My late mother, a loyal Republican, would not cotton to Trump’s public humiliation of Maine’s governor, or his constant trolling of Canada (51st state). No way she’d think Team Trump’s bully-ball was necessary to de-fund and de-platform the new Resistance (if she even knew what “de-platform” meant). So, this one’s for you, mom, and all the other Reagan Republicans.
The old Resistance taught Mr. Trump a lesson; things must be different this time – and they are. He won the electoral and popular vote, his policies and positions are polling well, DOGE is exposing indefensible expenditures, the lawsuits are (so far) 50-50, and firing 20% of the 2.9 million federal employees does not seem like a “constitutional crisis” to 107,800,000 private-sector workers; many of whom (40%) have been fired at least once. Some even remember 17,000 Keystone Pipeline workers losing their jobs to a Biden executive order – without Democrats shedding a tear.
Trump’s big lesson was this: the people who get you into trouble won’t get you out of trouble. That’s because bureaucrats are married to pet programs, and Democrats are married to pet agencies. Team Trump came into office knowing who and what had to go. So, why prolong the inevitable, and why not de-construct the Swamp too fast for an effective resistance to organize?
Still, the speed and tone of draining the swamp is shocking to many; who hope Trump knows what he’s doing with reciprocal tariffs and tough talk about Zelenskyy, and will clobber the GOP in the midterms if the economy tanks and the proxy wars continue. Alas, that political reality should not obscure two facts: (1) Trump’s “common sense” promises got him elected, and (2) Team Trump is keeping those promises. So, give the America First folks a little credit.
Look at Rapid Response 47, the White House social-media arm that’s rebutting Democrats in real time, and listen to Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller explain the legitimacy of the America First agenda and Trump’s presidency, which he did on Thursday in the Press Briefing Room. It’s an eloquent defense of the legitimacy of the man (Trump) and the mission (make America great again).
“Many of the people in this room, for four years, failed to cover the fact that Joe Biden was mentally incompetent and was not running the country. It is also true that many people in this room who have used this talking point that ‘Elon is not elected’ fail to understand how government works. So, I’m glad for the opportunity for a brief civics lesson.”
“A president is elected by the whole American people. He’s the only official in the entire government that is elected by the entire nation. Right? Judges are appointed. Members of Congress are elected at the district or state level. Just one man.”
“And the Constitution, Article Two, has a clause, known as the vesting clause, and it says, ‘The executive power shall be vested in a president,’ singular. The whole will of democracy is imbued into the elected president. That president then appoints staff to then impose that democratic will onto the government.”
“The threat to democracy — indeed, the existential threat to democracy — is the unelected bureaucracy of lifetime, tenured civil servants who believe they answer to no one, who believe they can do whatever they want without consequence, who believe they can set their own agenda no matter what Americans vote for.”
“So, Americans vote for radical FBI reform, and FBI agents say they don’t want to change. Or Americans vote for radical reform in our energy policies, but EPA bureaucrats say they don’t want to change. Or Americans vote to end racist DEI policies, and lawyers in the Department of Justice say they don’t want to change.”
“What President Trump is doing is he is removing federal bureaucrats who are defying democracy by failing to implement his lawful orders, which are the will of the whole American people.”
That’s Miller talking the talk, but he’s more than MAGA’s talking head. He was, in fact, the architect of Trump’s constitutional authority to fire the Kennedy Center Board, dating back to a little known event involving Sean Spicer, Trump’s first press secretary.
After Spicer resigned, President Trump appointed him to the Board of Visitors at the United States Naval Academy (July 2019). Three months before his term expired, President Biden sought a resignation letter from Spicer, and 17 other Trump military-academy appointees, and those who refused would be terminated that evening (September 8, 2021).
Spicer did not want to make waves, and was set to resign until talked out of it by Stephen Miller, who convinced Spicer and (now OMB director) Russell Vought to sue Biden in December 2021 on grounds that “Board members were executive officials” the President could not remove. Of course, Spicer and Vought ultimately lost, but they cemented this precedent into the US Judiciary: “The power of removal from office is incident to the power of appointment.”
Mrs. Miller raised no fool, because Spicer’s loss allowed Trump to fire the Kennedy’s Center’s board (and others). While writing its hit piece on (that dictator) Trump, the Washington Post learned from the Kennedy Center that – because of Biden – President Trump was following the law, and all the Kennedy Center’s directors could do was whine and resign (source: Sean Spicer on Triumph Radio). Not many possess Miller’s foresight…
… and that foresight proves America First is more than Trump’s quips and Fox News Alerts. It suggests operational expertise to deliver on Trump’s promises. So, I’m sorry, mom, about folks getting fired, but they’re a big part of the problem. And, to leave them in place is to leave America woke and broke.