of the first batch of executive orders included:
Declaring a Border Invasion
Designating Cartels And Other Organizations As Foreign Terrorist Organizations
Reforming The Federal Hiring Process And Restoring Merit To Government Service
Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing
Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government
Establishing And Implementing The President’s “Department Of Government Efficiency”
America First Policy Directive To The Secretary Of State
Protecting The United States From Foreign Terrorists And Other National Security And Public Safety Threats
Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Global Tax Deal (Global Tax Deal)
Organization of the National Security Council and Subcommittees
Reevaluating And Realigning United States Foreign Aid
Temporary Withdrawal of All Areas on the Outer Continental Shelf from Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of the Federal Government’s Leasing and Permitting Practices for Wind Projects
Declaring a National Energy Emergency
Restoring Accountability for Career Senior Executives
Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture
Restoring The Death Penalty And Protecting Public Safety
Putting People Over Fish: Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Provide Water to Southern California
Securing our Borders
Protecting The Meaning And Value Of American Citizenship
Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program
Unleashing American Energy
Clarifying The Military’s Role In Protecting The Territorial Integrity Of The United States
America First Trade Policy
Memorandum to Resolve the Backlog of Security Clearances for Executive Office of the President Personnel
Declaring A National Emergency At The Southern Border Of The United States
Holding Former Government Officials Accountable For Election Interference And Improper Disclosure Of Sensitive Governmental Information
Restoring Accountability To Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce
Withdrawing The United States From The World Health Organization
Application Of Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act To TikTok
Granting Pardons And Commutation Of Sentences For January 6, 2021 Protestors
Putting America First In International Environmental Agreements
Delivering Emergency Price Relief for American Families and Defeating the Cost-of-Living Crisis
Federal Hiring Freeze
Regulatory Freeze Pending Review
Return to In-Person Work
Ending The Weaponization Of The Federal Government
Restoring Freedom Of Speech And Ending Federal Censorship
The majority of those point to less government and more free enterprise. But a few — such as the as-yet undefined “Emergency Price Relief” could mean more government through artificially-imposed controls. (I’ve warned about wage and price controls, in SurvivalBlog.)
Most of those EOs will surely be implemented without a fuss. But a few will require the cooperation of congress to enact enabling legislation, and a few may be delayed or overturned by the Federal courts. In particular, DJT’s promise to end automatic birthplace citizenship will almost surely be challenged.
Trump’s Cabinet
My greatest fears about DJT’s second term revolve around his cabinet member picks. Most of them seem to be genuine conservatives who love liberty and want to reduce the size, power, and expense of our bloated Federal government. But a few of them seem to be more of the status quo “usual suspects”. They are Swamp Denizens rather than Swamp Drainers. Based on what I’ve read, two of the nominees that are of particular concern are Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi and Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent. Pam Bondi is worrisome because she seems to be a statist, and she has said that she is in favor of Red Flag laws. And Scott Bessent is troubling because he is both a statist/globalist and a long-time banking insider. He also seems in favor of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). A VOA article on Bessent mentions:
“Bessent is a billionaire who, before becoming a Trump donor and adviser, donated to various Democratic causes in the early 2000s, notably Al Gore’s presidential run. He also worked for George Soros, a major supporter of Democrats.”
The DOGE Boys
President Trump has enlisted two unpaid advisers to implement a so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). That is a misnomer, since it will not be a Department. Rather, it is just a small private Commission. It is being headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. In a November 20, 2024 opinion piece published by The Wall Street Journal, the DOGE boys said that they hope to eliminate entire agencies and bureaus. They wrote:
“The two of us will advise DOGE at every step to pursue three major kinds of reform: regulatory rescissions, administrative reductions and cost savings. We will focus particularly on driving change through executive action based on existing legislation rather than by passing new laws.”
Their letter to the WSJ also mentioned:
“A drastic reduction in federal regulations provides sound industrial logic for mass head-count reductions across the federal bureaucracy.”
and,
“Not only are fewer employees required to enforce fewer regulations, but the agency would produce fewer regulations once its scope of authority is properly limited.”
Reluctant RINOS
A lot of DJT’s success at implementing his DOGE plan and other reforms hinges on whether or not he has the cooperation of the U.S. Congress. There is now a solid Republican majority in the House of Representatives and a slim Republican majority in the Senate. But some of those Republicans are in favor of the status quo and Big Government. These are the so-called Republicans in Name Only (RINOs.) If DJT cannot garner the cooperation of congressional RINOs, many of his “Golden Age” plans will probably be stymied. Much the same situation existed in January of 2016, as DJT began his first term in office. The “Never Trumpers” dug in their heels, and they squandered their Republican majority. Those RINOs preferred to see nothing happen, just to deny DJT policy successes while he was in office.
The Plum Book Problem
In his quest to appoint more conservative and freedom-loving “Swamp Drainers” to head government agencies, bureaus, boards, and commissions, DJTs hands are tied. This is because of the way that congress has structured Federal appointments and hiring, through the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). These hiring practices are summarized in what is commonly called the PLUM Book. The “Periodically Listing Updates to Management” is fittingly published with a plum-colored cover. This includes a list of more than 8,000 Federal management positions. (See the online edition here.) The PLUM Book delineates which Senior Executive Service (SES) positions can be filled by anyone, and which ones can only be filled by someone who is already a career bureaucrat, with a Civil Service rating.
Generally, the top-most positions in each agency are open to any qualified appointee — these are “General” positions. But about half of the other SES and most of the Senior Level (SL) positions are restricted to being filled only by career bureaucrats — these are “Career Reserved” positions. In DC, anyone above paygrade GS-15 is commonly referred to as a “super-grader.” Career Reserved super-graders are very difficult to remove from positions of authority. Thus, even if DJT were to appoint Swamp Drainers to head each agency or bureau, they might be limited to only promoting Swamp Denizens to fill most of their subordinate positions.
Some Key Appointments
The majority of Trump agency leadership nominations have already been announced. Again, most of those individuals look promising. Some of them require congressional confirmation, and some do not. A few, including the new director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE — often truncated to just “ATF”) have not yet been announced. I am hoping that an outsider like Brandon Herrera becomes the new ATF Director. That Bureau needs a proverbial Clean Sweep.
Legislative Promises
Donald Trump has also promised to sign a variety of legislation, if it reaches his desk. This includes a National Concealed Carry Reciprocity bill. That reportedly has bipartisan support in the House. DJT has also pledged to sign a repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA — commonly called Obamacare).
Prayers, Please!
Please pray for smaller government, more individual liberty, free trade, a real and widespread Christian revival, a restoration of traditional values, and a restrained foreign policy. Also, please pray that DJT appoints godly men and women to Federal agencies and Federal judgeships! Also pay that there is a large turnover of Federal appellate judges and Supreme Court justices in the next four years, so that Trump can place genuine conservative lovers of freedom in those crucial positions. – JWR
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