“The time for empty talk is over. Now arrives the hour of action,” the new U.S. President, Donald J. Trump, said in his inaugural address. And true to his word, his actions during his first week of office have been conducted at break-neck speed. While not everyone may agree with what he’s doing, he certainly can’t be accused of resting on his electoral laurels. His inauguration represents to many Americans much more than simply passing the presidential baton from a president to his successor. It represents a quantum shift in American politics.
The new populist president, defying previous political labels and norms, declared in his Inaugural Address, “Today’s ceremony, however, has very special meaning because today, we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another or from one party to another, but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the people.”
This was not hyperbolic, as evidenced by Trump’s first executive actions which were directed at Obama’s signature legislative “accomplishment,” Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act (ACA). He ordered that “regulations already in place with regard to the Act be enforced with a softer, more beneficent tone, and that no penalty, fine, or tax be imposed by the IRS on any person or entity who is not complying with the individual mandate.”
This was a significant indication of how Trump views the role of government, compared to his predecessor. To Obama, the more government, regulation, mandates, and control of the masses, the better. To Trump, government is to serve the people, a truly revolutionary concept in this era of Obama’s big government. It’s so revolutionary, in fact, that we fought a war over the principle, which was also proclaimed and codified in our founding documents.
Barack Obama’s governance style was a two-edged sword. His nearly exclusive reliance on Executive Orders (EO) and Presidential Memoranda, allowed for the much more facile reversal of his edicts and ideologically driven policies. This allowed Obama to do much more than he could have done with the more legal and binding approach through legislative statute, but also made it much easier to reverse his policies, which Trump started the day he was sworn in. Further, Obama’s use of presidential prerogative through Orders and Memoranda set a precedent – one that Trump is obviously going to capitalize on.
While Trump hasn’t yet reversed that EO entirely, he did sign one to continue building the wall on our southern border, as authorized by the Secure Fence Act of 2006. He also reprioritized illegal migration policy by eliminating Obama’s “catch and release” policy, where illegals were caught, identified, and then released into the general population. He also started the crackdown on “sanctuary cities,” those municipalities that refuse to cooperate in the enforcement of federal statute with regard to illegal migrants.
Trump also showed why he’s the master of deal making. The media has jumped all over him over his assertion that 2-3 million illegal aliens voted in the last election. And in their exuberance to prove him wrong, are actually encouraging an investigation into voter fraud. There’s perhaps no other way this anti-mainstream media populist president could get them on board to clean up our voter roles and improve election integrity. It was a brilliant move.
In his first week Trump also reversed Obama by reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which forbids NGO’s (non-governmental organizations) from using taxpayer funds for abortions. He also put in place a federal government hiring freeze, declared a moratorium on new regulations from the federal government, and withdrew U.S. involvement in the Trans Pacific Partnership which he believes hurts American workers.
This is an unconventional president, whose positions and approach to problems are uniquely populistic and blur the lines of historical partisan delineation. And if his first week in office is any indication, he’s immensely pragmatic, energized, and results oriented. As he told a confab of Republicans this week, “It’s time to deliver.”
Associated Press award winning columnist Richard Larsen is President of Larsen Financial, a brokerage and financial planning firm in Pocatello, Idaho and is a graduate of Idaho State University with degrees in Political Science and History and coursework completed toward a Master’s in Public Administration. He can be reached at rlarsenen@cableone.net.
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