18 november 2020
16:56
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Fewer troops in Afghanistan, more oil drilling in Alaska, a confidant at the Federal Reserve: the Trump administration is urgently trying to make another line of Dadas. And so indirectly recognizes that the exit is indeed near.
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Two weeks after the US election, Republican President Donald Trump is still refusing to acknowledge Democrat Joe Biden’s victory and continues to fulminate against “the massive irregularities and fraud.” Illustrative was how he fired – by tweet – Chris Krebs, the Director of Cybersecurity at the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday night. Man’s brine sin? A communicated that the ballot box called “the safest in American history,” with “no evidence” that it was “compromised in any way.”
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That is also what the majority of the judges say in disputes that Trump’s lawyers have brought. On Tuesday, a Pennsylvania court expressed widespread skepticism about the question not to certify Biden’s victory in the combat state. A judge in Philadelphia then appealed the claim that Republican observers had insufficient access to electoral offices. Similar requests were previously denied in Michigan and Georgia.
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Away from Afghanistan
In spite of all the legal insults, the White House does seem to realize that the exit is near. Last week already Politico reported how Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows had asked all of the top advisors to create a to-do list. Since then, a first wave of presidential decrees, federal regulations, government reshuffles and nomination procedures in the Republican Senate has followed. You don’t do that if you still have ‘four more years’ ahead of you. It is if you want to realize your last Dada’s in barely two months before Biden is sworn in on January 20.
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For example, Christopher Miller, who replaces Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, who was fired last week, announced on Tuesday that the US force in Afghanistan will be reduced again from 4,500 to 2,500 by January 15. In fact, Trump wanted to have all the troops home by Christmas, ending the longest US war ever, which started in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks.
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Despite Republican reservations about the security risk, Trump is responding to war fatigue among the American population. The military presence in Iraq is also being reduced from 3,000 to 2,500 units. And in Somalia, Miller is thinking about recalling the 700 troops that play a vital role in the fight against Al Qaeda.
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Oil drilling
On Tuesday, Trump also addressed the energy sector, which he has frequently plagued with major environmental deregulation over the past four years. Oil and gas companies are urgently given 30 days to bid for exploration rights in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. That is a vast untouched nature reserve in Alaska where Trump previously lifted decades of parliamentary protection.
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Heritage
Whether all those hasty policy plans stand up to the legal test remains to be seen. A presidential decree can also be immediately reversed by Trump’s successor with one simple signature, which Biden already intends with the visa ban for some Muslim countries and the withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement. However, rolling back federal regulations can easily take a year, and Senate nominations are even harder to break.
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In this way, Trump can still quickly expand his legacy. To be clear: this is not exceptional. During his last months in 2008, George W. Bush pushed 105 rules. Before Trump’s arrival at the White House, Barack Obama even signed 127 at the end of 2016. It illustrates everything that Trump and his most loyal advisers have also used their endgame.
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