'Waking up': Dissent against 'unpopular' Trump is growing — here's how

19 February

When Donald Trump was on the campaign trail during the 2024 presidential race, he promised an abundance of executive orders if he won the election. And Trump, now president again, has issued countless executive orders during his first month back in the White House — some of which are being temporarily blocked in the federal courts.

Trump and his allies — including Vice President JD Vance, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk — are accusing federal judges of failing to respect Trump's executive powers. But many Trump critics are countering that federal courts, under the U.S. Constitution, are supposed to play an aggressive role in the United States' system of checks and balances.

In an article published by The Atlantic on February 19, attorney Quinta Jurecic stresses that the pushback against Trump's executive orders is growing — not decreasing or slowing down.

"Courts have prevented Trump from dismissing a government watchdog without explanation and granted restraining orders barring the (Trump) Administration from slashing funds for crucial scientific research," Jurecic notes. "They have prevented Musk's team from meddling with Treasury Department systems and insisted that the government halt its transfer of an incarcerated transgender woman to a men's prison. Four separate judges have issued orders requiring the government to stand down on its effort to dismantle birthright citizenship."

Jurecic continues, "Litigation has also proved to be a valuable tool for prying loose key information from the administration, like the specifics of just what access Musk's aides were given to the Treasury Department, and as a means of making legible to the public what Trump is trying to get away with."

The attorney argues that the Democratic minority in Congress "seems to be waking up" after entering "this second Trump term cautiously."

"This opposition movement will try to build on itself," Jurecic predicts. "The Democratic Party is taking more aggressive action in part because of an outraged constituency demanding that it speak up; that, in turn, may encourage Americans to push the party further. Spoon emoji, court orders, protests — all of these serve as indications that those who dissent are not alone."

Jurecic adds, "True, courageous leadership can emerge unexpectedly. Within the FBI, Acting Director Brian Driscoll has become a folk hero of sorts for his refusal to provide Justice Department leadership with the names of FBI agents to potentially be fired…. The fact is that Trump is an unpopular president who eked out a razor-thin plurality of the popular vote and whose party holds the slimmest of majorities in the House. So far, he has been able to avoid that inconvenient reality by relying on executive orders."

Quinta Jurecic's full article for The Atlantic is available at this link (subscription required).

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