President Trump has decided to go all in. He has signed an Executive Order that will give him and successive White House occupants regulatory control of the independent agencies that are responsible for oversight and regulation of securities markets, communications, elections and trade.
Trump gained office by attacking President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on the Afghanistan debacle and the Southern border. The White House bungled both challenges. And rising prices were, for many, the swing issue.
Now, Trump is acting like a south-of-the-border autocrat who has taken over his country. America is not Brazil or Argentina or Columbia. America has an unparalleled record of stability and prosperity. Troubling, however, America’s success has turned on it. Humans often have a perverse relationship with success.
I am reminded of Neil Postman’s book: “Amusing Our selves to Death”. He expressed specific concern about “the trivialization of public discourse”.
In recent weeks I have written about the importance of free speech as the President seeks to limit it through the actions of the Federal Communications Commission. He has sued CBS and ABC among others contending they distorted the news.
In both cases his FCC Chair Brendan Carr has opened proceedings against them. The President takes them on and his regulatory chief twists their arm. In the case of the ABC litigation Disney, it’s owner, paid $15m into a Trump library account.
So, Mr. President, what is the problem you are trying to solve by ordering that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the FCC give you a veto over their actions?
Surprisingly, when I chaired the FCC, I could have spent much of my time traveling abroad, staying in nice hotels and enjoying excellent meals with interesting companions. In the newly democratizing countries of the former Soviet Bloc they were eager to learn how we regulated various communications media.
Those who had dissented in the post WW2 world of Communist dictators were eager to begin private sector ownership of the media and wanted to assure free speech. The emerging world of democrats—freedom loving patriots—wanted to know how the United States balanced the competing claims in regulating entities that had a license to own radio, television, telephony, and satellite businesses.
The overarching answer was the law which in 1934 created the FCC and specified it operate in the “public interest” and at the same time balanced political power by requiring Commissioners from both political parties.
Rather than leave you with heartfelt and often courageous stories from what had been the Soviet Bloc let me turn back to what President Trump is doing. He wants a cancel button. If he doesn’t like it, it doesn’t happen.
Trump has cowed the Congress, taken over the arts and now wants to rule the independent agencies. Whats left? The Courts for one, which are presiding over a number of challenges to Presidential power. And I like to think the Majority Leader of the US Senate, Senator John Thune, might eventually say “enough.”
Regarding the Congress. On paper the Founders delegated more power to it than either the executive or judicial branches. But rather than say in public what many Republican Senators say about Trump’s overreach in private, they specialize in a defensive posture that reveals an absence of integrity.
Understandably in the “honeymoon” period of a new President there is a reluctance to be critical. And it seems like a majority support his efforts to reduce the cost of government. But, the President having telegraphed his intent to flood the zone became abusive on the first day of the honeymoon.
If this assault on common sense government is not stopped by Congress, a pattern will kick in; each Party’s President will flood the zone and before long America will join the unstable governments and economies and become progressively less trustworthy and prosperous.
Ships have keels and rudders and many have sails; no less the Ship of State. It is time for what we think of as checks and balances to be used. Senator Thune and Chief Justice Roberts can become profiles in courage.
Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.
0 Responses
Al,
Excellent piece. I certainly hope the Supreme Court clarifies quickly what it meant to do when granting Presidents some amount of immunity from prosecution for official acts. I am sincerely hoping they are horrified by Trump’s efforts to ignore the Constitution completely as he simultaneously violates his Oath of Office to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.
His abandonment of Ukraine and embrace of Putin is shocking and should be immediately reversed, though rebuilding the trust of Ukraine and our many European allies will be difficult. The U.S. just took a giant step backward from our leadership position in helping to preserve and nurture democracies around the world. America has become less secure.
“President Trump has decided to go all in. He has signed an Executive Order that will give him and successive White House occupants regulatory control of the independent agencies that are responsible for oversight and regulation of securities markets, communications, elections and trade.”
Where does the US constitution say “independent agencies that are responsible for oversight and regulation of securities markets, communications, elections and trade” or say anything close to that. Nowhere, I can see? Instead the Constitution gives these powers exclusively to the US President.
Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution reads: ” All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.”
The power of the president is not absolute. The president must obey the law. As long as the Supreme Court has not declared the authorizing statutes for the SEC, FCC, FTC, and other agencies unconstitutional, the president has no authority to act inconsistently with those authorizing statutes.
Is is arguable (actually, more than arguable) that if the President acts on his Executive Order, he will be in violation of the Constitution.
The latest statement today by the President is that he wants the government to take complete control of the city of Washington. He says that way he can make it beautiful and get rid of crime and the homeless.
Yes, as our founders always intended. The idea that DC is or should be a state is absurd and always has been. DC by its nature is a ward of the federal government.
How awful wrong you are Al! Disagree on most all. I have personally known Donald Trump for over 25 years and never once had a concern about any discussion personally had with him.
Need to stand up and understand just how awful our Country had become under a dead headed up useless Biden and all his dis-honest staff! Maybe after a year you will finally recognize all the great changes being put in place currentky raise our Country to great again like I used to know & appreciate it.
Oh dear.
Some things should never be made public, like “knowing” the felon. It is like admitting to having
a STD. I’m so sorry.
How awful wrong you are Al! Disagree on most all. I have personally known Donald Trump for over 25 years and never once had a concern about any discussion personally had with him.
Need to stand up and understand just how awful our Country had become under a dead headed up useless Biden and all his dis-honest staff! Maybe after a year you will finally recognize all the great changes being put in place currentky raise our Country to great again like I used to know & appreciate it.
Hi Al. I’m still not convinced that John Roberts (and certainly John Thune) have the courage to stand up to Trump. In fact, I believe much of the Republican Party leadership likely knew that the far-right wing would act extralegally and/or extra-constitutionally if they had the opportunity. The actual turning point of the party’s moral and philosophical collapse came at the moment they nominated Trump. They handed him the keys and understood the Revenge Tour would have no guard rails. They understood at that time they would be risking constitutional crises if he was elected, but they threw caution to the wind. That Trump’s bigoted, fear-mongering campaign funded with so much dark money, was able to regain power, the game was already over for our democratic republic.
Note that they voted for every bizarre cabinet candidate nominated by Trump. They probably presumed (as I did) that if a nominee was rejected, Trump would simply nominate an even worse, less-credible candidate, sending us from the frying pan to the fire. There has been barely a peep of protest from any Republican leader or back bencher. The pitiful rejection from only 3 or 4 senators regarding Trump’s lies that Zelenskyy started the Ukraine War is so terribly dishonest, its sickening. That so few, if any of all those Republicans will speak out against that atrocious abandonment of American values, I have no confidence that the Republican Party is anything but a mob of elected zombies excusing or supporting Trump’s gross agenda.
I’m also highly doubtful that the Chief Justice can or would provide any constitutional backbone against Trump’s efforts to turn our country into an authoritarian regime. Today he told the Governor of Maine that if the state didn’t prevent transsexual males from competing in high school sports in Maine, that the state would get no federal assistance from the US Government. Al, don’t hold your breath waiting for any Republican leaders to speak out against such threatening, thug -speak.