Political Pistachio
By Douglas V. Gibbs
Internationalists, globalists, and other worldwide Marxists are about as fond of Donald J. Trump as the Democrats. Trump, after all, not only represents being an existential threat to their power and wealth, but because he’s outside their little club and holds a lot of popular power he just might be able to upset their apple cart worse than they would prefer. While I figure there are those on the international stage that don’t stand against Trump, the imagery I’ve been observing tells me that those people are few and in between.
When President Trump chose to pay a virtual visit to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, he delivered a Trumpian address that encouraged the lefty global elites to twitch and shift uncomfortably in their chairs.
Trump spoke directly to the gathered dignitaries and business leaders, calling out their progressive agenda and pointing out the “ridiculous” and “wasteful” nature of their policies. Trump specifically took aim at climate regulations and reaffirmed his commitment to policies that prioritize economic freedom over globalist initiatives.
NATO, tariffs, and ongoing conflicts also made their way into his speech, the latter of which he blamed for heightened global oil prices, interest rates, and challenges for legitimate free market producers. He cautioned business leaders about potential tariffs by the United States on products manufactured overseas, encouraging those companies to return to the United States for manufacturing so that they can free themselves from the tariffs.
Climate Change was also targeted. Trump said, “I terminated the ridiculous and incredibly wasteful Green New Deal. I call it the Green New Scam. [I] withdrew from the one-sided Paris Climate Accord and ended the insane and costly electric vehicle mandate. We’re going to let people buy the car they want to buy.”
Trump directly targeted diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, as well, saying, “My administration has taken action to abolish all discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion nonsense. These are policies that were absolute nonsense throughout the government and the private sector. With the recent yet somewhat unexpected great Supreme Court decision just made, America will once again become a merit-based country. You have to hear that word. Merit-based country. And I’ve made it official, an official policy of the United States.”
Trump hammered the WEF with unapologetic stances not only on policy, but on cultural issues taking a firm position on gender policies. “There are only two genders, male and female. And we will have no men participating in women’s sports, and transgender operations, which became the rage, will occur very rarely,” he continued.
Trump’s speech was celebrated by those who have been critical of globalism, excited that Trump was willing to send a clear message to the WEF and its proponents that Trump’s America will not subscribe to their vision of global governance.
His speech to the WEF in Davos was the type of attitude that led to him being elected to a second term as President of the United States. And he took action quickly, rapidly confirming that when it comes to Trump, promises made will be promises kept. No more DEI, “drill baby drill,” no more weaponization of the judicial system against certain Americans or by government, a plan to achieve government efficiency, getting back to real science when it comes to biology, and an unleashing of the free market in the United States in order to infuse America’s economy with growth and the promise of innovation.
All of it makes the global elites nervous, but they have admitted defeat…for now. As Trump was telling them about his decision to freeze foreign aid, end climate change policies/”Green New Deal,” withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, end the EV mandate and increase domestic fossil fuel drilling, root out and eliminate spending corruption, and put America first, the Davos panel admitted that Trump had defeated them…for now.
Like Hamas, they will simply use the lull in the war as an opportunity to regroup and rearm.
In his speech Trump vowed that America would be the premier location on the planet for building and growing a company. “Under the Trump administration, there will be no better place on earth to create jobs, build factories, or grow a company than right here in the good old USA,” he said.
Trump’s message came days after he announced he would establish the External Revenue Service (ERS) which would be designed to “collect our Tariffs, Duties, and all Revenue that come from Foreign sources,” he said.
Trump’s message is in line with what the Founding Fathers originally intended. While they viewed foreign trade an important part of America’s global relationship with other countries, they used tariffs to make sure U.S. producers did not get the short end of the deal.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
By Douglas V. Gibbs
An oligarchy is a governmental system in which a powerful few rule over the many. Oligarchy is the most common form of government throughout history, and currently throughout the world. The Founding Fathers designed the American System so that becoming an oligarchy would be unlikely. The system is riddled with checks and balances, and mechanisms that operate in a unique manner so as to guard against oligarchy and pure democracy; the latter typically operating as a transitional political system that historically always becomes an oligarchy.
Progressivism as practiced by the Democratic Party operates in a manner that seeks to consolidate all governmental power within the federal government. The actions and policies of the Democratic Party wreak of the Democrats seeking to secure absolute control over the country’s legislatures, even the state legislatures beyond the control they seek in Congress, to dominate in the courts so that their ideology may be used as a weapon in the judicial system against any opposition, and in the presidency so that their power may be wielded in a manner similar to that of an authoritarian leader.
Donald J. Trump won the presidency in November of 2024, and now he is President of the United States. The Republican Party, a new party in many ways that has been shedding its establishment skin so that it may be reshaped under the guiding hand of Trump, holds a majority, though slim, in both the House of Representatives and the United States Senate. The United States Supreme Court, thanks to Trump’s first term in office from 2017 to 2021, slightly leans in the President’s ideological favor. As a result, the big-government-minded Democrats, whose activities always drip with the tyranny of oligarchy, have began screaming that the Trump movement and the GOP has brought an authoritarian oligarchy to America.
If you’ve been paying attention to politics long enough, oligarchy-minded politicians are really good at projecting their sins upon their opposition.
In California, Gavin Newsom, despite a line-up of recall attempts, remains governor of the Golden State, and hard-left Democrats remain in absolute control of the state legislature. While America has awakened enough to realize that the Democrats may not be operating in their best interest, the revolution against the Marxist progressives has not born much fruit in deep blue California.
Democrats, especially California Democrats, have accused President Trump of being in the pockets of billionaires, Wall Street, and their biggest enemy: Corporate America. Never mind that they (the hard left Democrats) are the ones typically bathing in funding from very wealthy people from around the world who have been hoping that the rise of a progressive oligarchy will continue to feed a mercantilist machine that operates in blue-money’s favor. Then, to the horror of the liberal left progressive commie Democrats a series of defections began to spill over in the direction of Trump. California’s wealthiest entrepreneurs and investors are walking away from the Democratic Party and have, at least for the moment, given their support to the MAGA movement.
Elon Musk’s defection sent a message, I suppose. The defections are so deep that even names like Zuckerberg and Bezos have joined the list. For the Democrats, the cozying up to Trump by big money from big tech was an unexpected development that has left Democrats scrambling to discredit the defectors – because that is what they do. It seems to be the special golden rule that the Democrats operate under. “Do onto others before they do onto you.” The anatomy of a smear is alive and well, and we see it often against any opposition to the Democrats, especially when it comes to Trump’s nominations for his Cabinet, and especially when it comes to defectors like Tulsi Gabbard and Robert Kennedy, Jr. But, when the big corporate money that the Democrats claim to hate began to actually take dollars out of their pockets; that was something for them to truly fume about. In fact, they are so angry about it that they have been getting truly nasty about it. In his farewell address, Joseph Biden took full advantage of the situation to throw around the oligarchy accusations and to try to paint the Democratic Party’s opposition as being a bunch of oligarchs.
Biden said, “Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.”
I am not one to necessarily bang the drum for mercantilistic big corporation players who jump at the opportunity to collude with government so that they can tilt the playing field against any free market competitors. That said, I don’t hate the wealthy. I don’t have any disdain for the mega-successful. In fact, while there might be those out there accusing big corporate giants as being akin to the robber baron titans of the nineteenth century, the reality is (then and now) it is those big monster corporations that have been major contributors to American prosperity, has put out product in a manner that has fueled supply and demand in ways that have provided opportunity for consumers and laborers alike, and it is those big business moguls who have paved a path for America’s future in trade and free market economics. Like them, or not, the reality is when American companies, even the big nasty ones who seek to play political games, do well American rights and freedoms multiply and everyone gets ahead.
We have to remember one of the premises behind the progressive lefty thinking of the Democrats: The size of the pie is finite, so if the wealthy enjoys a large part of the pie, everyone else must be losing out and suffering. That’s what they are basically telling you when they say, “The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.”
Except, that is completely wrong. In reality, wealth can be created, making it an infinite thing. When the tide rises, it lifts all boats. When big wealthy corporations do well, more product is produced, more jobs are unleashed, and the size of the pie gets bigger so that everyone can grab a piece.
Biden’s other accusations of oligarchy against Trump and his sudden boon of wealthy billionaire support, laid out what he believed to be possible consequences should the threat of an oligarchy under the “authoritarian” hand of Trump isn’t contained:
“Powerful forces want to wield their unchecked influence to eliminate the steps we’ve taken to tackle the climate crisis, to serve their own interests for power and profit.”
Putting aside the fact that any change in global temperatures (climate change) is a natural phenomenon not driven by fluctuations in levels of carbon dioxide, but due to other factors that primarily involve the sun (yes, I know it’s a shock: the sun influences warming of the planet), it’s difficult to imagine how any American cannot recognize the Democrats’ warnings about the presence and influence by business oligarchs (Biden’s version of what the word means: despotic power exercised by a small and privileged group of ultra-wealthy people for corrupt or selfish purposes) as being a severely hypocritical utterance. American politics have always been heavily influenced by big business corporate titans. I’m not saying I am particularly always appreciative of such mercantilistic influences, but the reality is that big business and government (right or wrong) has been a relationship that has shaped America’s prowess in the world throughout history. Truthfully, more often than not, while it may be frustrating that so much influence has been in the hands of what the Democrats might call “oligarchs”, it has largely been to the benefit of America and Americans.
Big business oligarchy, if one is willing to call it that, is like any tool. In the wrong hands it is a bad thing. But, if properly wielded, it could be beneficial. Again, I am not condoning collusion between government and big corporate interests, I am simply making an observation. I suppose you could say that monarchy isn’t such a bad thing if the king is benevolent. It’s the dictators who are the problem when they reach the kingly level. That’s why the Founding Fathers made this country a federal republic, and why they did what they could to stifle mercantilism and big money influence on government.
Nonetheless, big corporate money has been a part of the political game in America for a very long time. During my lifetime the reality has been that the Democratic Party that has been the primary instrument of America’s big corporate oligarchy. The Democratic Party embraced the big corporate oligarchy when President Clinton signed financial deregulation and gave a green light to offshoring American manufacturing. The big business oligarchs were coddled and colluded with during Obama’s alliance with Wall Street special interests and was again furthered during Biden’s presidency with the rise, approval, and implementation of the Green New Deal. The Democratic party has been firmly in the hands of what they consider to be big corporate oligarchs. And now, they are angry because Trump and the GOP has taken the baton as the party of working families across America, and corporate giants are lining up to serve and strengthen Trump’s agenda because they’ve realized that unleashing the free market is in their best interest, as opposed to government strangulation by the federal government’s iron fist of Democratic Party political oligarchy control.
Biden claimed on his way out that big corporate oligarchs are contributing to Trump’s MAGA movement and that somehow that is a horrible development, despite the fact that for the last several election cycles, billionaire donors have favored Democrats. Biden’s party of hard left collectivists were luxuriating in the shower of dollars raining upon them from mega-wealthy individuals like Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg, Dustin Moskovitz, Reid Hoffman, Fred Eychaner, James Simons, Stephen Mandel, and more. Democrats, despite claiming otherwise, still continue to receive support from major Wall Street firms. Billions of dollars in soft money is constantly filtering to the Democratic Party through Democrat-aligned C4 advocacy groups from the above-listed direct donors, along with George Soros, Laurene Powell Jobs, and thousands of other supporters who play the game without anyone necessarily noticing. And all of this is in addition to the money-laundering schemes the Democrats enjoy through labor unions and other organizational sources.
Then, the Democrats got too dictatorial. Democrat Party policies began to suffocate innovation, and grab more control over corporate operations and free market allowances. Rather than operating in a manner that big corporations saw as favorable to their grip on the American economy, leftist policies began to choke the golden goose. And, as a result, many of the billionaires departed. A fault-line appeared, creating a schism in one of the most unlikely places: Silicon Valley. Biden’s political oligarchy ticked off the corporate oligarchy, and the billionaires picked up their ball so that they could play somewhere else.
A combination of factors led to the split. I have argued that the Democrat Party’s decision to disallow the private sector to freely develop the next big boom, artificial intelligence, may have been a part of it. The all-out support by the hard left members of the Democratic Party, which seems to be nearly all of them of late, for woke, DEI, and sexual insanity ideologies may have also played a part. Perhaps the demands of censorship and unfair gameplay also rattled some of the brains of big corporate titans. The peddling of disinformation and then labeling any dissent “misinformation” and “disinformation” may have also influenced the whole shake-up. Elon Musk’s defection which happened much earlier than the other one’s definitely got the ball rolling, sending a message that it was not only okay to defect and join Trump’s movement, but that it was the cool thing to do. Whatever it was (some of those factors, all of those factors, it is hard to say exactly what the combination was), the reality is that Democratic Party controlled institutions have been deceiving America, and the corporate giants finally had their fill of it.
California, as a result, is losing big tech. The California business oligarchs are fleeing the Golden State, and the Democratic Party. The big money alliance behind the Democratic Party has faltered, and the corporate oligarchs are no longer united under the flag of the blue lefty donkey. Whether it is because they find Trump more beneficial to their own interests for power and profit, or if they simply have come to see the light that the Democrats are not the champions for working Americans and a future of innovation, or other reasons, the reality is, we are watching an interesting political realignment that has shifted in an amazing manner when it comes to the big money part of America’s economic pie.
While Biden and the Democrats are warning against corporate oligarchs who were once serving the Democratic Party’s insatiable appetite for power and profit, calling the new realignment behind Trump the oligarch-industrial complex, the real power grab through things like climate change and government control over the free market has suddenly lost its grip.
It seems amazing that the Democrats don’t think that we can see that it is they who perfectly embodies the oligarch menace they are marching around claiming to be warning us about. Under their drive for political oligarchy the corporate oligarchies became stronger with government colluding against the American People through them. Under their drive for political oligarchy more power was given to the woke-DEI agenda. Under their drive the affordable-housing regulatory authoritarian agenda gained momentum and served the Democrats in ways that included driving their socialism-minded minions into otherwise “conservative” regions. Homelessness worsened, destruction of the American Dream intensified, and the power and wealth grab in the name of the “climate-crisis” worsened. All of these manifestations of special interest regulatory capture, politically connected industries and NGOs, and government bureaucracies sought to strengthen the Democrat Party’s drive for political oligarchy, and the silencing of all opposition in a true Marxian manner — all products of Biden’s corporate oligarchs who had been pumping their influences and billions of dollars into the rising authoritarian threat inside the hard left Democratic Party.
Then, Trump came along, grabbed the apple cart by both handles, and flipped the thing over. He scattered the Democrats, scattered their support, and then began to undermine their strength. They underestimated Trump. They underestimated the unconscionable idea that Trump might be able to lure away some of the sources of their power, like the big money in Corporate America. Trump’s movement moved the importance away from people who aimed to compromise America’s foundation of freedom and a free market to placing American interests for the sake of liberty and the lives of Americans first. The political machines sputtered, and the voters realized they had been lied to. Americans in November then, with their vote, rejected the political oligarchy being formed by the Democrats, and when the people moved to Trump, so did a handful of extremely powerful Silicon Valley titans. And when the dust settled, the resulting coalition pulled off the greatest political comeback in American History.
California, however, remains a swarming nest of the old guard, despite being exposed as a raging disgrace by things like California’s economy, and its inability to fight the destructive fires raging through Los Angeles. As a result, they are battening down the hatches. The Democratic politicians refuse to recognize the shift, and have declared war on Trump and the Americans who support him. The California political elite have declared war against Trump because their self-serving egos can’t muster any other action.
The funny thing is that they don’t realize that they are now in a vicious cycle against themselves. The more they resist, the more Americans recognize the folly of their political idiocy. The more they push their authoritarian progressive leftist slop, the more big money we will see fleeing away from them. They have dug in, ready to commit to a new kind of trench warfare, but in the end the same old Marxist leftist Democratic Party tactics simply won’t work for them anymore; or at least not as long as Americans remember what they are truly all about.
Historically, unfortunately, we have seen how short the memories of American voters truly are.
In the words of Princess Leia Organa from Star Wars: “It’s not over yet.”
The battle may have only just begun.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
By Douglas V. Gibbs
Darkness does not exist. It cannot be measured or contained. It is simply the absence of light.
When light appears, darkness has no choice but to flee and retreat into the darkest recesses of the shadows.
In politics, when darkness faces a defeat, it is vengeful, angrily striking out against its opposition.
Sometimes the lashing out backfires.
Former President Joe Biden lashed out during the final moments of his presidency. He, or his handlers, didn’t seem to care how Biden’s words and actions may impact his own party on his way out. Biden seemed to take Kamala Harris’s loss to Donald Trump personally, claiming that he was wrong to drop out and that he could have beaten Trump had he remained in the race.
The criminality of his family and closest Democratic allies seemed to be confirmed when Biden issued a flurry of preemptive and sweeping pardons — perhaps also a sign that he may not have been the only one that was calling the shots during his failed presidency.
His disdain for Kamala Harris seemed to work its way to the surface when he not only told USA Today that he would have defeated Trump, but that the tactics used by party personnel that also were involved in showing him the exit failed the party.
Nonetheless, his primary plan had nothing to do with America and became all about protecting his own hide, and those around him. His pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, revealed that there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to the Biden family’s criminal enterprises. He issued a blanket pardon not only for crimes Hunter Biden had been found guilty of, but also for “offenses against the United States which he … may have committed or taken part in” during a nearly 11-year period.
The pardon allowed Hunter to avoid prison time, and prevented the incoming Trump Justice Department from bringing any other case against Hunter Biden during the time in question. The starting date of the pardon in 2014 coincides with Hunter Biden’s genesis of his infamous and lucrative stint on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company, while his father served as President Obama’s point man on Ukraine.
Then, Biden honored Hillary Clinton and George Soros, awarding them the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the highest civilian honor. Soros, the Hungarian born billionaire who worked with the NAZIs, became rich destroying the economies of various countries, and then notoriously funded the “rogue prosecutor” movement, supporting soft-on-crime district attorneys who have emboldened criminals by refusing to charge certain crimes is not only a traitor to the United States, but a worldwide threat. George Soros is also known as being the main funding source for the activist cultural Marxist left through his Open Society Foundations, which his son Alex now runs. Fittingly, Alex Soros received the medal on behalf of his father.
By awarding Soros the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Biden was making clear what many Americans already suspected—that Soros ranks among the leftist global elites who are really calling the shots in the Democratic Party.
Biden’s ban of offshore drilling across more than 600 million acres of water, and moves to protect the jobs of the deep state bureaucrats embedded in Washington were also designed to not only be vengeful, but was an attempt to hold on to what little power the left still had. With Biden taking such drastic moves, and continuing to pay homage to the Soros family, he has also made it more difficult for the Democrats to abandon the hard left nature that cost them the election, and more difficult to reconsider their trajectory as a political party. Biden, after all, has emboldened the darkest characters and influences of the Democratic Party.
Biden added to the damage with his farewell speech, ranting and raving about disinformation, how our democracy is in danger with the dictatorship of Trump gaining footing, how recent natural disasters have proven his claim of the reality of man-made climate change, and how only Biden and his allies can protect America from those who threaten democracy. Never mind that the Democrats have cozied up to socialist big money, encouraged dismantling freedom of speech and of the press, and have increased surveillance and collusion with certain industries like Big Tech.
His pardons freed or commuted the sentences of violent and nonviolent felons alike, and offered freedom to the worst of the worst, including two Chinese spies. The pardons also included a Pennsylvania judge who took bribes to send kids to a for-profit “detention” center; an Illinois clerk who embezzled over $53 million from a town of just 15,000 people; and a Massachusetts woman convicted for a fentanyl-trafficking conspiracy. His commutations included ex-Miami booster and Ponzi schemer Nevin Shapiro.
The deep state during Biden’s final days and hours also rammed through a laundry list of progressive demands, all spitting in the face of average Americans. With one more round of his unconstitutional and court-defying student-debt giveaways he stuck it to the taxpayers with more than $175 billion. Regarding federal employees, Biden struck a work-from-home deal with the union for some 42,000 workers. Billions of tax dollars were also sent to various boondoggles like fed grants for rural high-speed internet, CHIPS Act handouts and other nonsense progressive favorites. However, this kind of stuff is exactly why voters turned against the Democrats. It’s like a losing football team deciding that the best way to win during the second half of the game is to fumble the ball more.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
By Douglas V. Gibbs
After a quip that he would be in favor of making Canada the 51st State of the Union, the leftwing media went bananas. His talk about the importance of using Greenland for American interests also sent them into a tizzy. God help us if Trump talks more about the Panama Canal.
Trump Derangement Syndrome is sort of like how Black Lives Matter operates. BLM believes that everything America does is racist. If you see racism everywhere in your mind, your eyes will find a way to see racism everywhere, as well. Same thing with Trump. If in their minds he’s a authoritarian fascist bent on White Supremacy world domination, then that is what they will see with every action he takes.
“The Art of the Deal” by Donald Trump lays out much of what he is actually about. It is sort of a facilitator-twist on the idea of “Speak softly, but carry a big stick.” Trump is a negotiator, a good one who is willing to throw bargaining jabs and punches as he uses tactics that are sometimes laced with what seems like extreme measures, to achieve what he wants. It’s the ol’ go higher or lower than what you want to get what you want.
An example would be selling a vehicle to another private party. You may know that your vehicle is worth according to certain publications $10,000. You may be hoping to get $11,000, and are willing to go no lower than $9,500. So, you place a $13,500 price tag on your vehicle. The average person may say, “Way too high. You’ll never get what you’re asking.” True. That’s the point. You ask for the moon, you expect the Earth, but hope the final result is somewhere in between.
So, in our vehicle-sale scenario the potential buyer arrives and he may not wish to pay more than $10,000, so he’s not going to offer that because he knows you will try to negotiate him to a different price. So, while you are asking for $13,500, he may say, “I’m not paying more than $8,000.”
The game is on.
You then might say, “13,” and he might say, “eight and a half.” And the battle goes on until an agreement is made, with both parties believing they got a good deal because they brought the other up or down, depending on who you are talking to.
That is how Trump is operating. He made a quip about Canada being the 51st State, and economically they will begin to bend, perhaps even nervous he might make good on his statehood offer. Greenland, while not wishing to give up their sovereignty, aren’t exactly excited about being under the ruling thumb of Denmark. In the end, something in between will be arrived at, because they don’t want to be a State or territory of the United States, but a good relationship with us would likely be lucrative and secure for them. So, in the end I am expecting the whole thing to include more American military bases and mineral rights allowances before the dust all settles, with Greenland receiving the protection they desire and a percentage of the revenue from our operations on their lands. They don’t have the money to take advantage of their rich underground treasures, but we do; and if the right deal is made, we both benefit. I guarantee you, Greenland realizes that the national security of the United States directly affects them, and that the United States drilling and mining in Greenland will be better for their pocketbook than what they are doing now.
So, no, Trump is not going to invade Greenland or make Canada the 51st State. He simply bid high, and then as the counter-offers come in the deal will wind up being right where he wanted it originally.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
By Douglas V. Gibbs
Presidential Proclamations date all the way back to George Washington. His famous “Thanksgiving Proclamation” was one of eight that Washington issued. The following five presidents issued ten collectively. Until the Twentieth Century the number never reached one hundred. During the antebellum period the most was Franklin Pierce’s 35. Lincoln issued 48, and his successor Andrew Johnson had 79. Then, Ulysses S. Grant issued a whopping 217, the most by any President until Theodore Roosevelt’s 1,081. Sometime during President Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency the name “executive order” began to be used more formally, and the official numbering of executive orders began in 1907 by the Department of State, which assigned numbers to all orders in their files dating back to 1862. To this day, executive letters and memorandums remain unnumbered.
During the Twentieth Century notable numbers of Executive Orders include Woodrow Wilson’s 1,803, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 3,721, and that fact that no President since Teddy Roosevelt has issued less than one hundred.
The purpose of Executive Orders are to either act as proclamations (a statement or declaration issued by the President of the United States that are not legally binding) or instructions to the various departments or agencies that are a part of the executive branch regarding executing the laws of the United States. The President, in Article II of the Constitution, is tasked with “faithfully executing the laws of the United States,” and in order to accomplish that task he communicates in writing with the executive branch on how to carry out the task.
Article I, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution provides that all legislative powers belong to Congress, so in order to be consistent with that clause, which is a part of the concept of a separation of powers, Executive Orders may not hold the power of law. The power to create law, modify law, or repeal law belongs solely to Congress. He may, however, choose how, or if, to spend the monies appropriated. That power is known as the power of impoundment. Despite the fact that a law was passed in 1974 limiting the presidential power of impoundment, the law was unconstitutional. The Congress may not give or take away constitutional powers through legislation; such a move would need to be accomplished through a constitutional amendment which would require two-thirds approval by both Houses of Congress, and then a three-quarters ratification by the States.
Unfortunately, via Executive Orders or independent actions by regulatory agencies, the executive branch often operates unconstitutionally by using Executive Orders or regulatory activities to modify or create law. Presidents Obama and Biden were notorious for using Executive Orders (or other executive devices) as a means to circumvent Congress if the legislative body was not willing to pass bills that they were calling for.
The abuse of Executive Orders are nothing new, and as a result during the presidency of John F. Kennedy there was a significant emphasis on ensuring that executive orders were grounded in legal authority. The plan was to enhance transparency and accountability in the executive branch by requiring each executive order to cite the specific law or constitutional provision it was based on; therefore, the administration would be able to provide a clear legal foundation for the actions taken via Executive Order. The approach did indeed help clarify the scope and limits of presidential power, seeking to ensure that Executive Orders were not issued arbitrarily but that they were rooted in established law. As a result, Kennedy’s administration issued numerous executive orders, with each carefully referencing the relevant legal authority, which set a precedent for future administrations to follow.
Subsequent administrations, while largely sticking to the standard set by Kennedy in naming the legal authority for an Executive Order, sometimes failed to name the law in question, or would claim that a particular law or constitutional provision provided for the action despite the fact that the claim was not true. As a result, over time, we have begun to see Executive Orders challenged legally, with the United States Supreme Court often stepping in as the final arbiter. One example of a legal challenge against an Executive Order dates back to the first term of the presidency of Donald Trump.
The “Muslim Ban,” as it was called by Democrats and the Mainstream Media, suspended the entry into the United States persons from certain countries. The Trump administration cited Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) as the legal basis for the executive order. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, also known as the McCarran-Walter Act, shaped that section of the INA, consolidating and reforming previous immigration laws, establishing a comprehensive framework for immigration and naturalization in the United States. Section 212(f) of the INA legislatively grants to the President the authority to suspend the entry of certain noncitizens. The section emerged in order to address national security concerns during the Cold War era and included provisions for excluding individuals deemed to be threats to the United States.
However, the federal courts which are supposed to be apolitical (meaning that their rulings are only to be based on the law, not ideology) shot down the Executive Order as unlawful; a volley that became common during Trump’s presidency where the Democrats and judges who were allies of the progressives would use political and ideological bias rather than a legal foundation to go after Trump’s actions as President. The lawfare against Trump morphed into even more egregious lawsuits after Trump’s first term ended, all of them politically biased and having no solid foundation of actual law. As President Trump embarks on his second term, it should be expected that the President’s opposition will use the same kind of unethical and unlawful tactics. However, I believe Trump is more equipped this time around to battle back. Time will tell.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
By Douglas V. Gibbs
Elon Musk is going through a transformation. I do not believe he is a “conservative,” or die-hard Republican. He is, however, someone who sees Donald Trump for what he is — a man who loves America and ready to work to get government under control.
Musk began his rise as the richest man in the world when he made PayPal and then sold it for oodles of money. He then grabbed the Democrat Party’s all-electric dream by the horns, coupled with government subsidies, and rode an electric pony to higher riches with Tesla. Meanwhile, Space-X and SkyNet … StarLink came next. He’s into transhumanism and all kinds of other high-tech freaky stuff. Not exactly the foundation for a Republican Party superstar.
Trump can be persuasive, and his agenda is something that is easy to recognize as a good thing. Elon Musk is a big tech ally I am willing to welcome into the family, even if it might be temporary.
Then again, like Trump, perhaps Musk is traveling through his own growth and change. Perhaps he is, like Trump, not a pure conservative or GOPer, but he leans in that direction more than the other and may be learning more and more about why Trump’s policies are the way to go.
The lefty Democrats hate Trump, and people like Elon Musk, because they are outside their realm of control. Neo-Con establishment Republicans are a part of the establishment, and like the Democrats, operate in a world of institutionalized government and feeding the leviathan for the sake of feeding their own power and pocketbooks. They can’t win in the arena of ideas, so they smear and attack — like they did to Trump, like they did to Matt Gaetz, and like they’ve been doing to Pete Hegseth.
Their main attack is to try to convince everyone that their opposition is worse than history’s worse dictators. During the entire campaign season they called Trump a NAZI and fascist; an accusation that goes all the way back to attacks against Barry Goldwater back during the 1960s…
So, when in a speech Elon Musk reached into his heart and said, “my heart goes out to you,” finishing the moment with a motion that went from his chest to the crowd, the Democrats jumped on the opportunity accusing Musk of throwing out a NAZI salute.
As with anything, it’s a smear with no truth attached to it. It’s what they do. They smear. Which proves they have not learned a thing. Americans want policies, not smear tactics.
Like they did with Trump, they are literally throwing Musk into our arms. He is learning who his allies are.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary