Critics of President Donald Trump often express bafflement over why his broad support among conservatives is so enduring. Some of this “dismay” is simply manufactured, as many in the “Never Trump” rump have to deny any good has happened on his watch, as it complicates their certainty about Trump. They prefer their extreme rhetoric of denunciation to even the possibility of a mixed record. Others who admit that Trump has got a lot right resist an explicit balancing of good and bad, as it inevitably leads to discussion of Trump’s good policy choices which, when examined closely, are many and enduring.
Assuming, though, that some of the mystified critics are either genuinely confounded, and that some are otherwise engaged or just too lazy to do the work, let me give you the latest exhibit in Trump’s record of genuine and possibly lasting conservative reforms.
On Oct. 9, the president signed two executive orders designed to improve transparency when government agencies issue or enforce “guidance” on how best to comply with a law or regulation.
I put quotes around the word “guidance,” because “guidance” sounds benign. Who wouldn’t want “guidance” on difficult questions of regulatory interpretation? But “guidance” has become the kudzu of the regulatory state – issued in greater and greater amounts from more and more federal agencies. These informal missives from the vast federal bureaucracy carry extraordinary real-world costs and sometimes extremely destructive punishments. And they often arrive without even the (too often meaningless) notice-and-comment periods for the public to offer its input.
Trump is bringing down the hammer on the guidance-addicted bureaucrats, building on earlier actions by former attorney general Jeff Sessions and former associate attorney general Rachel Brand.
“For many decades,” the president declared at the signing ceremony, “federal agencies have been issuing thousands of pages of so-called ‘guidance’ documents — a pernicious kind of regulation imposed by unaccountable bureaucrats in the form of commentary on how rules should be interpreted. All too often, guidance documents are a backdoor for regulators to effectively change the laws and vastly expand their scope and reach. Guidance has frequently been used to subject U.S. citizens and businesses to arbitrary and sometimes abusive enforcement actions.”
Read the rest from Hugh Hewitt HERE.
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