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President Donald Trump, once again, posted a bizarre tweet that seems to misunderstand what powers the Executive Branch can actually wield.
Right after calling Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell an enemy, Trump "hereby ordered" American companies manufacturing products in China to relocate back to the United States. He then promised he'd soon be responding to China's tariffs, which themselves were in response to Trump's tariffs designed to pressure American companies to move production out of China.
He began railing against the country...
Our Country has lost, stupidly, Trillions of Dollars with China over many years. They have stolen our Intellectual… https://t.co/poBcYLSMOj— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1566572343.0
Before turning his ire and orders toward American companies.
....better off without them. The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after… https://t.co/EOQAANyDYQ— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1566572344.0
....your companies HOME and making your products in the USA. I will be responding to China’s Tariffs this afternoon… https://t.co/lg5Do7z58x— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1566572344.0
....all deliveries of Fentanyl from China (or anywhere else!). Fentanyl kills 100,000 Americans a year. President X… https://t.co/rpcj6rtQ7i— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1566572345.0
There's just one problem:
Trump has no power to unilaterally "hereby order" private companies to do anything.
People asked for clarification. Does Trump really believe this falls under his power? You won't get the answer from the White House.
White House aides right now offering no explanation for why President Trump believes he can “hereby order” American… https://t.co/JxXneLPAD4— Eamon Javers (@Eamon Javers) 1566574250.0
“Our great American companies are hereby ordered...” Whaaaaaat? This is America. Not Communist China. Or a two-bit… https://t.co/mtYVWIlwrX— Bryan William Jones (@Bryan William Jones) 1566573699.0
It's not beyond the imagination for Trump to think he could unilaterally order something, Constitution be damned. Just this week, Trump told reporters that he was looking for a way to end birthright citizenship guaranteed by the 14th Amendment by changing the Constitution through executive order.
Since we're making commands that we have no power to enforce, lawyer George Conway hereby ordered his followers to hereby order something.
I hereby order everyone on Twitter to hereby order something. #Iherebyorder— George Conway (@George Conway) 1566577914.0
Soon, #IHerebyOrder catapulted to the top of Twitter's trending list with people making orders of their own for the president.
#iherebyorder Donald Trump to resign. Oh wait, I thought we were all just allowed to order anything we want now. https://t.co/79eVRlk74p— Palmer Report (@Palmer Report) 1566581452.0
Some just shouted random orders into the abyss.
#IHereByOrder all toilet paper be hung in the correct position. https://t.co/tJ6TWB4VCX— Shelly (@Shelly) 1566579607.0
#IHerebyOrder @PowerballUSA to change their numbers to match my ticket from last Wednesday.— Hugh, man. Born to make mistakes. (@Hugh, man. Born to make mistakes.) 1566575284.0
I hereby order my Great American Cat not to wake me up at 6am I hereby order my Great American Daughter to be nice… https://t.co/IP7t99weCS— Tom Nichols (@Tom Nichols) 1566574785.0
@chrislhayes Is that all it takes??? #iherebyorder the @Orioles to start winning!— Alec (@Alec) 1566586318.0
#Iherebyorder Fries with that— Truth Matters 🦅 (@Truth Matters 🦅) 1566586274.0
Maybe now would be a good time to point out that, as of late last year, only 15% of the products available in Trump's online store were made in the United States.
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