Donald Trump’s election to the presidency was formally certified on Monday, but he still faces “Trump-proofing” efforts in Washington and in the states—and in some cases, from familiar foes.
Democrat governors and attorneys general in California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York declared their intentions to challenge Trump’s efforts on multiple fronts, from enforcing immigration laws to protecting minors from so-called transgender treatments.
Governing magazine noted, “We might well see the most direct confrontation between federal and state power since the 1963 crisis when President John F. Kennedy’s deputy attorney general, Nicholas Katzenbach, challenged Gov. George Wallace over desegregating the University of Alabama.”
Blue State Rebellion
Specifically, in light of Trump’s election, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker founded and became co-chairmen of Governors Safeguarding Democracy, a coalition of Democrat governors opposing Trump’s agenda.
“GSD’s mission is to strengthen the foundations of American democracy, protect the rule of law, and serve the people of our great states, and we look forward to working with leaders across the country, including the incoming administration, dedicated to advancing these freedoms,” a spokesperson for Governors Safeguarding Democracy told The Daily Signal in an email.
Pritzker has warned Trump against deporting illegal immigrants in Illinois, saying, “You come for my people, you come through me.”
Shortly after Trump’s decisive November election, California Gov. Gavin Newsom asked the state Legislature to call a special session in early December to “Trump-proof” the state.
“California has faced this challenge before, and we know how to respond,” Newsom said.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta told CalMatters, a state policy news site, his office has test arguments already drafted on matters such as abortion, gun laws, and “transgender” issues.
“The best way to protect California, its values, the rights of our people, is to be prepared, so we won’t be flat-footed,” Bonta told the outlet. “We will fight as we did in the past if that scenario unfolds.”
California is already a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants and has refused to help federal officials enforce immigration laws. The state has abortion protections in its constitution. And during Trump’s first term, California filed more than 120 lawsuits against the administration to fight its policies.
“Every tool in the toolbox has got to be used to protect our citizens, to protect our residents and protect our states, and certainly to hold the line on democracy and the rule of law as a basic principle,” Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey told MSNBC, referring to plans to protect illegal immigrants from deportation.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy vowed to “fight to the death” if the incoming Trump administration acts “contrary to our values.”
“If there is any attack on the Garden State or any of its communities from Washington, I will fight back with every fiber of my being,” Murphy said.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced what she dubbed an “Empire State Freedom Initiative” to develop “comprehensive plans to address any policy and regulatory threats that may emerge from a Trump administration.”
A day after Trump’s election, New York Attorney General Letitia James said, “We did not expect this result but we are prepared to respond to this result. We faced this challenge before and we used the rule of law to fight back.”
Among cities, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said their cities would not assist federal officials in enforcing immigration laws.
Outgoing Biden and Deep State Bureaucrats
Outgoing President Joe Biden and his administration have acted to undermine Trump as well.
Hours before a joint session of Congress certified Trump’s election on Monday, Biden issued an executive order to ban offshore drilling for oil and natural gas that covers about 625 million acres. This comes in contrast to Trump’s plans for increased domestic drilling and U.S. energy independence.
“I am taking action to protect the East and West Coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea from oil and natural gas drilling and the harm it can cause,” Biden said in a public statement Monday. He added, “As the climate crisis continues to threaten communities across the country and we are transitioning to a clean energy economy, now is the time to protect these coasts for our children and grandchildren.”
Politico quoted one anonymous federal official as saying, “You really can’t ‘Trump-proof.’ You can ‘Trump-delay,’ you can throw sand in the gears, but there is no way short of legislation to ‘Trump-proof.’”
The Biden administration has also moved to send $6 billion in military weapons to Ukraine to defend itself in the war against Russia, though the assistance was approved by Congress.
On other fronts, the current administration has been auctioning off border wall building materials that were dormant since Biden stopped construction of the wall in 2021. The states of Texas and Missouri recently sued to prevent the administration from selling the material.
Even Biden’s broad pardon of son Hunter Biden—convicted on federal gun and tax charges—encompassed any possible crimes that he may have committed over the past decade. Many critics of the pardon argued it was to shield Hunter Biden from prosecution under a future Trump administration.
Additionally, outgoing Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said she wants to “leave no cash for Trump” in a $50 billion microchip subsidy program.
“I’d like to have really almost all of the money obligated by the time we leave,” she told Politico. “That’s the goal, and I certainly want to have all the major announcements done as it relates to the big, leading-edge companies.”
Federal bureaucrats were a significant challenge for Trump during his first term, and well before the 2024 election, these employees got extra protections to stay on the job.
The Office of Personnel Management finalized a rule in April that would make it tougher for a future administration to re-categorize employees under “Schedule F” to make it easier to fire certain employees.
The current system shouldn’t be changed to re-categorize employees, contends Jacqueline Simon, policy director of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union.
“I wouldn’t use the term ‘Trump-proofing,’ I would say we are working to uphold an apolitical civil service,” Simon told The Daily Signal Tuesday.
Trump has blamed career employees in the FBI and other agencies for having political agendas, frequently using the terms “deep state” or “swamp” to describe bureaucrats protected by the civil service system from being replaced.
Simon insisted the civil service isn’t politicized.
“The current system has many safeguards to prevent politicization,” Simon said. “We want to prevent politics from interfering with employees’ jobs. Schedule F introduces the use of politics into the civil service.”
In May, staff at the Environmental Protection Agency signed a collective bargaining agreement that created mechanisms for employees to report any other employee who they deemed to have had “improper influence” on a scientific study. This is primarily aimed at promoting climate change policies, which Trump has been skeptical of in the past.
Also in May, Politico reported the National Institutes of Health established a scientific integrity council to police accusations of “political meddling” in scientific work. Political meddling could be a relative term based on who is on the council and how they choose to define it.
The National Institutes of Health has come under considerable scrutiny for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the agency’s top officials insisted the coronavirus did not come from a lab leak in China. Now, most federal agencies contend COVID-19 was a lab leak. The NIH was also criticized for lack of transparency in its handling of the pandemic.
Tyler O’Neil contributed to this story.
Fred Lucas is chief news correspondent and manager of the Investigative Reporting Project for The Daily Signal.
Reprinted with permission from The Daily Signal – By Fred Lucas
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
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