Thoughts for the Day, January 29, 2025: Celebrate but don't gloat over winning a battle while the war is still on going.

Rejoice but don’t gloat

Per the NY Times, The White House on Wednesday rescinded a directive that froze trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans after the order led to mass confusion and legal challenges that accused the Trump administration of violating the law.

On Wednesday, Matthew J. Vaeth, the acting director for the Office of Management and Budget, told federal agencies that the memo freezing aid had been “rescinded.”

In a brief notice, Mr. Vaeth said: “If you have questions about implementing the president’s executive orders, please contact your agency general counsel.”

This is a major victory, but this is not over. You can expect that once Trumps nomination, Russel Vought, is confirmed, there will be another directive that will be well thought out and not all inclusive. It will survive pushbacks.

There is a lesson to be learned. Trump will listen to arguments when Trump fears that he may lose independent voters that supported Republican members of congress in the 2024 election. The Republican margin is so thin in congress that the loss of Republican control could have a major impact on Trump’s ability to get things done.

However, Trump is vindictive if he is anything. He will not tolerate gloating by his opponents, which many Democrat members of congress were doing today after the order was rescinded. It was hard for Trump to rescind this order less than 48 hours after it was issued. His comments today bear that out. He will not take gloating lightly. He will do his best to get even.

There are many important battles that will need fighting. There is no reason to gloat over winning one battle. Celebrate but don’t gloat.

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Alexander Hamilton and James Madison do not agree with Trump

Without going into legalese, Jamelle Bouie’s opinion piece today is the best explanation I have read so far on why Trump’s executive order to withhold funds for grants, loans, and federal assistance is unconstitutional.

Here are excerpts from Bouie’s essay today.

Donald Trump is waging war on the American system of government.

On Monday afternoon his Office of Management and Budget ordered a pause on nearly all grants, loans and other forms of federal assistance, affecting as much as $3 trillion in funds, including cash for education, disaster relief and small-business loans, and hundreds of billions of dollars in grants to state, local and tribal governments.

On Tuesday, 23 attorneys general sued the Trump administration in an effort to block the freeze, and a federal judge issued an administrative stay to preserve the status quo until next week, as initial litigation begins to play out. Democrats have also condemned the White House, with some Senate Democrats suggesting something like a slowdown of all business if the White House does not relent.

For now, the freeze is, well, frozen. But however this ends, it should be emphasized that Trump has done more than spark a fiscal and political crisis; he has sent us headlong into another constitutional crisis….

The president of the United States has no legal authority to place a blanket hold on congressional appropriations.

During the fight for ratification, supporters of the Constitution had a simple and effective answer for those opponents who thought the new charter put too much power into the hands of the president.

“The purse is in the hands of the representatives of the people,” James Madison said at the Virginia ratifying convention in 1788, responding to Patrick Henry’s fears of military despotism. “They have the appropriation of all moneys.”

Alexander Hamilton made a similar point while speaking at the New York ratifying convention: “We have heard a great deal of the sword and the purse. Let us see what is the true meaning of this maxim, which has been so much used, and so little understood. It is, that you shall not place these powers either in the legislative or executive, singly; neither one nor the other shall have both, because this would destroy that division of powers on which political liberty is founded, and would furnish one body with all the means of tyranny. But where the purse is lodged in one branch, and the sword in another, there can be no danger.”

The aim of the 1787 Constitution was to secure the future of republican government in the United States. And republican political theory of the time insisted, as Madison wrote, on the “separate and distinct exercise of the different powers of government, which to a certain extent, is admitted on all hands to be essential to the preservation of liberty.”

The president may have wide authority to act across a broad assortment of areas, but he cannot spend any more or less than what Congress mandates without explicit approval from the legislature. “This power over the purse,” wrote Madison in Federalist No. 58, “may, in fact, be regarded as the most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people, for obtaining a redress of every grievance and for carrying into effect every just and salutary measure.”

To upset this balance of power — to give the president, in effect, the power of the purse — is to unravel the constitutional system in its entirety. A Congress that cannot force the executive to abide by its spending decisions is a Congress whose power of the purse is a nullity and whose spending laws are little more than a batch of recommendations.

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The power of journalism

In the early 60s two journalists, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, sought the truth, and through their thorough and fact-based investigation helped take down President Nixon for the Watergate break-in and the corresponding cover up.

In the early 2000’s M.L. Eldrick and Jim Shaefer sought the truth and through their thorough and fact-based investigation helped take down Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick by exposing the extensive corruption of Kilpatrick. This resulted in Kilpatrick being found guilty of corruption and being sentenced to 28 years in federal prison (since commuted by Trump in 2020)

I have always believed free press is the single most important oversight function in our country. Unfortunately, independent and fact-based investigations by the free press seem to be falling by the wayside.

The famously combative Sam Donaldson of ABC News, who sparred with President Ronald Reagan for years, explained why it is different now. “Nobody I was asking questions of lied to my face,” he said. “Nobody was trying to tell the American people the press was their enemy.” (Nixon did)

Yesterday longtime CNN reporter Jim Acosta broadcast his last program at CNN after announcing his resignation. His final words as he was signing off for the last time are a reminder of the importance of a free press.

Tuesday, in his last appearance on CNN, Acosta implored his viewers to stay strong. “Don’t give into the lies. Don’t give into the fear. Hold onto the truth and to hope….Journalists exist to seek the truth, to tell people’s stories, to lift up voices that may not be heard otherwise, to shine a light on injustice, and to hold the powerful accountable. We are not the enemy of the people, we are the defenders of the people.” This is my Quote of the Day

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I am not holding my breath

Let me get this straight. Today, the Democrat controlled Michigan Senate voted to expand the state’s open records and is challenging the Republican controlled House to act. Yet last year, when the Democrat controlled Senate passed a similar law, the Senate and Democrat Governor Whitmer did not compel the Democrat controlled House to act and send a law to Whitmer for her signature. The hypocrisy is disgusting.

Per the Detroit News, The Democrat-controlled Michigan Senate voted Wednesday to expand the state's open records law to cover the Legislature and governor's office, setting up a potential fight with the House, newly under GOP leadership, over how to improve transparency and respond to scandals in the capital city.

For about 50 years, Michigan's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which generally requires government agencies to provide copies of their documents to the public upon request, has covered elected leaders in cities, townships and counties and state departments, but not the Legislature and the governor's office.

The Senate voted 33-2 on Wednesday in favor of the new FOIA expansion bills. They were the Senate's first votes on bills of the 2025-26 term, a signal of their significance to Senate leadership. During a speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, the lead sponsor, called on the House to take up the measures.

"Today, we in the Senate will do our part to give residents the tools to shine light on state government," Moss said. "These bills will be sent over to the House, and I compel the House to act."

Michigan has been one of just two states nationally with such exemptions in place. For more than a decade, some lawmakers have unsuccessfully pushed to end the secrecy privileges they've benefited from.

For the umpteenth time, the governor, the senate, and the house get my Onion of the Day for not passing a transparency bill. Next to “fix the damn roads” this was Whitmer’s most important issue during her campaign for governor in 2018.

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Quote of the Day: “Don’t give into the lies. Don’t give into the fear. Hold onto the truth and to hope….Journalists exist to seek the truth, to tell people’s stories, to lift up voices that may not be heard otherwise, to shine a light on injustice, and to hold the powerful accountable. We are not the enemy of the people, we are the defenders of the people.” Jim Acosta in his last broadcast on CNN.

Orchid of the Day: MSU men’s basketball team for their 9-0 record in the B1G this year. Izzo has a team that fits his personality which will make this team very dangerous in March.

Onion of the Day: The governor, the Michigan Senate and the Michigan House for their unwillingness to address the lack of transparency in our state government. The hypocrisy is disgusting.

Lyrics of the Day: On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep. Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam in full glory reflected now shines in the stream.

Answer to Lyrics of the Day for January 28, 2025, Cherry Bomb by John Mellencamp

Question of the Day: Who do you believe is right, Alexander Hamiton or Donald Trump?

Video of the Day: GENERALD WILSON - NATIONAL ANTHEM: BUFFALO BILLS VS. KANSAS CITY CHIEFS | NFL | JANUARY 26, 2025

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