The Stephen Miller EOs
At least in response to questioning from journalists yesterday, Trump had — or feigned — a very limited understanding of some of the Executive Orders he has signed in the last two days. For example, he couldn’t explain why he had pardoned Danny Rodriguez, who nearly killed Michael Fanone. And he explained the Enrique Tarrio pardon by pointing to the Proud Boy leader’s burning of a BLM flag, which (along with his attempted possession in DC of unlawful weapons) was punished separately from Tarrio’s seditious attack on the Capitol.
With Trump, one should always start with the assumption he’s engaged in a con, but it really is possible he only vaguely understands some of what he just signed.
That, plus the number of typos and other sloppy errors commentators have noted in the EOs, makes me wonder whether Stephen Miller drafted everything and decided, in real time, which Executive Orders to hand to Trump to sign, like a gamer might deploy his favorite Magic Card deck. In a piece on Vivek Ramaswamy’s purge from DOGE [sic], for example, WaPo reveals that, “Draft executive orders favored by Musk were implemented, and those put forward by Ramaswamy’s team that Musk had ignored in recent weeks are unlikely to be issued.” Who knows? Maybe there’s even an EO with all the January 6 pardons that only commuted the sentences of those who assaulted cops or were deemed to be terrorists, rather than granting (in many cases) full pardons.
There are at least two Executive Orders that have Stephen Miller’s name all over them which deserve closer scrutiny: One claiming to “restor[e] freedom of speech and end[] federal censorship,” and another claiming to end[] the weaponization of the federal government.”
Both have the same structure. They order the Attorney General (and the Director of National Intelligence, in the weaponizing EO) to go chase down conspiracy theories spawned by Jim Jordan: that the Federal government is infringing on free speech and weapon or targeting Joe Biden’s opponents. Here’s how it looks in the latter case:
The Department of Justice even jailed an individual for posting a political meme. And while the Department of Justice has ruthlessly prosecuted more than 1,500 individuals associated with January 6, and simultaneously dropped nearly all cases against BLM rioters.
[snip]
(a) The Attorney General, in consultation with the heads of all departments and agencies of the United States, shall take appropriate action to review the activities of all departments and agencies exercising civil or criminal enforcement authority of the United States, including, but not limited to, the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Federal Trade Commission, over the last 4 years and identify any instances where a department’s or agency’s conduct appears to have been contrary to the purposes and policies of this order, and prepare a report to be submitted to the President, through the Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and the Counsel to the President, with recommendations for appropriate remedial actions to be taken to fulfill the purposes and policies of this order.
(b) The Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with the heads of the appropriate departments and agencies within the Intelligence Community, shall take all appropriate action to review the activities of the Intelligence Community over the last 4 years and identify any instances where the Intelligence Community’s conduct appears to have been contrary to the purposes and policies of this order, and prepare a report to be submitted to the President, through the Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and the National Security Advisor, with recommendations for appropriate remedial actions to be taken to fulfill the purposes and policies of this order. The term “Intelligence Community” has the meaning given the term in section 3003 of title 50, United States Code. [my emphasis]
These orders will give Pam Bondi cover to conduct an investigation without the predicate otherwise required, and do so outside the normal institutions (like DOJ’s Inspector General and DOJ and FBI’s Offices of Professional Responsibility; to say nothing of Trump-appointed judges who already debunked the EO’s claim about selective prosecution of January 6ers) that afford targets some due process.
The scope of this review is very strictly the last four years. Thus, it will exclude a great deal of weaponization Bill Barr engaged in (including the Brady side channel via which Joe Biden was criminally framed) and even every single one of the notices regarding misstatements about voting means, time, or location that Barr’s DOJ authorized in the 2020 election, which were one main focus of the Twitter Files. It will ignore that the investigation into Douglass Mackey — the reference to an individual who posted a political meme, above — in chatrooms to which Stephen Miller was, at the very least, adjacent (and Don Jr was in), was almost entirely conducted during the first Trump Administration.
It will likewise exclude the far greater threats to free speech going forward. Donald Trump’s threat to send Mark Zuckerberg to prison for the rest of his life? Issued before Trump returned to government. Brendan Carr demanding that CBS platform right wingers, while ignoring Fox’s production of exclusively right wing content? Officially government, as of Monday, but therefore outside the scope of the four year review. And Stephen Miller coaxing Zuckerberg to making his platforms amenable to genocide again? Not yet a government action.
Take special notice, too, that the SEC and FTC are included among the agencies where Bondi is instructed to go find weaponization. Again, that picks up a Jim Jordan crusade, one targeted at regulatory agencies holding Elon Musk accountable for agreements the company he bought had already entered into, to say nothing of Elon’s efforts to tank Xitter’s own stock. Sure, some of this is Miller’s means to undermine the legitimacy of the January 6 investigation, but it’s also a personal sop to the richest man in the world.
And after Pam Bondi conducts an investigation into things that aren’t crimes via means that evade normal due process? She writes a report and gives it to … Stephen Miller, who among other things has been cultivating first Elon and then Zuck to platform Nazis.
When Jim Jordan conducted these crusades, he was shielded by Speech and Debate from adhering to basic facts. These EOs are an attempt to create space for Bondi to similarly escape the kinds of evidentiary rules and basic due process that limited Trump’s prior attempts to target his enemies.
If they find something, Miller will feed them to Trump to make issue of. If they don’t (there are few real complaints about the January 6 investigation, aside from the shitty DC jail and difficulties created by COVID; and for much of Biden’s term, the agencies of interest to Miller for engaging in government speech were constrained by lawsuits by Miller’s allies), then Miller can just burn the report in the same fireplace Mark Meadows use to use.
In other words, these two EOs (I’m sure there are other similar ones) claim to attack the politicization of government by ordering Pam Bondi to politicize DOJ.
Infringing on free speech? You mean like this?
Trump demands apology, criticizes bishop’s prayer service remarks [The Hill]
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5099730-donald-trump-criticizes-bishop-transgender-migrants/
It’s convenient that the EO excludes the White House.
His second day in office and he has already violated his oath of office – “to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution…”
I hope she stands steadfast…and gets good security.
Oh, his poor feefees to hear the word of God as humility and to practice mercy and kindness. I seem to remember those words from Sunday school.
Their uncomfortable childlike immaturity was easily on display as if they’d never been chastised for anything they’ve ever done as just wrong – let alone from WWJD. The entirety of the MAGA religiosity is a power play versus true Christian faith.
Donald Trump acts as if he now considers the USA his property, a part of his business empire, and as sole owner what he says is law. If enough people go along with him we are truly screwed.
What do we do?
Vote harder in 2026?
What can an average person looking at this train wreck in real time do?
For those smart people in the DOJ. Will they just follow orders?
In the GWBush Administration a sentiment attributed to Karl Rove was that, after the Cold War, the USA was the creator of its own reality.
I suspect that the Trump Administration will create its own reality by creating the evidence it needs and destroying contradictory evidence.
Stephen Miller knows that the sloppiness of the Muslim ban caused it to be tossed out by the courts. Could it be that Trump and Miller don’t care to be legally precise because they will disregard unfavorable court orders?
For Mackey’s case, Microchip testified that agents wanted to ask him about something in the summer of 2018. I tried digging in there too figure out what he was referring to and think that might be a reference to Charlottesville 2.0, on August 12, the anniversary. There was a lot of leaked material by Unicorn Riot
Marcy writes, “In other words, these two EOs … claim to attack the politicization of government by ordering Pam Bondi to politicize DOJ.”
That is the mirror-world, one of Trump’s oldest tricks, to take whatever it is that he doesn’t like and flip it backwards; and then, no matter how ridiculous it may be, take that upside-down version of reality and make it work for his devotees through his own repetition and aided by his parrots.
Example: 2016 Presidential debate, Hillary Clinton tells the audience that Vlad Putin favors Trump because “he’d rather have a puppet as president”, Trump interjects with “No puppet … You’re the puppet”.
A simple trick, probably born in the schoolyard, but Trump makes it work for enough people to have won – again. We can expect more of it.
Our trick must be to see it for what it is, and to point that out when and where we can. Thanks, Marcy, for your astute journalism.
And of course, every accusation is a confession with them. All projection, all the time…
Directly out of the “I know you are but what am I” Playbook, Second grade edition.
Lovely. This is terrifying.
I wonder with all of this retribution if there isn’t a deeper plan afoot. Convict-1 is perfectly fine doing what he’s doing, in the most expansive way possible despite public calls to go case-by-case on the pardons, for example. No one believes that he looked at each of the 1550+ cases before issuing the blanket pardons, and FWIW the response of the GOP leadership to pretend they were not in the loop (h/t George HW Bush) is also telling.
So, my completely WAG theory is that the GOP is setting Convict-1 up to take the heat for all of the policies they want to impose out of Project 2025 plus some other political wet dreams. Once Convict-1 finishes putting himself on the spot with his Sharpies and crayons, the GOP leadership will pivot to Vance by invoking the 25th Amendment and after that telling us these policies will take time to undo (like driving prices down or stopping the Russian invasion did). I will take six months in the pool for when Convict-1 gets shoved out, with Saudi Arabia selected as his place of exile.
There are two major domestic constituencies that Trump has to please: the Tech Bros and the Trump base. Inflation and bird flu are going to keep food and consumer goods high. A year of high prices will start to fracture the base. And at some point Tech Bros will realize Trump is favoring the richest. Unless Trump effectively stamps out dissidence, the looming midterms may threaten too many Republicans. If Trump isn’t ousted by then, he may serve out his term.
Yeah, but while he’s not unhealthy but he’s not very healthy either. If blood pressure is a problem, he could easily stroke out, and I would wonder about the condition of his heart. So a Vance presidency by “natural” means is not wildly out of the question.
In 4 years 1) the cost of living will be higher than it is now and 2) MAGAs will blame Biden for it and 3) they’ll insist Trump made things better.
Mark my words.
One desired outcome of the plan is revenge and intimidation. But perhaps even more dangerous is that this template can be used at will to investigate, indict, prosecute, and lock up any political opponent before the next election. That’s Putin’s playbook.
I’ve been waiting for Stephen Miller to be named Citizenship Czar – a new position which will begin under the assumption nobody is a citizen until approved by Trump.
If you want to resolve entitlement spending without raising taxes on the wealthy, cutting down the number of those “worthy” of receiving such is a great way to start.
Crazy, yes.
Out of the question, no.
A very intriguing and timely piece! Outstanding!
I’ve been a touch surprised by how quickly Trump’s numerous EO’s appeared after his swearing in ceremony two days ago. It appears many EO’s were prepared before the ceremony. And it also appears Trump doesn’t know what many of these EO’s actually say or do.
And your eye for detail in examining these EO’s by discovering occasional sloppiness in their grammar, etc. is a great example of your expertise and research habits.
One EO from 1965 in particular, however, that Trump chose to remove—EO 11246 signed by President Johnson—reminded me of a sentence that is found in the Federalist Society website under the category titled Membership. That sentence reads as follows:
“The Federalist Society is committed to the principles that the state exists to preserve freedom, that the separation of governmental powers is central to our Constitution, and that it is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should be.”
A question that jumped out in my mind after reading that sentence is does the Federalist Society leadership think EO 11246 1965 violates their definition of “freedom” as it appears in their sentence.
Does the Federalist Society’s definition of “freedom” mean free from having to abide by the specific hiring guidelines that Johnson’s 1965 EO 11246 stated?
Stephen Miller, Musk and others may have written most of Trump’s recent onslaught of EO’s over the past two days, hence the grammar sloppiness you noted.
The “dumping” of Trump signed EO’s, however, so soon after the inauguration leads me to believe the Federalist Society leadership has been involved in helping create these EO’s.
I would put good money that these EOs were written well before election day. The fact they are sloppy is not indicative of their creation date with this crew.
They have access to lawyers who know how to construct legal documents. I think that they just don’t care about the sloppiness. The question is why don’t they care.
Access to lawyers? Yes. Access to really good lawyers? The evidence speaks for itself.
Not only are we seeing a crapload of crap, but the crap itself is strikingly low-quality. One might even say craptastic.
‘Brendan Carr demanding that CBS platform right wingers, while ignoring Fox’s production of exclusively right wing content? Officially government, as of Monday, but therefore outside the scope of the four year review”
I believe this is incorrect. Carr got named Chair of the FCC, but he’s be an FCC commissioner for 4+ years, so all his statements on CBS and TikTok were done as a govt employee.
I don’t think he’ll be investigated but I don’t think it’s correct to say that his statements aren’t covered.
Congress over the years, now, and into the future could legislate bounds on executive orders. They have not, and likely will not. But the Constitutional power is there, for Trump to litigate up to SCOTUS, so that is something to quell any enthusiasm some in Congress might show. But the power exists, and few outlets are editorializing about it. Or am I wrong?
Campaigning, Trump said what he would do, and is doing it. He got a majority of votes cast, so some liked the promising. Nobody is saying that election was rigged.
I could be reading the EOs wrong. I could be reading everything wrong right now. But what they seem to me to demand is that people in the past make their past actions conform to these NEW dicta. How is that even possible?
You can (if you’re Stephen Miller) declare something a thoughtcrime as of 20 January 25. But how can you make it retroactive? How can you make previous administrations follow the rules of yours?