Trump power play triggers showdown with courts, Congress

by Frankie TAGGART

With his dizzying moves to slash spending, abolish government departments and lay off much of the federal workforce, Donald Trump has upended the US constitutional order in an unprecedented assertion of executive might.

Critics complain that Congress has been slow to react in the face of a full frontal assault on the Founders' vision of the separation of powers -- but warn that the Republican president is on a collision course with the courts.

In his first two weeks, Trump has set in motion the abolition of a giant government humanitarian agency that experts say can only legally be dismantled by Congress and has tried to freeze trillions of dollars in spending mandated by lawmakers.

He has removed agency watchdogs and summarily fired FBI leaders and federal prosecutors who investigated his efforts to overturn the 2020 election that culminated in a deadly riot at the US Capitol.

The CIA became the first major national security agency to offer buyouts to its workforce this week, as thousands of federal workers were told to accept resignation deals by Thursday or face the boot.

Opponents say Trump allowed Elon Musk -- the world's richest man and a major government contractor -- to break the law by accessing US Treasury payment systems that send out trillions of dollars and hold a welter of sensitive personal data.

"In theory, Congress is a co-equal branch of government but it may not be in practice if it continues to let Trump usurp its constitutional authority," said political analyst Andrew Koneschusky, a former Senate staffer.

"Trump's strategy is to flood the zone, act fast, project strength and break things... But it remains to be seen whether Congress -- and specifically congressional Republicans -- will at some point assert their authority."

- 'Clear messaging' -

Trump's Republican Party controls the House and Senate but is focused on enacting tax cuts and immigration curbs and has shown little interest in subjecting the White House to the usual checks and balances.

While there was bipartisan opposition to Trump's most radical policy pronouncement yet -- for the United States to "take over the Gaza Strip" -- Republicans have shown nothing but deference over his historically contentious Cabinet nominees.

House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Wednesday he was a "fierce advocate" of congressional authority, but thought the outrage over Trump's assault on the federal government was a "gross overreaction in the media."

Democrats, stung by criticism over their initial inertia, have begun organizing, pressing legislation to safeguard Treasury data and summoning reporters to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) as Musk earmarked it for closure.

But as the minority party, they have little power to push back meaningfully.

"Democrats have still not spelled out clear messaging on actions they will take," said Jeff Le, a former senior official in California state politics who negotiated with the first Trump administration.

"And until congressional Republicans see an impact in their district or a political dent in their numbers, I don't see them acting in public."

- 'Little resistance' -

The most effective resistance may end up playing out in the US Supreme Court, with over two dozen lawsuits already targeting Trump's efforts to end birthright citizenship and go after FBI agents who investigated him.

Failed challenges risk consolidating his authority, however, following a 2024 Supreme Court decision that made presidents immune from prosecution if they use their official powers to commit crimes.

And executive power grabs are nothing new, in any case.

Analysts interviewed by AFP said Congress had been ceding territory to the White House since before Franklin Roosevelt set the record for executive orders that still stands -- 3,721, against a few hundred so far for Trump.

"Of course, Roosevelt governed under quite different constitutional and political circumstances, both of which arguably gave him more legitimacy to enforce his will," veteran election strategist Mike Fahey told AFP.

David Alvis, a politics professor at South Carolina liberal arts school Wofford College, says Trump was taking his cue from 19th century president Andrew Jackson, who would prioritize loyalty and target non-cooperative officials with accusations of corruption.

"What remains to be seen is whether Trump's wholesale reform of the administration will incur the same problems as Jackson's reforms did," he said.

"The quality of civil service precipitously declined under Jackson and there was little resistance in the administration to Jackson's legally dubious policies."

© Agence France-Presse