Executive Orders and The Outrage Economy

Der Furor made a lot of promises to a lot of different constituencies while clawing his way back to the presidency. If history is any judge, he'll pay lip service to some, slow-roll or ignore others, and go balls-to-the-wall with those that personally enrich him or appeal to his baser instincts.

On his first day in office, Der Furor issued dozens of holy commandments Executive Orders on a wide range of topics. They fall into several categories:

The Silly, such as changing the name of Denali back to Mount McKinley and renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and "promoting beautiful federal civic architecture;"

The Petty Score-Settling, such as withdrawing security clearances from various retired military and intelligence professionals he thinks have wronged him; 

The Sadistic, such as a crackdown on immigration and asylum seekers, whether legal or illegal, complete elimination of all DEI programs*, and the frivolous and unscientific designation of two sexes**; 

The Dangerous, such as the blanket pardon for violent rioters from the January 6th, 2021 insurrection and the pardon for the founder of the underground Silk Road drug-dealing website, and granting immediate interim (six months) Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) security clearances to White House staff members***; and, 

The Blatantly Unconstitutional, such as the unilateral ending of the birthright citizenship guaranteed by the Constitution^†. 

The imperial presidency Republicans wanted is in full swing.

And if one of his goals is to "rescue" an economy he seems to think (in spite of all evidence) is in free fall, Der Furor appears to be doing it by distraction, sleight-of-hand and providing full employment for those in the new Outrage Economy ...

A blizzard of lawsuits has already been filed by states and organizations, pushing back against Der Furor's mean-spirited blitz of useless, frivolous, unconstitutional, petty, dangerous, and sadistic actions. How much time and money will be spent on legal fees and hearings by individuals, organizations, states, and the federal government to litigate them all? How long will the courts will be tied up with lawsuits, appeals, appeals of the appeals, appeals of the appealed appeals, ad nauseam, to the detriment of other important, but routine legal issues? We're already one of the most litigious countries in the world ... we're cementing our place as #1.

How much good could have been done with all that money if it were spent on education, health care, infrastructure, and housing? Instead, we're spending it on Der Furor's Outrage Economy.

Want to profit from the new Outrage Economy? Invest in one or more of the following:

Immigration Law Firms; 

Court Reporting Services; 

For-Profit Prisons; 

Migrant Transportation; 

Construction Companies (specializing in giant fences, prisons, and courthouses);

Companies Manufacturing Advanced Surveillance and Security Technologies; and, 

Cybercurrencies Marketed by Der Furor, His Family and Business Associates (carries no guarantee of return, of course).  

And hurry to get one of those high-paying jobs with great benefits that will soon be available in agriculture, service work, and elder care once the people doing them have been rounded up and deported.

Have a good day. Hope for the best, plan for the worst. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo 

* The basic idea of DEI is laudable, although a case can be made that many DEI training requirements (for example) were ludicrously overdone.

** I recognize that the issue of sexual identity is a complicated one, but waving a doctrinal wand is not the right way to address it. Besides, according the politically satisfying (to the right) but scientifically ludicrous text of Der Furor's Executive Proclamation, every American is actually female.

*** One should note that Der Furor himself, not to mention a number of his nominees for high-level positions, couldn't qualify for those clearances if they had to conform to the same standards I did.

† "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States..." (14th Amendment, Section 1)