The Unitary Executive Runs Into the Wall Of the Corporate State
One of the least talked about and most significant authoritarian threats from the Trump Administration’s “Project 2025” is what is known as the “Unitary Executive”.
Trump’s authoritarian view of his Presidential powers under the “Unitary Executive” are laid out in the first Chapter of Project 2025 “White House Office”.
Chapter 2, “Executive Office of the President Of The United States“, puts a finer point on it, and does not hide the radical authoritarian intent:
In its opening words, Article II of the U.S. Constitution makes it abundantly clear that “[t]he executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.”1 That enormous power is not vested in departments or agencies, in staff or administrative bodies, in nongovernmental organizations or other equities and interests close to the government. The President must set and enforce a plan for the executive branch. Sadly, however, a President today assumes office to find a sprawling federal bureaucracy that all too often is carrying out its own policy plans and preferences—or, worse yet, the policy plans and preferences of a radical, supposedly “woke” faction of the country.
The modern conservative President’s task is to limit, control, and direct the executive branch on behalf of the American people.
Trump has said he wants to be a Dictator, and this is how he will do it.
Basically, what it amounts to is consolidation of power in Trump’s White House and elimination of the concepts of independent regulatory agencies and the progressive era and New Deal of norms of expertise, the public interests, science, and the civil service.
In their place will be government by the fiat of Trump’s authoritarian power, administered by a cadre of political loyalists, lackeys, and nepotism. This circus will be augmented by a shadow government “DOGE” comprised of his billionaire Tech Bro’s like Elon Musk, Peter Theil, & Co.
Like Trump’s White House staff appointments, this pack of incompetents and ideologues will not face FBI background checks and Senate Confirmation.
Trump will dictate policy and decisions via Executive Order and management edict; hire and fire heads of agencies and 100,000 expert civil servants; eliminate entire agencies; use government for retribution; and reward his billionaire backers via contracts, subsidies, privatization, and deregulation.
Significantly, he will over-ride Congress’s core power of the purse by impounding appropriated funds, e.g. withholding Social Security payments, educational funding, or federal aid to Democratic States and cities who resist and don’t toe the line.
[Note: and Trump doesn’t need a Government shutdown or reconciliation package to do so – he can just impound the money and not send the SS checks!]
And the right wing US Supreme Court will not stop him: He’s acting as The Unitary Executive and has total immunity for “Official Acts”.
China LNG Export Deals Will Test Trump’s Power
Trump complains that the ‘Deep State” sabotaged his first term agenda. He ain’t seen nothing yet: wait until he runs up against the “Corporate State”.
The US Department of Energy just released an important Report on the export of liquified natural gas (LNG):
DOE intends to use the Study to inform its public interest review of, and ultimately decisions in, certain applications to export LNG to countries with which the United States does not have a free trade agreement (FTA) requiring national treatment for trade in natural gas, and with which trade is not prohibited by U.S. law or policy (non-FTA applications), future proceedings, and for other purposes.
Trump wants to “drill, baby, drill” and nominated a corporate energy CEO as Secretary of the Department of Energy, see:
Trump’s core foreign and domestic economic policy is “America First”.
Trump has long harshly criticized China, see:
Trump has many times said he will impose sanctions and tariffs and even military means to block China (e.g Biden already imposed tariffs on Chinese manufactured items like solar panels and electric vehicles).
The DoE Report documents that LNG exports will increase costs of energy for US consumers, impose billions of dollars of additional costs on US businesses, and thereby contribute to inflation and unemployment.
And here is where that DOE Report exposes contradictions that test the power of the Trump Unitary Executive and “America First” principles, by pitting corporate power and his DoE Secretary directly in conflict with his core political commitments with respect to China.
C. China is the World’s Largest LNG Importer
According to the EIA, China is the world’s third largest natural gas consumer and the world’s largest LNG importer, averaging 9.5 Bcf/d in 2023.90 The country is growing its regasification capacity more than any other country in the world, and in 2022 had 5.7 Tcf of existing regasification terminals, plus 5.5 Tcf of regasification capacity under construction with operational start dates between 2023 and 2026.91 […]
In the Defined Policies scenario, China is projected to import 28.8 Bcf/d of LNG in 2050. In the Net Zero 2050 (Moderate CCS) scenario, which represents the lower bound for projections of global gas demand in the modeling conducted as part of this study, China is projected to import 13.4 Bcf/d of LNG in 2050.
China’s contracting activity with operating and proposed LNG export projects to be sourced with U.S. gas has significantly increased over the last several years, with Chinese LNG buyers signing sales and purchase off-take agreements for U.S.-sourced LNG with several operating, under construction, or proposed LNG projects including Calcasieu Pass, Corpus Christi Stage III, CP2,
Plaquemines LNG, Rio Grande LNG, Sabine Pass, and Mexico Pacific Limited. 97 While not all of these contracts are associated with projects that have non-FTA authorizations from DOE or, if
authorized, that are under construction pursuant to a final investment decision, these agreements show an increased interest from China in holding a position in U.S. LNG exports. (page S-46 – 47)
BOOM!
Will Trump honor his commitments to “America First” and exercise his Unitary Executive powers to direct his corporate fossil Secretary of Energy, Secretary of State (Rubio, if confirmed, is a China hawk), and EPA Administrator to deny all permits and approvals for the LNG export facilities, infrastructure and fracking wells who will provide gas to China?
The whole world is watching.
More on the climate and economic findings in our next post – the DoE Report projects HUGE increases in LNG exports.