Case Studies - Executive Branch Flashcards
President Trump’s Executive Order 13823
This executive order excused the events at Guantanamo Bay as being excusable under the Detainee Trainee Act of 2005, and allowed those detained in war time to be detained for the duration of the conflict. It allows those detained there to be subject to military law and create an absence of human rights that would stop the events there occurring. It keeps the prison open and increases the amount of people who could be detained, and it also mentions the repealing of EO 13492, which ordered it to be closed. It allows the abuse of human rights to continue, and erases the image Obama created about a more moral and less brutal America - this prison is against the Geneva Convention on Human Rights and so destroys the military morality of America, under the guise of protecting America and acts as a deterrent and stops those who are in the prison from being released.
The impact of the COVID pandemic on Trump’s presidency
- Trump had to make a major amount of U-turns on policy, and has created a confusing policy line in a time of confusion and distress for many Americans - a lot of his actions had direct detrimental effects on Americans, such as threats about defunding businesses and educational establishments that refused to open back up to protect their people, and so his perception that he was doing well as President and was being a strong leader were actually perceived to be weak, confusing and losing the COVID war, and his approval ratings massively dropped. Biden was 13 points ahead in Florida, a key swing state, in the lead up to the election, showing how detrimental it was to his presidency as the same was seen in the other major swing states.
- His comments about injecting bleach and undermining professional opinion also decreased his international and domestic status - it exposed his presidency for what it was; ineffective, narcissistic and a business opportunity.
- He did not take it seriously, and many Americans died and lost their lives as they once were because of the pandemic, and he lost his presidential status, and the limitations of his presidency and his bombastic tactics were no longer working and were exposed
The impact of the Financial Crisis on Obama’s Presidency
- The control the Democrats had over the house meant that Obama was able to effectively through his stimulus package legislation to help solve the financial crisis - by having the most productive first 100 days scored him the highest approval ratings since the 1970s, creating a massive popularity boost for Obama, and he was able to pass many of his manifesto aims including Obamacare / ACA
- However, the loss of the House in the 2010 midterms and subsequently the Senate in 2014 meant that Obama struggled to preserve his legislative programme, and to avoid becoming a lame duck President he had to rely on Executive Orders, which hindered the legislative longevity of his presidential legacy, meaning that he was only truly effective for his first 2 years - this is because the process was still slow, and people were frustrated, and so the crisis both helped and hindered him, and it also meant his constitutional power to nominate a supreme court nominee was blocked in 2016 as Congress wanted to wait for Trump’s nominee
- He was also a breath of fresh air following the war issues and neo-conservative wars caused by his foreign policy - this means that by offering something different, Obama saw a massive boost in popularity
- However, a polarisation during his presidency, especially in areas of gun control following the Sandy Hook shooting, led to further problems for his legislative agenda
- By killing Osama Bin Laden through his orders, he did increase his approval ratings massively, making his personal popularity raise
Donald J Trump - Success as an Executive
Construct a security Wall on Mexican Border:
- Built a fence. The Trump administration says they’ve completed more than 400 miles of border wall since 2017. - In 2016, President Trump repeatedly claimed Mexico would pay for the wall. This didn’t happen.
- The US government has paid for the wall, and there’ve been arguments over how to fund it between the Trump administration and Congress which led to a 35 day shutdown.
- Not very because it is a fence.
- His aim was to reduce immigration. He did not reduce immigration
Replace Obamacare health legislation:
- Trump signed a vague deal to replace and repeal the Affordable Care Act without an actual plan instead!
- Following his eventual replacement proposal, it would have resulted in a predicted 24 million missing out from the previous health plan, in event of the possible repeal of the ACA.
- But, twas not conservative enough for some Republicans such as the Freedom Caucus so did not support the bill and the democrats also did not because of targeting the elderly and the poor obvs.
Better trade deals for America:
- Called NAFTA a ‘disaster’ and warned of the TPP, pledging to correct trade deficits in China.
- Withdrew from the Trans Pacific Partnership, and said he would consider rejoining later if there was a better deal.
- Signed the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement to replace NAFTA and this recently came into force, but aluminium tariffs were reimposed on Canada which Ottawa reciprocated with retaliatory tariffs.
- Signed a revised trade pact in September 2018 with South Korea
- The US and China became embroiled in an escalating trade battle, with both sides enforcing tariffs on billions of dollars worth of goods - they aimed to sign a ‘phase one’ trade deal aimed to ease this trade war.
- Successfully withdrew from the TPP, but did not ease tensions with Canada and Mexico with a withdrawal from NAFTA.
- He also caused a trade war with a major economic power and these tensions continue today. Trump therefore created trade deal tensions, and despite signing more trade deals, this caused more tariffs and tension that it solved.
American Unity:
- America has been the most polarised it has ever been, with Trump enforcing his own party policies and beliefs with little consideration to Congress - he only has a 6% Democratic approval rating, showing that he has little Democratic support.
- As a result, he did less for American Unity than immigration, and furthered Republican / Democrat splits caused by Obama’s ACA deal.
The Presidency of Bill Clinton
Inaugurated on January 20, 1993 and served until January 20, 2001
His main campaign points were based around ‘Fighting for the Forgotten Middle Class’ by decreasing their taxes and establishing a national apprenticeship system, for example.
However Clinton’s legacy tends to lie mainly within the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the failed attempts at healthcare reform. His responses to international conflicts are also a key aspect of his presidency.
Aims:
- Attempted to achieve universal health care coverage for Americans (but was opposed by Insurance industry, Republicans and the American Medical Assosciation
- Tried to instigate ‘Don’t ask, Don’t tell Policy’ in summary allowed LGBT members to serve in the US Armed Forces, provided they keep their sexual orientation a secret~ even though he signed the Defence of Marriage Act which defined marriage between a man and a woman.
Achievements:
- Attempted a health care reform (failure due to the lack of political will to confront major players in medical care funding ~ insurance companies)
- Peso recovery package 1995
- NATO enlargement
- NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia (that stopped the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo)
- The Good Friday agreement 10/4/1998 (the agreement between Britain and Northern Ireland’s parties over how Northern Ireland should be governed
- Presided over the establishment of the Children’s Health Insurance Programme (estimated coverage of up to 5 million children but due to his impeachment Kennedy continued to write most of the bill, using the tobacco taxes to pay the $20 billion price tag)
Success:
- Clinton was proved to be quite a successful President before his Presidency came to an end after numerous files were placed against him for being a sexual predator (by Paula Jones and Monica Lewinsky), which eventually ended up with him being impeached on the December 19th 1998 being charged of obstruction of justice in his court case.
Bill Clinton - Imperial vs Imperilled
- Clinton’s presidency can overall be seen as imperial rather than imperilled which is mostly seen in his attitudes towards wars and contempt towards constitutional limits on the presidency.
Foreign vs Domestic?
- Foreign policy dominated Clinton’s presidency, both in successes and failures, much more than domestic.
- Despite his promises for domestic policies to help the middle classes, these were often unsuccessful. Clinton’s legacy can often lie within his choice for intervention in Kosovo and Bosnia which were generally deemed a success, bit failure to act in Rwanda is also very significant.
Overall:
- Dominated by foreign affairs
- Eg. Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Somalia and Northern Ireland
- Despite campaign points focusing on the middle classes
- Imperial presidency - often due to undeclared military actions/conflicts
- Monica Lewinsky scandal overshadows his legacy and actions
George Bush - Domestic Policy
Social policy; Success
- Encouraged more non-profit support for communities encouraging social support
- Encouraged stem cell research with existing cell lines, preventing the justification of abortion for embryonic research
Tax cuts - most important domestic action of his presidency - short term succes, long term failure
- Called for a $1.6 trillion reduction in tax, doubling the child tax credit, incentivising retirement savings and phasing out federal estate taxes, heavily supported by Congress - failed to introduce a second round to the extent he wished
Educational Reforms; Success
- ‘No Child Left Behind’ initiative, highly successful
Medicare and social security
- Resulted in collapse of the social security system, and reformed and improved Medicare coverage - partially successful
Hurricane Katrina (hurricane tortilla) - Not successful for popularity
- Did not successfully provide thorough relief efforts and he failed to support those affected by the crisis and only after a string of crime increases and National Guard crises’ did he work to secure a $126 billion funding package to rebuild the battered region, but the political damage had already caused huge decreases in his popularity
Financial Crisis - Failure
- US economy began to decline in 2007 and economic concerns drove the Federal Reserve to lower Federal Funds Interest Rate seven times; the stock market collapsed and banks were trapped; the government absorbed mortgage companies and despite Bush’s opposition to government involvement in the economy, he was supportive of a strong government response to the economic crisis
- He signed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act to establish the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) - TARP authorised $700 billion of expenditures to stabilize banks, restart credit markets, support the U.S. auto industry and help Americans avoid foreclosure on their homes
- However, in combination with tax cuts, the federal deficit skyrocketed and had to be maintained and stabilised by the Obama administration
George Bush - Foreign policy
9/11 - gave the presidency a clear focus, to protect the American people at home and defeat terrorism abroad, which combined military action abroad and strong defensive measures at home
- Formed a war cabinet and authorised with Congress the use of force against those responsible for the attacks, began airstrikes on Taliban military installations and al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan, and authorised ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’
- Released the ‘Bush Doctrine’ of the National Security Strategy of the United States, focusing on preventative war, deterring potential attackers, create unilateral action, and embraced spreading democracy and freedom worldwide b focusing on the free market, free trade and individual liberty - this was received as being naive but also was strongly supported as a way to protect the people, but as the situation in Iraq became more unstable the ideas behind the doctrine lost prominence even within the administration itself
- Bush signed the Status of Forces Agreement and entered the Strategic Framework Agreement, to establish a economic security and political relationships with Iraq’s new government and defined the security relationship between the two countries and help for US withdrawal by the end of 2011 if stability remained. More than 4,200 US soldiers died in Iraq under Bush.
Interrogation and surveillance
- Passed the Authorisation for Use of Military Force 2001 which allowed the use of force against those involved in attacks and to prevent future ones
- USA Patriot Act 2001 - expanded domestic security and surveillance, disrpted terrorist funding and increase efficiency in the US intelligence community
- Supported the use of Guantanamo Bay, placing terrorists as unlawful enemy combatants and placing them outside the protections of the Geneva Convention
- Terrorist Surveillance Program allowed the NSA to monitor electronic commuincation without a warrant to collect information about terrorist activity, but there were concerns this violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978; issues of enhanced interrogation, military tribunals, rendition and warrantless wiretapping generated much controversy and public discussion, and Bush defended his actions with the idea that he was keeping the American people safe, and that extraordinary measures were justified
- It was argued that the US sanctioned torture and ignored legal safeguards, turning on important founding principles such as the rule of law, presumption of innocence and protection of civil liberties, debates that continued into Obama’s presidency - lack of success is solving debates and controversy
Foreign Aid
- Announced the INternational Mother and Child HIV Prevention Initiative in 2002 to help the Global Fund dealing with the crisis, aiming to treat AIDS in women and prevent it spreading
- Proposed a $15 billion initiative, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief to help Africa fight the crisis, a plan renewed in 2008 following its success in treating 2.1 million people and testing and counselling 57 million people, and his success in fighting AIDS in Africa is one of his most important legacies
- President’s Malaria Initiative, a $1.2 billion programme spanning 5 years that would fight the disease in 15 countries, aiming to cut malaria deaths in half by the end, focusing on prevention efforts and delivering medicine to those effective - this policy stayed in place beyond his presidency, with Malaria Strategies for 2009-2014 nd 2015-2020 hoping to continue the efforts
- Millennium Challenge Account in 2002 - central part of his foreign economic development plan, requiring participant nations to avoid corruption, enable market-based economic development and encourage the health and education of their people, and this sought to treat economic aid as a long-term investment. It invested a total of $6.7 billion in 35 partner countries, and this policy expanded US free trade agreements from 3 to 17, and with help from G-8 partners, $34 billion in debt was cancelled for poor African countries, and many tariffs were eliminated on African exports
George Bush - Assessment
Domestic policy - George W. Bush generally had successful social policy, helping to grow non-profit organisations, but failed to have successful tax policy, creating more inequality, imbalanced the budget and created a higher federal deficit. He successfully boosted education with his ‘No child left behind’ reforms and increased healthcare benefits, but this was at the expense of the social security system, and a fractured response to Hurricane Katrina further damaged the success of his domestic policy. He successfully implemented policy to help with the economic crisis he had partially contributed too, but still left a lot of the damage to be solved by Obama’s administration. As a result, Bush’s policy could be argued to create more indirect problems than it solved, with his domestic policy being a series of highs and extreme lows in a majority of important areas, and so he did not manage to successfully meet a lot of his campaign promises.
Foreign policy - Bush had more successful foreign policy - he had a quick and effective response to 9/11 despite its controversy, establishing an entire executive department (Department of Homeland Security) to prioritise the problem, a success of his policy. However, despite the effectiveness of his foreign policy it induced a lot of controversy that impacted his popularity, and so it was politically successful, it was not successful in maintaining popularity. On the other hand, his foreign aid policies were the most successful and impactful policies of his presidency, and therefore his foreign policy was categorised more by success than failure, a heavy contrast to his domestic policy.
He had short term success in some areas, and long-term failure in most areas, failing to integrate effective foreign policy the fallout of which is still being dealt with today.
Effectiveness as a persuader - he successfully managed to create some cross-party co-operation on his foreign policy, but did face Congressional majorities of Democrats for much of his terms, something he managed to overcome to enforce policy, only being opposed in areas of economy and some foreign policy. He can therefore be assessed as a successful persuader, partially due to Dick Cheney’s Senate presence, and managed to mitigate the issues of a Democratic Congress as well as possible, despite setbacks on some major policy.
George Bush - Imperial vs Imperilled
George Bush has consistently been accused of holding an imperial presidency, mainly due to the influence of Dick Cheney, who entered the Vice Presidency with the intent of strengthening the executive branch beyond its constitutionally designated powers. Bush’s foreign policy is justifiably assessed as imperial, with much of his domestic policy interacting with Congress and operating with his enumerated powers as president. However, despite the plethora of court cases surrounding his Guantanamo Bay policy, Bush was still acting as an Imperial president, with the Unitary Executive Theory illustrating how his foreign policy operated outside of constitutional checks and balances due to his overriding power in the ‘war time’ of 9/11, and certainly the first 6 years of his presidency can be categorised as imperial due to the amount of policy he enforced without full Congressional approval. However, the last two years of his presidency were more imperilled as he sat as a lame duck president and faced trials on Guantanamo Bay, and so it can be suggested that although his approach to policy and enacting of powers was imperial, and Cheney’s successful attempt at his intents, the ability of Congress to check the Executive introduced an imperilled dynamic to his presidency that prevented a dictator-esque premiership.
Barack Obama - Aims
- Barack Obama was the 44th President of the United States. When Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, he became the first African American to hold the office.
- In 2012, he was re elected over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney by 332 to 206 electoral votes.
- The Obama administration stated that its general agenda was to ‘revive the economy, provide affordable and accessible healthcare to all, strengthen our public education and social security systems, define a clear path to energy independence and tackle climate change, end the war in Iraq responsibly and finish the mission in Afghanistan, and work with our allies to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
Obama - Success
- Obama’s first-term actions addressed the global financial crisis and included a major stimulus package, a partial extension of the Bush tax cuts, legislation to reform health care. A major financial regulation reform bill, and the end of a major US military presence in Iraq.
- In relation to Obama care, more than 20 million people have gained coverage as a result of the Affordable Care Act. it has dramatically reduced the uninsured rate. Om the day President Obama signed the act. 16% of Americans were uninsured; in March 2020 it was down to 9%
- The U.S. economy became in much better shape than it was in the aftermath of the Great Recession, which cost millions of Americans their homes and jobs and led Obama to push through a roughly $800 billion stimulus package as on of his first orders of business.
- Obama’s election quickly elevated America’s image abroad, especially in Europe, where George W. Bush was deeply unpopular following the U.S. invasion or Iraq. In 2009, shortly after Obama took office, residents in many countries expressed a sharp increase in confidence in the ability of the U.S. president to do the right thing in international affairs. While Obama remained largely popular internationally throughout his tenure, there were exceptions, including in Russia and key Muslim nations. And Americans themselves became more wary of international engagement.
Donald Trump Aims
- Cut taxes
- Withdraw from the Paris climate deal.
- He significantly changed the look of the judiciary.
- Replace and repeal obamacare
- He wanted a wall on the mexican border which the mexican government paid for.
- Bombing the Islamic State.
- He wanted to move the Israel Embassy.
- Increase military spending
- Wanted to cut federal embassy.
- Bring a lot of troops home.
- Improve trade deals
- Ban all muslims from entering the US.
- Reverse Obama’s Cuba deal.
- Decrease national debt.
- Deporting all illegal immigrants
- Rebuilding infrastructure
- Ditching NATO
- Approve torture methods.
- Prosecute Hillary Clinton for her use of private email during her time as secretary of state.
Donald Trump Successes
Cutting taxes
- The republican tax plan passed in December 2017, reducing tax for corporations to 15%.
Withdrawing from the Paris Climate Deal
- He quit the Paris Climate deal after months of negotiations.
Reshaping the judiciary
- He vowed to appoint a conservative justice and actually appointed two - Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh
Repeal and replace Obamacare
- Republicans have been unable to pass a repeal or reform bill.
Border wall paid for by mexico
- They added 3 miles and improved existing structures.
Bombing the Islamic State
- The president dropped the biggest non-nuclear bomb in the US arsenal on an IS stronghold in Afghanistan.
Moving Israel Embassy
- In 2017, he said he formally recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and approved moving the US embassy.
Increased Military Spending
- Defence spending steadily rose throughout the Trump presidency - still remained levels below the first year of Obama’s administration.
Cutting regulation
- The president has slashed through regulations on labour to the environment.
Bringing troops home
- Trump withdrew all US troops from syria, 500 still remain, about half the troops.
Improving trade deals
- Trump withdrew from Trans Pacific Partnership, Signed US-Mexico-Canada Agreement and a revised trade pact with South Korea
Ban on Muslims
- He introduced 2 travel bans, which were taken down by the court, he had more luck in the 3rd attempt.
Reverse Obama’s Cuba deal
- He kept the embassy in Cuba open, but did not assign an ambassador. He also criminalised US tourism to Cuba.
National debt
Halfway through the 8 year debt, US national debt ballooned by a third.
Deporting all illegal immigrants
His opinions softened approaching election day, there was a slight rise in deportations but still remained significantly lower.
Rebuilding infrastructure
Trump called for 1.5 trillion to be invested, however they only ended up investing 21 billion.
Abandoning Nato
He argued at the time it was ‘obsolete’ but following election day he no longer considered it obsolete.
Torture
Following the inauguration, he deferred it to a panel consisting of the head of the CIA Mike Pompeo, he then confirmed he would ‘absolutely not’ reinstate such methods.
Prosecuting Hillary Clinton
He immediately changed his opinion on Hillary clinton, saying the country ‘was in a debt of gratitude’ to Hillary Clinton, a Trump’s spokesman confirmed Hillary would not be investigated.
Additional info - Trump
- Trump was impeached twice, but was never removed from office. Firstly over the Trump-Ukraine Crisis and then the second time over the Capitol Hill Riots.
- One of his Supreme Court Candidates, Brett Kavanaugh was accused of sexual misconducts whilst drunk in high school.
- On January 12th 2018, there was an accusation that Michel Cohen (Trump’s lawyer at the time) paid adult film star $130 000 to not expose their affair to the public.
- Trump was constantly criticised for his cabinet appointments, for instance appointing Ben Carson PHD (a neurosurgeon) as head of housing, citing that because he lived in the projects as why he was appointed.
- Trump was publicly questioned for his relationship with the infamous Jeffrey Epstein, who had be convicted of having relations with an underage female, prior to killing himself on the 10th of August 2019.
- Trump caught Covid at the beginning of the pandemic, many argued that he was quite unwell however that was denied.
