The Green Lantern is a superhero who notoriously wields Power Rings that allow him to create practically anything he wants. Americans have long held a “Green Lantern” view of the presidency, expecting that the president they just elected will be able to unilaterally execute all of the promises they made during their campaign, ignorant of the realities of governance. In recent years, this view may have become more pronounced than ever before, due to the sheer nature of the President being the most publicly salient person representing the US in the media. However, many presidents entering office quickly find that their actions are qualified by institutional norms and constraints that ultimately prevent many of their promises from materializing.
President Trump experienced this exact problem in his first term in office, frustrated to the point of even wishing that the Senate could abolish the filibuster to allow more of his campaign promises to pass. But it appears that during the four-year pause between his first and second term in office, Trump had time to strategize about new ways he could stretch the limits of unilateral executive authority to see how much he could truly accomplish through creative and autonomous means.
During former President Obama’s time in office, he often came under fire from critics for what was formerly considered an unprecedented and expansive use of executive orders. However, it now appears that Trump has moved much further past this, attempting to truly redefine the limits of executive authority to see how much of his “America First” agenda can be achieved independent of the constraints of Congress and the judiciary.
On the first day of his second term, Trump signed 26 executive orders, far surpassing the amount that any other president in modern history has signed by that point of their own terms. Notably, some of these orders were considered by critics to be egregious violations of the Constitution, such as his order to unilaterally overturn the 14th Amendment’s right to birthright citizenship (which has already been blocked by a federal judge).
Trump has also attempted to exercise executive dominance in ways that have sparked chaos across the country, such as by having his Office of Management and Budget briefly freeze federal grants and loans while it scrutinized how this money was being spent. Additionally, Trump has created the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to help him unilaterally slash federal programs, staffing, and agencies that he deems wasteful or unnecessary.
Recently, Trump has also made moves to follow through on his promise to abolish the Department of Education, even though this technically requires congressional approval. As a workaround, Trump has been developing an executive order that would drastically chip away at the functions of this department as much as can be done by executive fiat.
The use of unilateral authority has not been limited to domestic issues either. One example of this is demonstrated by how Trump has used the threat of unilaterally imposing tariffs on other nations to achieve his goals on issues like immigration and drug trafficking. For instance, Trump’s threat of imposing 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico was able to force these countries to make commitments to improve border control. In these cases, Trump’s realization that he can threaten an all-out trade war with other countries using executive action has enabled him to pursue his goals in an unprecedented manner.
Many of Trump’s actions seem as though they are purposefully trying to push the envelope to determine how far the controversial “unitary executive theory” could go. This theory, simply put, argues that as the head of the executive branch, the president effectively has unilateral authority over the actions that occur within this branch, and should thus be insulated from accountability by Congress and the judiciary. Consequently, some of his unilateral actions such as suddenly firing inspectors general or dismantling executive agencies like USAID without congressional approval may be an attempt to see how far the judiciary is willing to accept arguments relating to unitary executive theory. Even if most of these actions are struck down, just a few victories could lead to significant permanent expansions of executive power.
Trump likely feels more empowered now than ever to apply executive action in these unprecedented ways, as this is arguably the most favorable political climate that he has governed in. The 2024 election has been widely considered an indictment of the status quo in which voters appeared thirsty for quick and drastic change. Furthermore, Trump is riding on a sugar high from his claimed electoral mandate, upset popular vote victory, unified control of both chambers of Congress, and conservative-leaning Supreme Court. At the same time, it appears that the Democratic Party has found itself in an identity crisis that has caused it to flounder in its opposition thus far.
It is important to note that many actions that can be done unilaterally by one president can often be easily undone by a future president unilaterally, as we have seen with Trump’s attempts to undo Biden-era policies. However, Trump’s fundamental efforts to restructure the executive branch altogether could be much more difficult to undo than the traditional executive actions presidents take, as this would require significant effort to reorganize the structure of the federal government back to the way it was.
Will Trump’s executive actions hold up? Time will tell us how the courts ultimately rule. Some of these actions may be found to be perfectly within the scope of a president’s authority, while others may be found to go too far and thus be halted. No president in recent history appears to have been as bold in their use of executive authority to achieve their goals, particularly this early on. Nevertheless, the precedent Trump is setting during this term will be indelible, as future presidents may feel the shadow of Trump’s Green Lantern legacy hanging over them if they do not go as far as he has in expanding their executive authority to at least try to keep their campaign promises.
Image by Edoardo Cuoghi from Unsplash
