The Satisfying and Methodical Destruction of Obama’s Executive Orders

You’d have to have your head buried pretty deep in the ground to be happy with the progress made by the Republican majority when it comes to putting President Donald Trump’s agenda into action. Obamacare remains the law of the land, we still have a terrible nuclear agreement with Iran, and we haven’t seen one new dollar put aside for the construction of a border wall. Perhaps this is Congress’s fault, perhaps it’s just a sign that things are easier said than done. Either way, it’s hard to argue that the most optimistic dreams of Trump’s presidency are coming true.

There is, however, a whole lot to be thankful for. We have a new, conservative Supreme Court justice – and that’s worth more than anyone can properly calculate. We have a travel ban in effect and an administration that is serious about updating the process by which travelers from dangerous countries can gain entry into the United States. Speaking of terrorism, ISIS is on the verge of extinction on the battlefield, the true culmination of a president who takes the war on terror seriously. And thanks purely to Trump’s no-nonsense rhetoric on illegal immigration, border crossings have plummeted.

Things are good. Especially when you compare them to the last eight years…or to what we would have gotten from a Hillary Clinton presidency.

Nowhere, perhaps, has Trump made his mark more ferociously than in the methodical, satisfying destruction of President Obama’s nation-damaging executive orders. With the elimination of DACA, Trump took his latest sledgehammer blow at the former president’s executive action agenda, bringing our country closer than ever to the remembered “greatness” that he promised on the campaign trail.

The DACA order is just one of many that Trump has unwritten since taking office in January. Other much-needed reversals include the military transgender ban, the loose and reckless open-door policies Obama opened with Cuba, the Paris Climate Agreement, and a whole host of environmental regulations that were killing energy businesses from coast to coast. And we’re only eight months into his administration. It may not always seem like it, but Trump is actually making extraordinary progress on some of the things that matter most.

Most importantly of all, Trump is slowly but surely returning the role of the presidency and the powers of the executive branch back to their intended lane. We aren’t exactly thrilled with what lawmakers have managed to do this year on Capitol Hill, but Trump has at least made an effort to return the law to its proper domain. That brings us closer to the constitutional republic that we’ve always been, and that alone makes America great again.