Trump's Executive Orders Are All Absurd and Horrible. But Which of them Actually Matter?
Added 2025-01-22 09:57:23 +0000 UTCOA1115 - Matt joins for a special Wednesday to provide an initial review of some of the most notable of the 26 executive orders which Donald Trump signed after his inauguration on Monday. We go beyond the headlines to take a closer look at what is actually in these things, and try to sort the routine bluster from the very real threats.
“Undercover in Project 2025,” Center for Climate Reporting (8/15/2024)
Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness – The White House (1/20/2025)
Protecting The Meaning And Value Of American Citizenship – The White House (1/20/2025)
Initial Rescissions Of Harmful Executive Orders And Actions – The White House (1/20/25)
Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program – The White House (1/20/25)
Guaranteeing The States Protection Against Invasion – The White House (1/20/25)
Ending The Weaponization Of The Federal Government – The White House (1/20/25)
Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!
Comments
"If you're of a certain age or privilege, there's no one else coming." Is a a hell of a rallying cry
Jon C
2025-01-24 21:02:56 +0000 UTCIt never ceases to piss me off that people who try to call believing in the existence of intersex or asexual people is any kind of ideology. Trans isn’t ideology, ffs. Erasure of less than 2% of the population is a cowardly act. As is the fearmongering propaganda that flooded some airwaves over the past few years but most especially during the election cycle. I’m cis but have relatives who are nonbinary and many friends who are trans and they fucking exist. They’re human and are a danger to nobody. We must not accept this continued attack. Not one bit.
dddebz
2025-01-24 01:23:41 +0000 UTCI absolutely agree, which is why I'm eager for more expertise-based information so I can spread it to my community. There's a panic I want to do my part to quell and refine into productive action, both to defend ourselves and to actively resist this agenda. I am primarily an ally of the people of my community but I don't have the legal knowledge to interpret what's going on besides what I can learn from sources like what you've provided. My hope is to bring productive, actionable information to those dealing with a scary, confusing situation, and I really appreciate any resources you can give me to bring to them. Thank you so much for all you're doing.
Melody Woodward
2025-01-23 02:58:59 +0000 UTCAlso ty for the bostock breakdown, this is not my area of course but something i really want to learn more about so i am going to study what you have said here and be sure i am up to speed by the time we get to it in the near future
Matt Cameron
2025-01-23 00:27:38 +0000 UTCThanks! I have been following erin reed on socials for awhile and i think she would be a great guest in the near future but before anything else we were hoping to speak with a trans lawyer. There are some good options, just need to book one of them asap
Matt Cameron
2025-01-23 00:24:41 +0000 UTCTo the best of my knowledge, most, it not all of the fundamentalists who write Madam President's policies define it as the moment of fertilization. Some would probably say even earlier.
James
2025-01-22 22:44:18 +0000 UTCThank you so much for responding to me and for your support and insight. I'm part of several trans communities and I'll see if any of them have a good candidate for a guest to come on the show. The one that comes to mind right now is a journalist named Erin Reed and while I don't know her personally I think she may respond to a request to address these issues in a show like OA. Her website is https://www.erininthemorning.com/ and I can reach out to her, though you may have better luck given your platform. Let me know if you'd like me to take the lead on that and I'll happily do so. My concern with Bostock is that the recent policies around the definition of gender is someone who "at conception, to the sex that produces the large/small reproductive cell." This is biologically absurd (we'd all be female since fetuses all produce large reproductive cells until around 6 weeks into the pregnancy), but the intended meaning is clear that they want to define "male" and "female" (and associated terms like "man," "woman," "boy," and "girl) as immutably tied to biological before birth. I'm not a lawyer, but to me there is an argument to be made under that definition that Bostock protections can be diminished for trans people by holding to that immutable definition of gender. For instance, it seems to be legal that men and women's prisons/jails can be separate facilities that exclusively hold one gender to the exclusion of another, so if they rule that Bostock doesn't imply that transgender individuals are the gender they have transitioned into then it should follow that putting transwomen into men's prisons isn't covered by the Title VII. Gorsuch seems to imply that the decision wouldn't cover such a case in the opinion when he said "They say sex-segregated bathrooms, locker rooms, and dress codes will prove unsustainable after our decision today but none of these other laws are before us; we have not had the benefit of adversarial testing about the meaning of their terms, and we do not prejudge any such question today." I guess I could see the Supreme Court interpreting Bostock as establishing that employment discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals based on that condition alone is illegal, but that behaviors like using the "wrong" bathroom in the workplace, public airport, hospital, etc. is not covered, since either sex would be prohibited from that action. Similar with prisons, changing government documentation, access to gender affirming care (though I suspect that's more likely to be about adding gender affirming drugs to the controlled substances schedule), and laws around obscenity (like we've seen with drag bans). I guess I'd just like to know what to tell members of the community that are as confused as I am so we are able to collectively know our situation. Thank you again for your support and I really appreciate all you've done for us already.
Melody Woodward
2025-01-22 22:29:31 +0000 UTCThis all relates to the definition of “conception.”
Status Quo Level Thing
2025-01-22 22:27:17 +0000 UTCIt is so easy to get jaded and disheartened and allow that to effect your ability and motivation to fight. There is always value to pushing back on the unjust. If you are out of hope, create more for someone, somewhere. A major thing I've taken from the show is an empowerment boost and desire to reevaluate some of the more cynical/fatalistic takes that creep in. Doing civil rights work, its hard not to get discouraged and want to throw your hands up. But largely, these are not my rights to give up on. Keep fighting, folks, and keep up the good work.
Katie Herrmann
2025-01-22 22:17:55 +0000 UTCAwe exactly
KeepingThePlatesSpinning
2025-01-22 22:15:44 +0000 UTCIt’s been tough lately… I’ve been relying on this podcast and their WTW and LAM podcasts a lot just for ASMR- type comfort… some proof I’m not alone. Even though I am, as we all are. Oops. Love these guys!
Status Quo Level Thing
2025-01-22 22:09:13 +0000 UTCI will also add to that that my concern in regard to both issues is spreading unnecessary and/or unreasonable anxiety. These orders are a shot across the bow and there ultimately isn't much detail that we can really learn from them until we start to see implementing memos and regulations, but their main purpose at this point seems to be to steer the cultural narrative and that is something that we can all help to push back on. I believe that one of the most important things that we can do as allies is to do our part to keep the temperature down on the discourse and make sure that we are only sharing information/takes that are helpful and informative
Matt Cameron
2025-01-22 22:01:18 +0000 UTCThank you so much for taking the time to share all of that. I am feeling (secondarily) the same kind of terror from my clients and i hope that nothing i said here conflated it too much with nihilism. Rational fear from people with everything to lose is a very different thing from "rip rule of law lol"--which in my experience has more often than not been coming from extremely privileged people. But the latter badly exarcerbates the former, so my audience here really was (supposed to be) those of us who have the supreme privilege to say some performative shit about all of this online and move on and certainly not the intended targets of these policies and i really hope that we didn't say anything that might have come off otherwise. Imo the threat to your community is ultimately more urgent than it is to immigrants (especially viewed per capita), but we just don't know the shape of it the way that we do with immigration because--at least as i understand it--the fights have been more at the state level. Obviously i have a strong immigration law bias and that has been dominating the headlines recently in a way that has demanded immediate coverage. But please know that we stand with you and are determined to continue covering the fight for trans lives/rights/healthcare and pointing this community in the direction of places where they can help. We are badly in need of a trans attorney who can speak to these issues to come on and better educate us on them, so if you have any ideas we might not have thought (no responses yet) we'd welcome that. My take on the executive order was just an initial read and we will be sure to return to it again soon and track these things best we can. (honestly i don't even understand how they purport to be able overrule bostock, but i need to take the time to.)
Matt Cameron
2025-01-22 21:47:03 +0000 UTCDeportnation.substack.com. Thanks!
Matt Cameron
2025-01-22 21:22:46 +0000 UTCI'm disappointed that you left out the fact that DEFENDING WOMEN FROM GENDER IDEOLOGY EXTREMISM AND RESTORING BIOLOGICAL TRUTH TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT explicitly declares all Americans to be female in the eyes of the Trump administration. "d) "Female" means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell. e) "Male" means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell." Since no one has a sex at conception, "belonging at conception to the sex..." can only sensibly be interpreted to mean the sex of the person you belong to at conception, meaning the mother.
James
2025-01-22 20:51:51 +0000 UTCThis might just be a me problem but I can't find Matt's substack. Does anyone have a link?
Drew Hickcox
2025-01-22 20:24:00 +0000 UTCThey didn't name it the Department of Government Efficiency Improvement...so technically its not a lie?
James
2025-01-22 20:03:11 +0000 UTCThank you!!!
Lydia Smith
2025-01-22 19:06:04 +0000 UTCNothing says government efficiency like firing a bunch of employees doing things. Either you don't replace those jobs and people aren't doing them or getting as much done, which is less efficient, or you rehire and retrain those positions at great expense, which is the opposite of efficient, or you dismantle the function of that job, which is (probably the actual goal and) literally zero efficient. It is doublespeak of the highest order to call this efficiency.
Unlikable Internet Goblin
2025-01-22 18:43:48 +0000 UTCSide note- pregnancy related eyesight changes is absolutely a thing. It has to do with the hormones that loosen connective tissues. The muscles around the eye relax and the shape of the eyeball can change. At least that's how it was explained when it happened to me.
Bluviolet
2025-01-22 18:36:43 +0000 UTCHmm, I was looking for a Bluesky or other social media post that I could share. I've seen Thomas post links to Apple podcasts but I'm not an Apple user. No rush if there aren't any posts up yet
James Hamblin
2025-01-22 16:47:03 +0000 UTCThey tend to drop about the same time.
Kat -- A liberal weed in conservative country
2025-01-22 16:02:34 +0000 UTCIt's up! 😊
Lydia Smith
2025-01-22 16:00:13 +0000 UTCI appreciate this breakdown and realistic triage of what that opening salvo of executive orders actually mean. I did want to raise a minor point is that there is a difference between doomerism and terror. The trans community (especially the trans women community) is terrified of what we're seeing and our protections are practically nil, both legally (from what I can tell) and public will to fight for and alongside us. We're quite honestly scared for our lives and freedoms as the path to losing our civil rights seems very clear, imminent, and from what we can tell unavoidable. I know OA focuses on immigration related legal topics and I appreciate that, but I wonder if you could maybe do an episode on the impact to the trans community some of these recent actions actually mean? There's a lot of confusion and fear in our community and I'd like to be an informed voice to give the kind of information that this episode provided to others to help us know what to do. Particularly in the event that Bostock is overturned with regard to our protections in entails, since that seems to be almost certainly going to be raised and probably overturned in light of things like bathroom bills or employment discrimination. We're confused on things like being detained at the border over passports that have been changed to match our true genders, including non-binary individuals who have neither an M or F on them in light of the new policy to deny their existence. We're also wondering what a path to ensuring trans convicts and suspects in custody are treated as appropriate genders in light of recent news of states denying life saving medication and the ability to present as our true gender (such as by shaving the heads of trans women) in an appropriately gendered facility. Bathrooms at federal facilities are also a concern, as that includes many facilities that make such use inevitable like airports, VA hospitals, and federal workplaces and the language around enforcement/punitive capabilities of the federal government are unclear. I guess what I'm asking for is a similar take to this one about the legal ramifications and capabilities of the executive branch to enact their promises to erase our existence. I know you've got a million things going on and I understand if this isn't something that can fit in with everything else, but we would really appreciate some clarity if you are able to give it.
Melody Woodward
2025-01-22 15:58:32 +0000 UTCJust curious when the episodes go up for non-patrons. I always like to share the episodes when I can!
James Hamblin
2025-01-22 15:26:55 +0000 UTCMatt Cameron is the only person who I trust to write a manifesto. I have been feeling SO down and now I’m done with that. Thank you to everyone on the OA team. Even when some of us took a timeout, you folks never give up.
KeepingThePlatesSpinning
2025-01-22 13:12:39 +0000 UTC,,
We can feed everybody
2025-01-22 10:51:52 +0000 UTC
