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<\/a><\/p>\nPresident Donald Trump has spent the past two weeks issuing a spate of executive orders that are stunning in their reach.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
There\u2019s nothing unusual about the executive orders in and of themselves, of course.\u00a0Presidents have been signing them since George Washington was in office.<\/p>\n
But the problem, says former ambassador and White House official\u00a0Stuart Eizenstat,\u00a0is the \u201crapidity, breath\u00a0and lack of interagency coordination.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eizenstat says Trump is churning out executive orders at a breakneck pace without consulting affected agencies, legal experts or cabinet members. His cabinet, Eizenstat points out, isn\u2019t even fully in place: \u201c[Trump] knows the confirmation process can sometimes take a matter of weeks, and [he] wanted to get out of the box as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eizenstat held high-level positions in both the Carter and Clinton administrations.\u00a0He watched Carter sign a controversial executive order his first day in office, pardoning Vietnam War draft dodgers. Eizenstat emphasizes that he is not against unilateral executive action. \u201cExecutive orders are a very good way at the beginning of an administration of showing direction,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
And certainly, he says, President Trump \u201cdidn\u2019t exceed his legal authority.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s executive orders are dramatic and transformative. He has put a temporary halt on refugees, revived plans to build controversial oil pipelines, set the stage to repeal Obamacare, authorized a wall on the border with Mexico, and banned funding for abortion overseas. But historically speaking, Trump\u2019s orders are far from the most consequential.<\/p>\n
An executive order by Franklin D. Roosevelt enabled the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Abraham Lincoln\u2019s Emancipation Proclamation was also an executive order. \u201cBut Lincoln consulted his cabinet,\u201d Eizenstat adds.<\/p>\n
Trump, by contrast, has been moving so quickly that \u201cthe normal interagency process that would flag problems hasn\u2019t existed.\u201d Take the immigration and refugee ban, for example. \u201cGreen card holders were initially swept up, the Department of Homeland Security wasn\u2019t consulted. There was no secretary of state in place, although this has a very real impact on our foreign policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eizenstat is concerned about what the ramifications will be for the country. \u201cI\u2019ve worked in the White House in two [administrations]. And to me, process is very important. A good process does not assure a good result,\u201d Eizenstat says.\u00a0\u201cBut an inadequate and bad process, a short-circuited process, a process which doesn\u2019t touch base with the key departments, the key interest groups, the key congressional committees, is almost certainly going to be an imperfect decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
This article first appeared on PRI The World<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post A Former White House Official Says Trump Ignores Due Process at His Own Peril<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad<\/a>.<\/p>\n