Donald Trump does not mince words. He says if he wins the 2024 election, he plans to assume the role of dictator right from his first day in office.
First off, Trump plans to issue orders that would end birthright citizenship. Then he’ll give himself the authority to dismiss thousands of federal civil servants and force federal bureaucrats to obey culture war dictates.
Trump also plans to expand the reach of presidential authority. He aims to rewrite principles of law and American society, like birthright citizenship. Political experts believe many of these orders will trigger legal battles over bedrock issues destined for a 6-3 conservative Supreme Court.
Other proposed day-one orders include the culture war dictates that will have practical consequences. For example, one will bar federal agencies from running programs supporting gender-transition education.
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Another will reinstate Trump’s vaunted “National Garden of American Heroes.” The park will showcase sculptures of Irving Berlin, William F. Buckley, and Abraham Lincoln, among others.
It is usual for new presidents to issue executive orders on their first day in office. However, new administrations usually give orders that set new policies and proclaim the values of the new presidency.
What Trump is proposing is different in that it has ambition, and political experts see this for what it is. “The substance and content of some of these proposals go far beyond what presidents have done with executive orders,” Blake Emerson, a law professor at UCLA, says.
The Trump campaign describes the proposal in conclusive language, saying they’ve deciphered the “correct interpretation” of the 14th Amendment. Under that interpretation, the children of undocumented immigrants and tourists no longer get citizenship.
Federal agencies, like the Social Security Administration, will have to comply. They will stop issuing passports, social security numbers, and other markers of citizenship.
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Trump wants people who fall under this category to go back. And experts anticipate that the order will most likely be met with near-instantaneous legal challenges.
“He can’t change the Constitution with an executive order,” John Woolley, a professor at UC-Santa Barbara who studies executive orders, says. “But he can make things difficult.”
Culture war executive orders Trump is committed to also include the banning of gender transition education in federal agencies. It does not end there; he will also ban “ESG investments” and reverse Biden’s executive order promoting diversity. Trump also plans to issue an executive order allowing him to fire any federal civil servant with policymaking responsibilities.
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He has framed it as a plan to “shatter the deep state” on the first day. Some civil service experts say this could trigger a mass exodus of professionals. And if that happens, it may lead to the ‘beheading’ of the functioning of several government agencies.
Of course, his proposals may not pass as they will likely run into litigation. The federal employees, their unions, and good government groups are expected to sue to block some of them from going into effect.
However, Trump will likely be able to unleash massive policy shifts. One proposal, for example, will ban the federal government from supporting efforts to fight “dis” or “mis” information. Meanwhile, another will reinstate the travel ban on Muslim countries.
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