Finally! Illinois’ Democratic senators and congressional representatives spoke out in a joint news conference last Monday to condemn Donald Trump’s reckless and chaotic use of executive orders to govern our nation. As a lifelong Democratic voter and a 30-year Democratic election judge in DuPage County, I feel that I have the right to say: “What took you so long?”
In the five weeks since Donald Trump began his second term as president of the United States, he and his “best bro” Elon Musk have used executive orders to slash and burn several federal departments. Although neither elected nor appointed by Congress to his position as head of the newly created Department of Governmental Efficiency, Musk and his merry band of Gen Zers have taken it upon themselves to fire tens of thousands of highly trained and dedicated federal employees, leaving many federal departments unable to function effectively.
But does Trump have the authority to govern almost exclusively through the use of executive orders? Nowhere in the Constitution are the words “executive order” used to describe how the president can or should exercise his powers. With a simple stroke of his pen, the president cannot make or repeal existing laws.
In fact, the legislative and judicial branches are coequal branches of the federal government, with the legislative branch making the laws and the judiciary interpreting them. The role of the president is to “take care that the Laws shall be faithfully executed,” not to throw them out wholesale.
So I am glad that Durbin and Duckworth and our Democratic congressional representatives stepped before the cameras and said to Trump, loud and clear: Stop acting as if you are a king or a czar. You took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States; now do it!
— Deirdre O’Neal, Naperville
A balance of power?
The judicial branch, through various rulings and injunctions, is curtailing the administrative power of the executive branch. This raises concerns about the balance of power among the coequal branches of government. Recent rulings affecting President Donald Trump’s efforts to reduce the size and inefficiencies of the federal government highlight this issue.
While these judges may or may not be correct in their decisions, they are unelected officials whose rulings can have immediate and far-reaching consequences for an elected president. These decisions may take effect immediately, yet the appeals process to challenge their rulings can take an extended period of time.
The judicial system’s procedures must be refined, and an expedited appeals process should be established for rulings on matters involving an equal branch of government. If necessary, this process should extend to the U.S. Supreme Court for swift consideration, particularly in cases involving executive orders.
If a federal judge can issue a ruling that impacts an equal branch of government in an instant, the appeals process should be equally efficient in ensuring that such decisions receive immediate scrutiny.
— Al Zvinakis, Lemont
Responsibility lacking
Vice President JD Vance embarrassed himself when he said that Europe’s problem was neither Russia nor China but came from within. He got the “within” part right. But it is we who have the problem within. We could take a lesson from Germany, which made hate speech illegal.
My parents, members of the “greatest generation,” always taught me that true freedom is only possible when it is combined with responsibility. The U.S. seems to have forgotten that.
Funding has been chopped off with no thought as to how it will affect anyone or how necessary it is to the functioning of our government — and the GOP members of Congress sit silent. Several Cabinet members have been approved even though they are obviously unqualified. Longtime nonpartisan civil servants are fired summarily simply because they disagree with President Donald Trump. Vance told the president that if he doesn’t like a court order, he should just ignore it.
What happened to responsibility? What happened to my country? That’s fodder for another letter!
— Anne Krick, Warrenville
We support Ukraine
Ukraine is a sovereign nation. As such, it merits a swift return of every square inch requisitioned by an empire-building menace. We don’t traffic with maniacal dictators at home or abroad. We the people fully support Ukraine’s membership in NATO.
Stark, strategic realities require we the people of the United States disengage from the cabal that is attempting to assert dominion over our country. We heartily agree with Vice President JD Vance that the dire threat to our enduring welfare is from within — within the authoritarian coup thwarting law, justice and the Constitution. The president is an aspirational dictator, and no transparently vacuous rhetoric can undercut this glaring truth that informs the collusive efforts of Russian and U.S. actions.
Slava Ukraini and long live these United States.
— Mia Marietta, Old Orchard Beach, Maine
Musk’s vested interest
This is in response to a letter from Bob Shea (“We need cost-cutting,” Feb. 17), in which he praises President Donald Trump for putting Elon Musk in charge of cost-cutting measures in the federal government. The Department of Government Efficiency, headed up by Musk, is an agency established by executive order without congressional approval or input. Musk is reportedly the wealthiest person in the world, and his companies are the recipient of billions of dollars in U.S. government contracts. He and his team have been given access to Social Security data for millions of Americans.
Does this constitute the “deep state”? If not, then I don’t know what does.
— Richard Wambach, St. Charles
Let’s reject fear
The big word now is fear. We have made money too important; we’re selling our souls for it. Paranoia and the purging of immigrants will make us hurt.
Kamala Harris said: “Now is not the time to throw up our hands. Now is the time to roll up our sleeves.”
We must weather it. Refuse the Republican Party as best we can. A bit of the old “mend and make do” could go a long way in making America great again.
We must have sadness, pray for broken families and do what we can — and have disappointment. But no more fear. We must get started.
This is not the first time we have been bad to each other. Consider what Black History Month teaches. We are lucky to have Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker in our corner.
— Rose Lyons, Flossmoor
A better question
In its editorial, the Tribune Editorial Board asks the wrong question (“Antisemitic fears in Chicago coalesce around a controversial puppet,” Feb. 19). All art has the potential for controversy, and the city could display no art if the standard was to be controversy-free. The real question is: Would Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration ever allow a puppet of a Hamas terrorist with bloody words about Oct. 7 be displayed at the Cultural Center?
If not, then the current piece shouldn’t be there either.
— Gene Sweet, Chicago
Passengers’ survival
It is nothing short of a miracle there were no fatalities aboard the Delta plane that crashed and turned upside down at the Pearson International Airport in Toronto. Let us be grateful for the heroic first responders who rushed into the burning plane and helped passengers hanging upside down safely depart from the aircraft.
Life is precious, and thankfully, all 80 who were on board came out of it alive to tell their stories.
— JoAnn Lee Frank, Clearwater, Florida
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