Trump's executive orders: Troops at the border, vengeance for classified docs scandal, purging public servants, punishing sanctuary cities

Executive orders continue to come flooding from the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. Donald Trump signed a handful more on Thursday afternoon, his signature black Sharpie pen squeaking as he went.

It’s a lot to process — not just for members of the press like myself but for the public, who must then (hopefully) consume and understand scores of news reports on these many executive actions. Courts are also scrambling to keep up, as many of the orders propose novel interpretations of laws that must now be argued in front of judges. Or, as a federal judge said Thursday, “blatantly unconstitutional” orders that have come from a stroke of Trump’s pen.

That was the judge’s immediate judgment of Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship, a right enshrined in the 14th amendment that was originally intended to grant the full protections of American citizenship to children of slaves. Since then, the American right has become convinced that birthright citizenship is being abused by undocumented immigrants who come here illegally, then have children who are then granted citizenship under the amendment’s provisions.

While that certainly has been the case, no one until now has ever tried to seriously argue that the 14th amendment should be done away with. But, as I wrote before Trump took office, everything bad that you can imagine happening, Trump and his people will try to make it so. Plus, all systems will be tested — including heretofore universally-accepted norms, rules and laws like birthright citizenship.

But that’s just one of the executive orders Trump signed this week. I went through many of them and have provided a brief rundown not just of what they mean, but further context that is often missing from the political press’ coverage of these actions. There’s a certain level of translation required to understand the why behind many of these orders. That’s because the American right speaks a different language rooted in the alternate information ecosystem in which they live. Luckily, I speak that language and can help shed light as to why Trump and his team are pushing for the following changes to our laws and society.

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Before we get to the executive orders, a couple quick news items worth paying attention to. First up, House Republicans have launched a new January 6 committee — not to look into Trump’s role in the attempted overthrow of the 2020 election and the attack on the Capitol or anything like that, but instead to probe Democrats’ role in supposed security failures. It also looks like it’s a decent possibility that some of the rioters themselves will end up testifying in front of the committee. This isn’t surprising, because the real purpose of this committee is to explore conspiracy theories about the FBI or Antifa being the actual parties responsible for the violence that day. Basically, it’s only a matter of time until January 6 insurrectionists are applauded on the floor of Congress.

Speaking to reporters this afternoon, Trump said he was open to the idea that some of the people he pardoned be given the opportunity to testify in front of the committee. It doesn’t look like former Trump staffer Cassidy Hutchinson, however, will be testifying to the new committee. That’s because an aide to House Speaker Mike Johnson recommended to Republicans that they not subpoena Hutchinson. If they did, the aide warned, their graphic sexual texts to Hutchinson could become part of the congressional record, the Washington Post reported Thursday afternoon.

You might remember Hutchinson as the former White House staffer who blew the doors open on Trump’s involvement in the attack on the Capitol. She’s the one who claimed that Trump tried to overtake a Secret Service agent in his furious attempt to join his supporters as they marched toward violence that day. Naturally, Republicans hate her guts for this, so one can only imagine how bad these texts must be.

Prepare for the wars to come

* Executive orders: Trump's personal army, abandoning Afghan war heroes, more expensive prescriptions

* Trump's first victims

* What comes next - Rules of procedure for the next four years

* You are not alone - On recovery.

* Feelings over facts in a new information age

Again, the whole point of this committee is to platform conspiracy theories about the attempted insurrection that could deflect from Trump’s involvement, reduce the amount of focus on the violence of his supporters and, I’m assuming, once again dig into conspiracies about the 2020 election. Yes, we’re probably headed there again.

One other quick item: Trump lied to his supporters on Tuesday night, telling them that the southern border is “closed.” It’s not, of course. Trump says this stuff all the time but what struck me is that he reiterated the point with specifics.

“As you know, the border was closed at exactly 1:05 in the afternoon today,” Trump told those gathered at the Starlight Ball, an inauguration gala. “And I don’t mean closed. I mean really closed. It’s closed.”

What Trump meant to mean is that the border isn’t just closed for asylum seekers and refugees, it’s closed. As in, you can’t go across it. I know this is a little thing but stuff like this drives me nuts. The border is absolutely not closed. Just to be sure, I texted a photographer friend at the border who confirmed he had come back from Juárez into El Paso after Trump claimed to have closed the border.

I know, Trump lies and the sky is blue. But still, the truth is the truth. Now, onto the executive orders.

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Executive orders

* Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship - This order allows for witch hunts of government officials who call out right-wing misinformation. Part of this order comes from a section of Project 2025 written by Gene Hamilton, a former DOJ official in the first Trump administration and a high-up in Stephen Miller’s America First Legal. Hamilton is also behind recommendations that the Justice Department investigate and prosecute local and state election officials if they follow state election rules that Republicans don’t like. I’m waiting for some shoes to drop on that front but will have a report soon that details this push to weaponize the DOJ to engage in voter suppression and intimidation.

* Declaring a National Emergency at the Southern Border of the United States - This order allows for deployment of troops to the southern border, the building or strengthening of the border wall, increases drone surveillance, and gives more leeway in use of force policies to law enforcement coming into contact with migrants.

* Guaranteeing the States Protection Against Invasion - This looks to be the executive order that deals with Miller's attempts to identify diseases carried by immigrants as a pretext to create harsher immigration rules and laws. It prohibits entry for immigrants who "fail to provide Federal officials with sufficient medical information." Key language: “... millions of aliens who potentially pose significant threats to health, safety, and national security have moved into communities nationwide.”

* Protecting the Meaning and Value of Birthright Citizenship - This is an executive order in search of a Supreme Court case and the accompanying media coverage. It seeks to cancel birthright citizenship and will almost surely end up in the Supreme Court, where Trump and the American right will get their wishes and be able to argue to the public that immigrants are taking advantage of the 14th amendment.

* Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce - This order allows for the arbitrary firing of federal employees—i.e. career public servants who are not loyal to Trump. Key language: "In recent years, however, there have been numerous and well-documented cases of career Federal employees resisting and undermining the policies and directives of their executive leadership."

* Protecting the American People Against Invasion - Rescinds a handful of Biden executive orders on immigration and orders DHS to begin contract solicitations for expanding immigration detention facilities. The order also seeks to "withhold federal funds" from so-called sanctuary cities, and advises DHS and the DOJ to undertake "any other lawful actions, criminal or civil, that they deem warranted" in relation to sanctuary cities. This likely means prosecuting Democratic officials in cities and states that don't comply with Trump's immigration plans. The order also demands the hiring of more immigration officers in several agencies.

* Securing Our Borders - Resumes construction of border wall, cancels the CBP One app that migrants were using to navigate the immigration court system, resumes the Remain in Mexico program, and removes specific protections for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans.

* Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program - Suspends the U.S. refugee program for 90 days except for on a case-by-case basis. Revokes a Biden-era executive order that created a program to study and prepare for the effects of climate change on migration—climate refugees, in other words.

* Holding Former Government Officials Accountable for Election Interference and Improper Disclosure of Sensitive Governmental Information - Got all that? This order reprimands the 51 signatories of a letter proclaiming stories about Hunter Biden's laptop to be the product of a Russian misinformation campaign, as well as John Bolton for publishing a memoir that the Trump administration claims contained sensitive national security information. This looks to be the Trump administration's response to him being charged for illegally possessing classified information at Mar-a-Lago.

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