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Trump Seizes More Authority With Executive Orders - The Wednesday AM Quickie 2/19/25

By Jacob Silverman —

Now the White House claims that Elon Musk does oversee DOGE, though no one is officially in charge of DOGE. Right. -Jacob

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THE BIG NEWS

Trump Seizes More Authority With Executive Orders

President Trump signed more executive orders yesterday, including one that, according to the Times, "requires independent agencies to submit their proposed regulations to the White House for review, asserts a power to block such agencies from spending funds on projects or efforts that conflict with presidential priorities, and declares that they must accept the president’s and the Justice Department’s interpretation of the law as binding."

Outside the MAGA faithful, the order is likely to be seen as a power grab giving the executive more power over the SEC, FTC, FCC, NLRB, and other key regulators. The order also allows the Office of Management and Budget – now overseen by anti-administrative state zealot Russell Vought – can withhold any appropriated funds that might conflict with the president's policies.

As Politico noted, the order is based on a "fringe" legal theory and "many mainstream legal scholars still believe it is illegal."

To paraphrase Elon Musk, who last night played court eunuch to King Trump in a sycophantic interview conducted by Fox News' Sean Hannity, the entire government needs to be subordinated to the will of the president, because the president is elected by the people. So if any part of the government is beyond the president, it's beyond the people's democratic wishes. Sounds like a brisk walk toward one man's authoritarian rule.

US and Russia Agree To Try To End Russia's War On Ukraine

American and Russian diplomats met in Riyadh yesterday and discussed working toward an end of the war in Ukraine. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, and Middle East envoy Steven Witkoff and their Russian counterparts agreed to upgrade staffing levels at diplomatic facilities in both countries; work on Ukraine; and consider closer economic ties (meaning, eventual sanctions relief). "We weren’t just listening to each other, but we heard each other," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov.

The Ukrainian government wasn't invited to participate in the talks.

QUICKEST QUICKIES

  • Postmaster General From First Trump Admin Finally Steps Aside U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, the austerity-favoring official who Donald Trump appointed in his first term and who Joe Biden, inexplicably, refused to make any effort to remove from the office, told his colleagues that they should begin looking for his successor. via Reuters.
  • DOGE Is Creating X Accounts For Federal Agencies DOGE has set up X accounts for the SEC, Department of Agriculture, IRS, and other federal agencies, asking the public for help in identifying alleged waste and fraud. The pseudo-populist crowdsourcing requests might serve as a reminder that these people have no idea what they're doing. via The Hill.
  • Federal Judge Calls A Hearing On Dismissal of Eric Adams' Charges US District Judge Dale Ho, who was overseeing the Eric Adams case, called for a hearing today for the Department of Justice to explain its decision to withdraw its corruption charges against New York City's mayor. Judge Ho likely doesn't have the ability to restore the case, but ghoulish deputy attorney general Emil Bove may be required to explain himself! via WaPo.
  • Bank Regulator Is Latest Agency Hit By DOGE Cuts As administrators at government agencies resign over demands to give eugenicist 22-year-old Palantir alumni read-write access to sensitive systems and databases, the mass firings continued yesterday at the FDIC and the Federal Housing Administration. The former protects Americans' bank accounts in cases of fraud or bank collapse. The latter helps credit-poor and first-time buyers afford down payments and mortgage insurance. Naturally, Musk wants them destroyed. via Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg.

SOME NUMBER

$45 million

That was the amount of a USAID grant that was funding promising research into an HIV vaccine in South Africa. The grant has since been pulled while Trump has cut off all aid to South Africa based on fake stories about oppression of white farmers. The scientists and doctors running the vaccine studies are unsure if they'll be able to find new funding.

ON THE SHOW TODAY

2/19: It's Hump Day!

DON'T MISS MR CLIPS‌

What The Hell Is Hakeem Jeffries Doing?

The Democrats seem to enjoy losing a bit too much.

Trump Fires More Air Traffic Workers And Musk Looks To Privatize With SpaceX

This has always been the plan for every agency and government function they can get their hands on.

PARTING WORDS

“Lessons learned in the counterterrorism realm are applicable to the counternarcotics mission and the counter-cartel mission. The full weight of those has not been brought to bear on this problem.”

-- An anonymous intelligence insider speaking to the Washington Post about the CIA's plans to divert resources – including drones – to fighting Mexican drug cartels. The CIA plans to draw on the lessons, tactics, and strategies gleaned from the disastrous decades-long global war on terror. I thought the main "lesson learned" was that none of this stuff works.

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