Colonel Hogan
Madness
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2005
- Posts
- 18,372
There are three general considerations relative to the President's controversial immigration ban that are relevant to the current public discussion and the direction of the country going forward:
1. The Constitutional and statutory legality of the executive order itself.
2. The wisdom of the policy given its objective and all potential ramifications.
3. The manner in which the executive order was drafted and implemented.
This post is concerned primarily with item three.
When it was announced during the transition period that both Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon would play critical and highly powerful roles in the Trump White House, eyebrows were raised both in Washington and throughout the country as to how the establishment Republican crowd represented by Priebus could possibly coexist with the hardcore rightwing element represented by Bannon.
At the time, I thought it was a good move because it suggested that a wide range of conservative political philosophy would get a fair hearing and coalesce into a conservative consensus that would be difficult for the Democrats to effectively oppose.
The manner in which the immigration ban order was produced and implemented greatly calls that conclusion into question.
The Priebus/Bannon "cage match" only works if both camps have an equal footing on all issues and thrash things out to a "fair" internal resolution. If issues are instead "parceled out" to the respective groups or if one group is played against the other this Administration and we, as a country, are headed for disaster.
It appears at this point neither Rex Tillerson or Acting AG Yates was consulted on the legality and/or wisdom of the policy. That failure affects NEITHER the legality or ultimate WISDOM (or lack thereof) of the immigration ban.
But it does represent a colossal misjudgment and mismanagement by the President. And judgment and management are, first and foremost, what running ANY executive department is about.
Ultimately, it will matter little who is "right" or "wrong" about a host of issues and policies as we move forward if the Trump administration is characterized by managerial incompetence generally.
And that sure looks like what has happened in this instance.
I continue to defend the legality of the President's executive order. But I'm not certain at this point that that is the most important of the three considerations I suggested at the beginning of this post.
And that IS disturbing.
1. The Constitutional and statutory legality of the executive order itself.
2. The wisdom of the policy given its objective and all potential ramifications.
3. The manner in which the executive order was drafted and implemented.
This post is concerned primarily with item three.
When it was announced during the transition period that both Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon would play critical and highly powerful roles in the Trump White House, eyebrows were raised both in Washington and throughout the country as to how the establishment Republican crowd represented by Priebus could possibly coexist with the hardcore rightwing element represented by Bannon.
At the time, I thought it was a good move because it suggested that a wide range of conservative political philosophy would get a fair hearing and coalesce into a conservative consensus that would be difficult for the Democrats to effectively oppose.
The manner in which the immigration ban order was produced and implemented greatly calls that conclusion into question.
The Priebus/Bannon "cage match" only works if both camps have an equal footing on all issues and thrash things out to a "fair" internal resolution. If issues are instead "parceled out" to the respective groups or if one group is played against the other this Administration and we, as a country, are headed for disaster.
It appears at this point neither Rex Tillerson or Acting AG Yates was consulted on the legality and/or wisdom of the policy. That failure affects NEITHER the legality or ultimate WISDOM (or lack thereof) of the immigration ban.
But it does represent a colossal misjudgment and mismanagement by the President. And judgment and management are, first and foremost, what running ANY executive department is about.
Ultimately, it will matter little who is "right" or "wrong" about a host of issues and policies as we move forward if the Trump administration is characterized by managerial incompetence generally.
And that sure looks like what has happened in this instance.
I continue to defend the legality of the President's executive order. But I'm not certain at this point that that is the most important of the three considerations I suggested at the beginning of this post.
And that IS disturbing.
Last edited:
