Some Of Trump’s Day One Orders Are Unconstitutional And He Doesn’t Care

There is absolutely no doubt that some of Donald Trump’s “Day One” executive orders are unconstitutional, and legal scholars are all quick to point out that many of them won’t stand up in court. But none of that matters to Donald Trump. He knew he couldn’t do many of these things but he did them anyway. And counting on the courts to save us from his most extreme orders may be wishful thinking, as Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains.

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*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

So Donald Trump in his first day and a half in office has issued a ton of executive orders, a ton of executive actions. But don't worry folks, because the legal scholars, you know, the smart people who understand how all this works, they are reassuring us that a lot of what he has done is totally unconstitutional. And even some of the things that aren't necessarily unconstitutional, they were very clearly him overstepping his authority and will likely be overturned by the court system. That, of course, is controlled by people that Donald Trump put in there. But don't worry, they tell us everything's gonna be okay. Um, I would love to believe that I, I really genuinely would, but I don't. Do you think for a second that Donald Trump care, the convicted felon cares that he is overstepping the law with some of these executive orders? Do you think he cares that he cannot actually end birthright citizenship that's enshrined in the Constitution via an executive order?

'cause he doesn't, do you think he cares that he can't actually invoke the Alien Enemies act? Because as the legal scholars tell us, we're not actively engaged in a foreign war with a foreign country. So therefore you technically can't do it. No, he doesn't. He is a convicted felon. Okay. Convicted felons aren't known for being people who follow the law 100% of the time. If they were, they wouldn't be convicted felons. Now, would they, and this thought like, this belief, like, don't worry, a lot of this is gonna get overturned by the courts again. You mean the courts that Donald Trump controls, you mean the courts that he's gonna start making appointments to immediately? Or are you talking about sending it all the way up to the US Supreme Court that is controlled by three people that Donald Trump put on there and it'll probably have another one on there within the next year or two?

Maybe two. I have no faith. I have no faith in the systems. I clearly have no faith in the current president of the United States. The law doesn't matter. Yes, we have protections in place. Yes, we have this system of checks and balances, but when all of those checks and balances have already told us we're gonna do whatever Trump wants to do, then they cease to exist again. I totally appreciate what these legal scholars are doing. And for the record, they are correct. A lot of this is unconstitutional. He can't just declare a national emergency at the border when there is no clear emergency except that he can, he can't just invoke the alien enemies act as the law professors tell us because we're not in an act of war. They're right. Except that he can

Now the birthright citizenship thing, that is something he did do, but he actually cannot do that. And for the record, the Supreme Court has actually been very clear about birthright citizenship. They have upheld it many times, but those were also different times. So who knows what's gonna happen, but I don't want anybody getting this false sense of security that like, oh, okay, well we don't need to worry because the legal scholars tell us he can't do this. So, okay, that's great. Yeah, he's, he's toast. No, he is not. It's not gonna change anything. It's not gonna stop him. I don't think the courts are gonna stop him. He's a lawless guy doing whatever the hell he wants. 'cause he knows he can. He's gotten away with it his whole life. Why would he stop now? It's gonna be rough. And if you're counting on the systems to take care of us, to protect us, then you're in for a hell of a lot of disappointment over the next four years.