Former US President Donald Trump’s second chief of staff was quoted in US media as saying that 45's reported plan to consolidate power in the executive branch would cause chaos in the government.
“It would be chaotic,” John F. Kelly said. “It just simply would be chaotic, because he’d continually be trying to exceed his authority but the sycophants would go along with it. It would be a nonstop gunfight with the Congress and the courts.”
A New York media outlet reported Sunday that Trump and his allies were planning on consolidating power if the former commander-in-chief is elected in 2024. The plan, parts of which have been touted in campaign speeches and by Trump allies in the media, would include putting traditionally independent agencies under the direct purview of the White House.
Some of the currently independent agencies the Trump administration would target include the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) and the Justice Department. Other agencies that are partially independent, like the Environmental Protection Agency, which has its head appointed by the president but is often left to its own devices otherwise, would also be impacted.
The plan also reportedly includes reviving the practice of “impounding” congressional funding for programs the president disapproves of, a process Congress banned during the Nixon administration.
The proposed consolidation is part of an overall attack on what is often called the “deep state” by Trump and his allies. Some feel that government employees who are not subject to turnover following elections have become an entrenched self-interested faction within the government. Trump and his allies feel this faction prefers Democrats to Republicans, and worked against the Trump administration when it was in power.
The concept of consolidating other agencies under the executive branch was first floated by lawyers working for former US President Ronald Reagan, and has since been dubbed the “unitary executive theory.”
“What we’re trying to do is identify the pockets of independence and seize them,” said Russell T. Vought, who worked in the Trump White House and now runs the conservative think tank Center for Renewing America.
The unitary executive theory posits it is unconstitutional for Congress to restrict the presidency from firing agency heads or enable them to work independently because Article 2 of the Constitution puts the executive branch under the power of the president.
The Supreme Court has ruled twice, once in 1935 and again in 1988, that Congress had the right to shield some officials from being fired without just cause. However, the court has become significantly more conservative since, leaving the question of where they would fall now open.
A draft of an executive order was written during the Trump administration that would have required virtually every federal government agency to submit all actions to the White House for review. The Justice Department reportedly gave the executive order the greenlight, but it was never signed.
Another order that did go into effect, known as Schedule F, was signed by Trump near the end of his term. It removed employment protections on officials deemed to be linked to policymaking. Current US President Joe Biden rescinded that order after taking office; Trump has pledged to bring it back.
“Our current executive branch,” John McEntee, Trump’s former White House personnel chief said, “was conceived of by liberals for the purpose of promulgating liberal policies. There is no way to make the existing structure function in a conservative manner. It’s not enough to get the personnel right. What’s necessary is a complete system overhaul.”
At a recent campaign rally in Michigan, Trump promised to “demolish the deep state."