Episode 97 Show Notes- Politics, President Trump, and Executive Orders

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Episode Description

In this P.A.S. Report Podcast episode, Professor Giordano examines the recently signed Executive Orders by President Trump. As the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives could not come to an agreement on a new Coronavirus spending package, the President has decided it was time to take action. Professor Giordano will explain the Executive Orders, and will then focus on the political, legal, and Constitutional implications. It’s clear the Democrats overplayed their hand, and while President Trump is playing chess, backing the Democrats into a corner, what are the broader implications and potential pitfalls?

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Intro

Welcome everyone to another episode of The PAS Report Podcast. This is your host Nick Giordano.

Thank you for joining me. We have a lot to cover. Initially, I was planning on picking apart Joe Biden’s platform to illustrate how far-left and radical the Democrats have become, but over the weekend, President Trump signed four Executive Orders that are worth discussing.

So, in this episode, I will explain the four Executive Order’s, and I will discuss the politics behind them, as well as the potential Constitutional and legal implications.

Before I jump in, I want to remind you to listen to Monday’s episode with Police Commissioner Pat Ryder. He is a great man and has the backs of his officers. So go to The P.A.S. Report website, check out that episode, and sign up for the newsletter while you’re there.

The Debt

Okay, time to jump in. Over the weekend, President Trump signed four Executive Orders designed to help people who are struggling economically because of the coronavirus and the lockdowns.

This didn’t just come out of left field. The Democrats and Republicans have been negotiating for the last several weeks. Democrats wanted a $3.6 trillion dollar stimulus package, and Republicans wanted about a $1 trillion dollar stimulus package. Democrats said they would settle on a bill that was $2.6-$3 trillion.

Think about the insane amount of money we are talking about. Just so you are aware, in January of this year, our debt was $23.3 trillion dollars. Since March, we have added an additional $3.3 trillion dollars in just a few months. It’s like they have no regard for you or the country. To them, it’s Monopoly money.

And keep in mind, this is on top of the $4.5 trillion in regular spending we do each year on all the programs and services.

There is zero fiscal sanity in Washington DC. These are extraordinary times, but at the same time, as a Conservative, I criticized former President Obama and the democrats and republicans with the insane spending that was taking place from 2009-2017. Now, the spending is on steroids.

I get the economic devastation caused by the coronavirus. I get that government and the tyrannical lockdowns devastated the economies. It’s not like the economy collapsed because of outside forces. It was a direct result of government policy and actions.

However, we have to be careful about how we spend this money. A few months ago, I discussed the lack of creativity when it comes to Congress crafting stimulus packages, where they just throw money at a problem, and most of that money is largely wasteful spending that doesn’t actually help the people or the economy.

Democrats overplayed their hand

And the coronavirus economic stimulus negotiations clearly illustrates exactly what I mean when I constantly bash the government for wasteful spending and the lack of creativity.

The reason negotiations fell apart was due to the ridiculous demands Democrats were making, and even some Republicans. Even the White House. Just to give you a few examples, the White House was pushing for $1.75 billion for a new FBI headquarters. Now funding for a new FBI headquarters should obviously not be included especially considering what the senior leadership of the FBI did with the Russia investigation.

And then you have the democrats wish list. Here’s President Trump talking about a few of the things the Democrats wanted.

Play President Trump state bailout clip

Now he’s right on that point, and it’s something I argued about before. Many states have been completely irresponsible when it comes to spending taxpayers hard-earned money. Just to give an example, because it still blows my mind, in NYC there are many deadbeat dads. So, either last year or the year before, Comrade DeBlasio started a program that if these deadbeat dads made a payment towards their arrears, he would match that payment with taxpayer money. Essentially making the taxpayer pay the bills of deadbeat dads who don’t want to take care of their children.

In any event, the country should not be on the hook to bailout previous debts of the State.

Here’s another part of the democrat bill.

Play President Trump illegal immigrant/convicted felon clip 

Once again, how many of you out there support providing taxpayer funds to illegal immigrants? Now, I have no problems with taxpayer permanent residents receiving stimulus relief. They are following the rules, pay their taxes, and haven’t broken the law.

Also, President Trump is right, why would we release convicted felons and detained illegal immigrants, some of whom are detained because they committed crimes. Also, many of those detained should be given a hearing on whether they can stay or have to be removed from the United States. How many people in these detention camps have been diagnosed with COVID?

When we look at those in prison, it doesn’t make sense either. You can lock the prison down to prevent the spread. There is no good reason to release convicted felons, especially those who have committed heinous crimes. Also, if you look at the age demographic of those in prison, much of the population is not at high-risk. For those inmates who may be older and have other conditions, maybe you want to figure out something for them.

But wait there’s more.

Play President Trump voter ID and signature verification clip

What the hell does this have to do with coronavirus stimulus? Also, this is nothing more than a usurpation of states’ rights. States run elections, not the federal government. They develop their rules and requirements. Forcing states to adopt new voter laws is a violation of the Constitution, but as I pointed out last week, the far-left doesn’t like the Constitution anyway.

But, these proposals are a disaster just on their face. We need ID’s for everything, but democrats don’t want them when it comes to voting. They call it voter suppression. That’s how dumb these people are. I don’t know a single person that doesn’t have an ID card. Not a single person. Now, maybe there are some people out there who don’t have an ID, but how likely are they to go and vote if they don’t have an ID. Also, if you are concerned about people not having ID’s, you can always say they can still vote, but they must sign an affidavit that they are eligible to vote, and also have to show proof of residency.

As far as the Democrat attempt to ban signature verification, this was not necessarily in the bill. Instead, the democrats are that election officials must notify any voter whose signature was deemed deficient and give them an opportunity to fix it. Now, this is ludicrous on its face. Board of Election officials is going to have hundreds of thousands of ballots to go through. Do you really believe they have the capability to check every signature?

Also, while there was nothing in the democrats bill outright banning signature verification for mail-in-ballots, democrat operatives are suing a number of states as it pertains to signature verification. (AP Wire) While the media fact-checked President Trump on that statement, he wasn’t necessarily wrong, and that’s why you need to be wary of these so-called fact-checkers because they leave out a lot of information.

The reality is that mail-in-voting is going to be a disaster. For all those preaching that mail-in-voting won’t have any problems and that fraud and corruption will be minimal, here’s what we already know.

In NYC, over 80,000 mail-in-ballots were voided which translates into 21% of the votes not counting. (NY Post)

In Michigan, more than 10k ballots were rejected. (ABC 7)

In Florida, over 18k of ballots were not counted. (CBS 12)

In Wisconsin, over 23k of ballots were thrown out. (Urban Milwaukee)

On top of that, you have nefarious organizations looking to manipulate the election as well. They are mailing hundreds of thousands of mail-in-ballot applications. These are legitimate mail-in-ballot applications, but they aren’t coming from the government. They are coming from special interest groups. One far-left group has sent over 800,000 mail-in-ballot applications. This is going to be a shitshow.

These are just five examples, and I can give plenty more. Now imagine in a general election. The 2020 Elections will be a disaster. To think state governments are competent enough to handle an entirely new voting method in their state when they can’t even repair roads correctly is not logical, and if you believe they will be able to handle it without any problems, you are very naïve. Common sense is all that’s needed to realize the major problems and the shortcomings of the government.

That’s not all

And there are many other things in the democrat bill that has little to do with the economic stimulus in regards to the coronavirus. Some of these measures restrict the President’s ability to remove an Inspector General. Another provision makes masks permanently mandatory on Amtrak.

There’s another provision that allows marijuana businesses to expand banking capabilities. In fact, Democrat Representative Ed Perlmutter has said the coronavirus crisis “has only exacerbated the risk posed to cannabis businesses & their employees & they need relief just like any other legitimate business.” So, we have extraordinary restrictions when it comes to going to church, but it’s the pot businesses need relief. And just so you are aware, the word cannabis appears more times than the word job.

Another provision calls for an EPA study on pollution and health. They would also provide $50 million dollars in environmental justice grants whatever the hell that is.

The Democrat version of the bill allocates $10 million dollars in additional money to the National Endowment for the Arts and another $10 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities. Understand that these two entities got $75 million in the March stimulus bill when they should have received nothing. (The Hill)

President Trump’s Executive Orders

That’s why the negotiations failed. I don’t know what’s so hard about putting together a clean bill that strictly deals with the economic crisis. Instead, they load the thing up with so much crap. And while Democrat’s may be responsible for the demise of this bill, Republicans are just as guilty with their pet pork projects on other bills.

But just so everyone is aware, the activist media demonstrates every day how biased they are and how they are nothing more than the PR wing of the Democrat party. The President said that if Democrats and Republicans passed a clean funding bill on unemployment for the millions of Americans currently collecting the extra unemployment, he would sign it.

The President offered to extend the extra $600 for another four-weeks. Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader Schumer rejected that proposal and stated that they would only agree to a clean funding bill if the payments were extended to March 31, 2021. Yes, folks, you heard that right 2021. This was nothing more than a backdoor approach to creating a Universal Basic Income program.

If Democrats cared about these people who are going through challenging economic times, why wouldn’t they accept a clean bill and vote to at least extend it four weeks?

Now I actually don’t agree with the extra $600 on top of their state unemployment. I don’t believe people should be making more unemployed than when they were working, especially with a nearly $27 trillion dollar debt. To me, that’s not sound economic policy and doesn’t provide the incentive to get back to work.

Since there was very little chance of a compromise, President Trump decided to issue four Executive Orders. So, I want to go through these Executive Orders one-by-one. I’m going to start with the least controversial and I don’t want to spend a lot of time on them.

Evictions/Financial assistance for homeowners

The first Executive Order I want to discuss is the one that deals with evictions and financial assistance for renters, homeowners, and landlords. So, first, listen to President Trump on this because I like you to hear the politicians in their own words.

Play Executive Order Eviction/Financial Assistance for Renters, Homeowners, & Landlords

This Executive Order isn’t that controversial. The Robert T. Stafford Act allows the President to provide any needed emergency assistance. Particularly Section 302 of the Stafford Act provides discretionary funding to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the Secretary of Commerce. These discretionary funds are already allocated by Congress, and the President can spend it at his discretion.

This allows the President to provide relief for homeowners, renters, and landlords. The last thing you want is a collapse in the real estate market. Think about 2008, one sector of our economy collapsed, the housing market, and we immediately went into a recession. So, I really don’t see any issues with this Executive Order. Also, the President can change the rules of Section 8 housing to better protect the most economically vulnerable among us. (Robert T. Stafford Act)

Student Loan Borrowers

Another non-controversial Executive Order is temporarily changing the interest rate for student loan borrowers. Take a listen.

Play Executive Order for Student Loans

Does the President have the authority to pause the interest on federal student loans? Not really. If you read the Higher Education Act, it’s pretty clear only Congress can waive interest. However, this Executive Order is not really controversial, but I will explain the political and legal implications in a few minutes.

Extension of Unemployment Benefits

Another Executive Order the President signed was an extension of the federal unemployment insurance benefit. Take a listen.

Play Executive Order Unemployment Extension Clip

Okay. So, the extra money provided by the federal government for unemployment will continue. This is on top of the unemployment benefits people are already receiving from their state. Now the President has lowered the amount from $600 to $400, and the states will be responsible for providing 25% to that cost. So, feds pick up $300, states pick up $100, and states also provide the regular unemployment benefit to their residents. I still believe that a lot of people will be making more money on unemployment than they would if they were normally working so I’m not the biggest fan, but at least he cut the benefit down some.

Payroll Tax Holiday

The last Executive order is the Payroll Tax Holiday. This is by far the most controversial. Take a listen.

Play Executive Order Payroll Tax Holiday Clip

So, the President is essentially saying that employers can choose not to deduct the payroll tax for Social Security and Medicare for their employees as long as the employee is making less than $100,000.

Now, it’s important to point the mistruths out there. Many are criticizing the President saying Social Security and the Medicare system will go broke. Newsflash. These programs are already broke. Social Security was slated to run out of money by 2034, and Medicare is slated to run out of money by 2026.

The reason these programs will run out of money is that Congress has already spent the money over the years and has been highly irresponsible. So with this Executive Order, may it run out of money a little faster, and the answer is yes, by a few months.

However, for those of you on Social Security and Medicare, you have nothing to worry about. The government has to pay for Social Security and Medicare even if the trust fund is out of money. It’s your money. What will happen, is that the government will have to make cuts to other programs in order to fund Social Security and Medicare. They have to pay those benefits, so you are not going to lose Social Security or Medicare.

Political Implications of the Executive Orders

But I do have some major problems with this Executive Order and the others as well. But before I get into my criticism of the President’s actions, I want to focus on whether these were smart moves politically by the President.

Politically this was a brilliant move and the President is playing chess while the Democrats are playing checkers. These Executive Orders are not legally sound, and in my opinion, the Payroll Tax Holiday, the extension of unemployment benefits, and the suspension of interest on student loans is unconstitutional.

However, the Democrats cannot file suit against the President. How would it look if the President is trying to help the downtrodden, and the Democrats sue to take away that assistance to those most in need?

Think about it logically. They praised President Obama when he decided to use Executive action on DACA. If democrats really try to argue this, I can always argue that President Obama and Democrats sought to help illegal immigrants, but when President Trump tries to help vulnerable Americans he can’t? Is that an argument that democrats really want to have?

Democrats claim they fight for the poor and disadvantaged, are they really willing to throw those people under the bus and challenge the President in federal court? Do you think younger Americans, who are a democrat constituency, would be happy if they had to pay interest on their student loans?

Do you think people would be happy if they were evicted all because the democrats challenged President Trump’s Executive Order regarding financial assistance to homeowners, renters and landlords?

How do you think those currently collecting unemployment will feel if Democrats challenge the President’s unemployment extension? Imagine you are on unemployment, and democrats are the ones responsible for costing you potentially $400 a week. That’s a significant cut to your livelihood.

See, President Trump backed democrats into a corner politically. While the President is on shaky Constitutional grounds, they can’t afford to challenge him because they will look even worse. And you can hear it in Senate Minority Leader Schumer. Senator Schumer said the President’s Executive Orders were paltry and it doesn’t really get the job done. When asked whether it was Constitutional, Schumer responded that he will leave it up to attorneys to decide that.

See the only arguments that Democrats have is the Executive Orders don’t go far enough. That’s a weak argument at best.

And that’s the genius of President Trump’s moves. These are proposals that don’t help the wealthy and the elite. These proposals are specifically targeted to those who need it most, and the democrats can’t fight back. They lost an enormous amount of leverage all because they overplayed their hand and wouldn’t put real proposals on the table.

They thought they could have their far-left wish list because this was one of those types of bills that have to be passed, but President Trump ran circles around them.

The Problems with President Trump’s Executive Orders

While I am giving credit to the President for his political gamesmanship, it doesn’t mean I agree or support these Executive Orders.

Executive Orders should be largely innocuous. In fact, Executive Orders are not meant to change, modify, manipulate, or create new laws. I don’t like it when governors do it, and I don’t like it when Presidents do it. Executive Orders are directives by the President that binds the activities of government departments and agencies, they are not meant to be law.

If you listen to the P.A.S. Report, you will know that I am consistent with my beliefs. I am beholden to no person and no political party. While my political ideology tends to be more conservative, I am only beholden to my God, my family, and my country.

So, if the President does something I disagree with, I call it out.

While I think that 3 out of the 4 Executive Orders are unconstitutional, I doubt see anyone really challenging them.

The Executive Order I have the biggest problem with the Payroll Tax Holiday. I believe this Executive Order is both dangerous and unconstitutional. This is just a deferral of the payroll tax, and President Trump stated that if he is reelected, he will forgive the tax. That’s a dangerous gamble for millions of Americans. What if President Trump doesn’t get reelected or what happens if he goes to forgive the payroll tax, and Congress rejects it. See Congress is the one with the power of taxation.

If the payroll tax isn’t forgiven, Americans could be on the hook for thousands of dollars in repayment, pushing them further into debt, and potentially putting them on the brink of financial ruin. In addition, what happens if the bills become due and people can’t pay the money back? The IRS’s infamous penalties and late charges could increase the amount owed by nearly 40% a year.

Closing

Now I posted this criticism on social media, and I got some pushback. Some said that Democrats were being obstructionists. Well, that’s the same justification that President Obama used when it came to his Executive actions. And I hate to break it to everyone, but Congress is supposed to obstruct the President.

Congress is not there to simply rubberstamp everything a President wants. If that’s the case, what the hell is the point of Congress? Why do we need to pay 535 salaries if the President has the ability to make laws? It’s a President’s job to persuade Congress to adopt proposals.

If Congress can’t do pass a responsible bill, that’s on them and the voters should punish them. Now some of you may not like that. Some of you are happy that President Trump is a man of action but be careful because we go down a dangerous road.

I understand how annoying it can be to have a partisan inept Congress that would rather destroy the President than do their jobs, but this is the system we have. I get that Congress has allowed the Executive Branch to assume more powers because Congress is scared to compromise and take on controversial positions that may be unpopular with their bases because they care more about reelection than actually serving the people.

But what we need to keep in mind is that President Trump is only going to be in the White House for another 5 months to 4.5 years. Who knows who will be President after him?

What happens when a Democrat president decides they will take Executive action on guns and implement a mandatory gun buyback program? What happens when a Democrat President unilaterally shuts down the coal, oil and natural gas industry because of what they will claim is public health and pollution? What happens when a Democrat President decides to raise taxes on only those industries they dislike, and only those people who they deem make to much money?

I have been warning about ever-increasing Executive power for years. I have been preaching to my students that what one President does, the next President will usually do and expand those powers. For those students that were Obama supporters, I warned that the next President may not be someone they like. I reminded my students that were Trump supporters that they didn’t like it when President Obama abused his power.

That’s the danger. You can’t say something is acceptable under one administration, but not acceptable under another administration.

So, that’s my take on the Executive Orders that President Trump issued.

As always, I would appreciate you taking 30-seconds and writing a good review on iTunes. Also, make sure to recommend the podcast and share this episode with your family and friends. Post it on all your social media channels.

As always, thank you for joining us, stay safe and I’ll be back on Monday.

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