Government

Trump Signs An Executive Order That... Isn't Racist, Stupid, Or Both

I think I'm looking at the broken clock at exactly the right time.

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(MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Donald Trump signed an executive order to impose new sanctions on “foreign nations, people or other entities” that interfere in U.S. elections.

I’m not sure if the sanctions are “tough enough.” The process for identifying “interference” might be itself inherently corrupted given that a beneficiary of interference now rules the country. But, for like one second, I can look at a headline coming out of the U.S. government and not be immediately enraged or ashamed. From Courthouse News:

In an executive order signed Wednesday, President Donald Trump set in motion plans to impose new sanctions on any foreign nations, people or other entities that interfere in U.S. elections.

The executive order also requires any federal agency aware of election meddling to promptly report that data to the office of the director of national intelligence.

According to the order, an array of federal agencies will be tapped to serve as the decision makers on whether interference has occurred. They include the Department of Justice, National Security Agency, Department of Homeland Security and CIA.

Director of National Intelligence, and possible Anonymous Op-Ed Writer, Dan Coates, explained the order:

Once an incident is brought to an agency’s attention, Coats’ office will have 45 days to review the activity in full. That report will then be turned over to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions as well as the Department of Homeland Security.

“They, within another 45 days, will assess the validity and the impact of the intelligence. If they determine and find anything that reflects interference with our election, they will then report that and automatic sanctions will take place,” Coats said.

For the moment, I don’t care if Dan Coates told Trump he was signing the “Stop Harassing Innocent Tsarists” Act to dupe Trump into signing it. I don’t care if the executive order is a watered-down version of House and Senate Democrat proposals that the Republicans won’t bring to a vote. I don’t even care if this is an ineffectual measure to try to blunt criticism that Trump isn’t doing enough to protect U.S. elections.

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I care that there’s an executive order from the President of the United States that isn’t facially racist or actively destructive to our interests. I care that this is one E.O. that, on its face, won’t make things worse. I’m sure it’s terrible, somehow. But that I don’t immediately know exactly how terrible it is from a mere news report is kind of a victory.

You could say that Trump has brought the bar so low that he can crawl over it.

White House Readies Sanctions for Election Meddling [Courthouse News Service]

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