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Unknown A
Donald Trump has done something terrifying with regard to expanding presidential power. There was a time where Republicans would have forcefully opposed this. That time is not now. The executive order that Donald Trump has signed effectively dismantles the independence of federal regulatory agencies and it consolidates unprecedented power under the White House. This is not normal. This is certainly not democracy. It is, as Senator Bernie Sanders described it earlier this week, authoritarianism. It's more than a temporary power grab. This is the biggest executive power grab in American history and it fundamentally reshapes the balance of power in our government. And so many people are not understanding what is going on. Now, you may recall that earlier this week I played this clip for you.
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Unknown B
Lastly, we have another executive order that President Trump signed relating to independent agencies. This executive order would establish important oversight functions in the Office of Management and Budget and its subsidiary office oira, supervising independent agencies and many of their actions, and also reestablishes the long standing norm that only the President or the Attorney General can speak for the United States when stating an opinion as to what the law is.
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Unknown A
The order, titled Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies, claims to promote presidential supervision and control of the entire executive branch. This is not about accountability. This is about control. It is about absolute, unchecked control, and it is a direct attack on the very foundations of our democratic system. Now, here's what this order does. The President now controls all regulatory agencies. We're talking about supposedly independent agencies like the fec, the fcc, the ftse, the sec. They are no longer independent. They are now subject to direct White House oversight. What on earth does Trump know about any of it? Now, the sec, of course, regulates Wall Street. That's now under Trump's thumb. And that opens up the door to insider trading, favoritism, the targeting of political opponents by the SEC for particular stock trades. The FTC enforces antitrust laws. They can now selectively target companies that oppose the administration and allow friendly monopolies to flourish.
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Unknown A
Not that the FTC has a good track record of monopoly busting anyway, but especially now, elections. The fec, which oversees campaign finance and election integrity, that is now under White House control, meaning the President can directly influence how elections are regulated and enforced. And it goes way further. Agencies like the fda, the epa, responsible for drug approvals, food safety, protecting the environment, they are overtly politicized. Now, you might be saying, David, weren't they kind of implicitly politicized anyway? Yes, they were. But now that is completely unrestrained by the overt politicization, climate change regulations gone overnight, scientific research subject to what Trump wants researched. And they can even say, okay, you did it. You did the research. I don't want it released to the public, not going public. The implication here is that there is no longer any neutral enforcement of economic, environmental, or election laws.
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Unknown A
It's just dictated by Trump and political loyalty. That's number one. Secondly, budgets. The White House can block agency budgets or say, we are going to send the funds elsewhere. The OMB Office of Management and Budget is led by Trump loyalist Russell Vaught. We spoke about him on Monday. They now have the power to just adjust funding allocations for independent agencies. They can defund opposition if they don't like it. If an agency says, we believe the law is counter to presidential policy, they can just be strangled by the White House. Agencies that fall in line will be fully funded, even. Even if it is against the law. And here's the consequence that Congress no longer controls federal spending on regulatory enforcement. That is a power that Congress had. The executive branch can just choke it out, choke out the funding, choke out opposition agencies, and reward their allies.
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Unknown A
Number three, as Will Scharf mentioned in the video, the final legal interpretation comes from one of two people, Trump or Attorney General Pam Bondi. You're a federal employee. You've got to follow Trump's opinion about the law. Imagine that. Agency, lawyers, doesn't matter. Inspectors general, independent counsel. It's Trump's opinion of the law that matters. And this effectively allows laws to be rewritten overnight. Trump can unilaterally change how federal laws are interpreted and enforced, and thus legal consistency disappears. Agencies can't push back against corrupt, illegal, and unconstitutional directives because the president's interpretations are all that matter. Number four, installing White House liaisons at regulatory agencies. Sort of like babysitters. The White House will have a liaison in every independent agency to enforce. Trump's will be done within those agencies. And these liaisons are going to monitor daily operations. They're going to be in the bathrooms. Do we like the kind of toilet paper you've got in here?
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Unknown A
Whatever the hell they want. The agency directors themselves will no longer have the ability to act without White House approval. This is now a way to directly enforce what Trump wants inside of agencies. Now, if some of this sort of sounds familiar, if you're thinking a little bit about Steve Bannon, or was it Stephen Miller? All of this is rooted in the unitary executive theory. This was a once fringe legal idea that the President has sole control over the entire executive branch. And it's a theory that has been championed by Russell Vaught. And others. But here's the real irony with this. Some of you are old enough to remember, and you don't have to be that old. Some, some of you are a 10 year old would be old enough to remember. When conservatism and the Republican Party claimed to be the champions of limited government, checks and balances and restricting how much power the president has, they railed against executive overreach often when it was a Democratic president in office.
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Unknown A
But at one point, they genuinely seemed sort of committed to it. Under Trump, they've abandoned that principle completely. This is another reminder that they have their stated principles, limited government, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it's meaningless as soon as they deem it inconvenient. If what's convenient is letting Trump control every aspect of every agency, forget about limited government. We don't care. So this is an executive order that doesn't just expand presidential power, it erases some of the final restraints on it. The federal government no longer operates with checks and balances. Regulations and law is now are now dictated by the president. And if you leave it unchecked, and this is what's terrifying, functionally, we are no longer a democracy. This order will face legal challenges. The fact that it was even signed is a chilling escalation in Trump's efforts to consolidate power. And if it is appealed all the way up to the Supreme Court.
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Unknown A
Look at who's on the Supreme Court. Another aspect to this disaster. And finally, don't forget when Trump recently said, if I'm saving my country, it's not against the law. Reminiscent of when Nixon said, if the president does it, it's not against the law. Trump believes that he is above the law. He has signed an executive order that reaffirms that. And the only check on it may end up being a Supreme Court that has three justices on it that were nominated by Trump and is one of the most extreme right wing courts, certainly in my lifetime, much longer than that as well. Terrifying. Absolutely terrifying stuff. Remember that we are now inching so close to 3 million YouTube subscribers in terms of left wing shows. You've got the Young Turks, you've got Midas Touch, and you've got Brian Tyler Cohen. Above 3 million. We would be the fourth to enter that category.
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Unknown A
It feels like just months ago we were talking about 2 million subscribers and we are heading to 3. Help us get there a little more quickly. We've got some great stuff planned for when we reach that number. It's free. Just hit the subscribe button on YouTube.
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Unknown C
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Unknown A
They do.
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Unknown C
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