Trump Walking in Obama's Shoes

Although President Trump’s loyal supporters would be loathed to admit this, it is becoming more and more apparent that there is very little difference between the governing styles of Barrack Obama and President Trump.

Both presidents were frustrated with a balky Congress and shared a desire to take action when stalemated.   They both challenged lawmakers to step up and pass legislation even if they did not agree with them.

Mr. Trump has concluded that he cannot wait for a Republican Congress to act, so he is using his executive power to accomplish what lawmakers will not, in this case erasing most of the Mr. Obama’s legacy.

Why does this matter?   It matters because once again it shows the hypocrisy of Donald Trump.  Mr. Trump was a harsh critic of Mr. Obama for relying too much on executive power to enact his agenda.  In usual Trump style he cast Obama as some sort of out-of-control executive bypassing the Constitution and Congress to enact his liberal/socialistic agenda. 

However, our new President has now decided it’s okay to ignore both and like Obama is aggressively wielding his own executive pen.

On the campaign trail in February, 2016, Trump repeatedly said, "Obama goes around signing executive orders.  He can't even get along with the Democrats. He goes around signing all these executive orders. It's a basic disaster. You can't do it."

Just substitute the words “Trump” for “Obama” and “Republicans” for “Democrats” in his February quote and you will clearly see the hypocrisy of Trump in his adoption of the Obama-like approach for governing.

“What’s remarkable is how early in his administration President Trump is resorting to executive unilateralism,” said Mr. Galston, a scholar at the Brookings Institution.  “Mr. Obama, by contrast, did not turn to executive power so robustly until later in his eight-year presidency.”

Last Thursday, was the 49th executive order that Trump has signed since coming into office on January 20.  Barrack Obama signed a mere 26 by this time.

Obviously, Trump’s voracious use of executive orders will be heatedly defended by his supporters with the excuse always given, “Well, the previous administration did it, so what’s the big deal?”

The big deal is Donald Trump promised something different, to clean the swamp and govern in a new fashion.  Maybe it’s time to recall the famous Hans Christian Andersen’s story and tell the emperor and his supporters “that he doesn’t have on any clothes,” when it comes to how he governs.  He’s no better than his predecessor.