Presidents have been signing executive orders since George Washington was in office. How do Trump's numbers stack up?

[SirLinksALot]

SOURCE: LOS ANGELES TIMES

URL: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pol-executive-orders-2017-story.html

by Alexandra Zavis


Since the days of George Washington, U.S. presidents have been issuing executive orders that do not require the assent of Congress.

Rarely, however, do they elicit the kind of outcry and legal pushback from opponents that have marked President Trump’s first weeks in office.

Although the number of orders signed has left some observers breathless, such a flurry is not unusual in the opening weeks of a new administration. But the edicts don’t usually have the immediate impact of Trump’s order suspending refugee resettlement and temporarily blocking travel from seven majority-Muslim countries.

There also is the political context to consider: “He is just way more controversial as a political figure than anybody I can remember,” said John Woolley, who co-directs the American Presidency Project at UC Santa Barbara.

“With Donald Trump, you’ve got a guy who lost the popular vote. He has less public approval than any incoming, brand-new president that we have records for. And Democrats have been watching how Republicans fought Barack Obama,” he said.

So a pushback was perhaps to be expected. It will be up to the courts to decide whether Trump has overstepped his authority.

Here is a look at how Trump’s executive actions stack up against those of his predecessors:

CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE REST

[SirLinksALot]

[SirLinksALot]

How do Trump’s orders compare to those of his predecessors?

In terms of quantity, the new president’s orders are not that different from other recent commanders-in-chief.

Barack Obama signed nine executive orders during his first two weeks in office in 2009, including ones to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp within a year, shut down the CIA’s network of secret overseas prisons and end the agency’s use of interrogation techniques that critics describe as torture.

Trump has issued seven executive orders. In addition to the travel ban, they include instructions to begin construction of an expanded border wall with Mexico and threats to withhold federal funding from so-called sanctuary cities, such as Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The president who signed the most executive orders is Roosevelt, who put his name to 3,721, according to a count by the American Presidency Project. His longevity in office — three full terms and his election for a fourth — isn’t the only reason for the unusually high total. He averaged 307 executive orders a year, more than any U.S. leader before or since.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Interesting

[skeeter]

Its not the quantity of EOs that matter, its their substance.

Back in the day the typical EO was pretty benign and often dealt with process or administration details within the executive branch.

EOs weren't supposed to be a means for the president to circumvent the congress.

[Cripplecreek]

George Washington signed 8 executive orders most of which were administrative issues which had little impact on the American people like setting the boundaries of the District of Columbia.

Calling up troops for the Whiskey rebellion was something he had to do because it couldn't wait weeks for congress to arrive.

8 executive orders at a time when congress was only in session for a couple of months per year sounds great to me.

[montanajoe]

Had this been posted during the Obama there would have been universal belly laughs condemnation on this and every other conservative forum....there would be page on page of sourced articles citing why EO's were bad..

But now the same people are defending and even praising Trump's EO's.

As I've said before, this election has forever disabused me of the notion that Conservative's are dispassionate, logical, intelligent people. What it comes down to is that they react just as emotionally to any criticism of their guy as those on the left.....

[Cripplecreek]

Had this been posted during the Obama there would have been universal belly laughs condemnation on this and every other conservative forum....there would be page on page of sourced articles citing why EO's were bad..

But now the same people are defending and even praising Trump's EO's.

As I've said before, this election has forever disabused me of the notion that Conservative's are dispassionate, logical, intelligent people. What it comes down to is that they react just as emotionally to any criticism of their guy as those on the left.....

Well I'm still a limited government federalist and I want a president with minimal power.