List of Trump’s executive orders - Our take to date
Plus Ross Ulbricht (Founder of Silk Road) is FREE!
We are three days into the second presidency of Donald Trump and as promised the executive orders are coming fast and furious. But what are they and how will they potentially impact crony capitalism one way or another? (This is not an exhaustive list and more orders are likely coming.)
Immigration and Border Security:
National Emergency at the Southern Border: Border security has long been a core component of Trump’s agenda and it is widely popular with the American people according to polling.
Reinstatement of the "Remain in Mexico" Policy: If one wants to enter the US as an asylum seeker on the southern border one must wait in Mexico for processing. This doesn’t strike us as unreasonable.
Termination of Birthright Citizenship: If one happens to be born within the United States, even if one’s parents have entered illegally, one will not necessarily be granted automatic citizenship. Another one that doesn’t seem crazy to us.
Designation of Certain Gangs and Cartels as Terrorist Organizations: This could be big as such a designation opens up broader powers (military?) to counter the cartels.
Energy and Environmental Policies:
National Energy Emergency Declaration: Biden was under great pressure to cripple the fossil fuels industry from his green flank. This will undo some of those efforts.
Withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord: A great anti-crony move. The Paris Climate Accord had all sorts of cutouts for China which was held to vastly less restrictive standards than the West. This also undermines the UN and the EU two extremely crony organizations that do not have America’s best interests in mind. (To say the least.)
Reopening of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for Exploration: We’d be perfectly fine keeping this wilderness wilderness. With the fracking revolution there is plenty of oil and gas in the lower 48. The move is understandable, but we can see how some people are upset. One issue is who will get the rights to exploration? It’ll be large government connected companies for sure.
Social Policies:
Elimination of Federal Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Programs: Excellent. DEI at universities, government, and in the private sector has infected our society. It is also deeply crony as the DEI industrial complex sprung up in recent years. Merit should be the driving force behind hiring in a free society.
Legal Recognition of Only Two Genders: We are all for people living however they want to live. In fact we openly advocate for it. But it is unreasonable for government, and by extension much of society to comply with anything other than the male/female standard. It’s kind of crazy that this executive action had to happen at all.
Government Efficiency and Accountability:
Establishment of the Department of Government Efficiency: DOGE is an anti-crony vehicle at least in theory. What powers it will actually have is an open question.
Government can be cut by huge amounts. There should be widespread layoffs in the government sector. The federal bureaucracy is the largest crony entity there is. Now with AI most of those jobs can be done at drastically lower cost to the taxpayer.
Implementation of "Schedule F": The former “protections” for federal employee were completely unreasonable. We are very happy to see Schedule F resurected. Just because you are a government employee doesn’t mean you get a job for life and can never be fired. (See above.)
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