The “Boom!” refers to the more than one hundred Executive Orders that Donald Trump plans to issue after his inauguration on Monday. We have heard of his plans, but we really haven’t absorbed what that might mean. I read an article this morning by AP reporter Calvin Woodward, where he tried to look at what these Executive Orders might try to do and it’s only when you see his list and his explanations that you realize how serious the situation might (or, better, probably will) be.

1. Orders proclaiming a “National Emergency” and follow up orders leading to the arrest and deportation of undocumented aliens, and the use of domestic police forces, the National Guard and perhaps even the American military to round up people and put them into detention camps prior to deportation. In this regard, from another site this morning, I heard that a massive raid is being planned in Chicago; previously, we have heard of massive raids being planned for the Washington DC area. (As to the use of the military, Trump has very recently said that there is no reason why the American military cannot be used to fight on an “invasion”.
2. Orders “closing the border”. While Woodward is not sure what Trump means by this and says that he is certain that Trump does not mean this literally with regard to people who are entitled to move across the border, he believes that Trump will implement a policy saying that, under no circumstances, will someone be able to cross the border who is not authorized to do so, whether they are crossing at border crossings (and then proclaiming themselves eligible for amnesty) or swimming across the Rio Grande. (Violence may be the result of this, of course, and family separation is not far behind.)
3. Birthright citizenship. While the Constitution provides for birthright citizenship (the automatic citizenship of anyone born in the United States), Trump has said that he is going to stop it. He probably can not do this legally through an Executive Order, but he can try (he really doesn’t seem to care what the Constitution says about birthright citizenship), and let the courts settle it out over time. This may be a general strategy he uses: issue an Executive Order, implement it, and wait (possibly for years) for the courts to settle it out.
4. Electric vehicles. Trump has vowed to eliminate the incentives that the Biden administration has put into place to encourage the purchase of electric, rather than gas powered, vehicles, whether that involves ending tax incentives, or ending mandates or goals to begin to phase out fossil fuel vehicles, or tighter emission standards, etc. (This of course, sets up an interesting dynamic with President Musk, whose Tesla operation, which makes automobiles not only in the United States, but in China, Germany, Holland, Canada, and – soon – Mexico. We shall see how this plays out.)
5. Tariffs. This is, perhaps, the biggest mystery, as Trump has continually used tariffs as a stick, but the extent that he is going to implement anything immediate is not particularly clear. Perhaps, he feels that he must do something to meet his Day 1 promises.
6. Pardoning Jan 6 rioters. He might issue these pardons on Day 1, and they might free everyone convicted of a crime in connection with the riots now over four years ago, or he may exclude those who were convicted of particular crimes of violence. But these pardons will probably come on Monday.
7. Transgender rights and critical race theory. The question here is how broadly he will go. Will he limit his executive orders to the ability of transgender females to participate in women’s sports and declare that schools that allow such participation can kiss all federal funding assistance goodbye? Or will he go further and state that any school (from kindergartens to universities) will find their funding at risk, if they teach anything that smacks of critical race theory, or any other DEI or woke teaching. (Of course, none of those things are, or can be, tightly defined).
8. Energy. “Drill, baby, drill” means that some of the Biden era restrictions on drilling or mining will be reversed, and some of this can clearly happen on Monday, although it’s immediate effect is unclear at this point.
9. Firing federal officials. In his never ending battle against the Deep State, Trump may issue an assortment of orders, some of which might fire high level officials, or might direct incoming cabinet members to create programs to root out any officials who do not evidence support of the programs of the new President.

These are the issues brought up by Calvin Woodward in this very interesting article. He may be right. He may be wrong. He clearly might have left out some other topics that Trump could address through Executive Orders. But this list, like others which could be developed, should give us more than pause. It should scare us.

As a wrap up to today, post, I would like to recommend a program that I listened to this week. Go to the Cato Institute website (cato.org), and then to “events” and then to “Executive Orders that the Trump Administration Should Revoke or Amend” and listen to the 90 minutes discussion. The title to this program makes it look like a pro-MAGA waste of time, but the program itself did not really fit its title. The program, which involved several Cato employees, covers two subjects (at least): (1) what is an Executive Order, what is the history of Executive Orders, what is their legal authority, etc., and (2) a discussion of some of Biden’s executive orders, and what Trump could/should do about them. The reason that (1) is interesting is obvious, I think. The reason that (2) was interesting is both that there are some differences among the Cato panelists as to what they believe to be the best policies and that there are certainly differences between many of the Cato policy suggestions and what Trump’s MAGA folks would probably support. I just thought it was an interesting and honest conversation – and honesty is so hard to find today.

Okay, that’s it for doom. Come back tomorrow for a little gloom.