The Trump
administration signals it is moving against opposition within the government
bureaucracy
Today, resistance to Trump’s attempt to govern by degree
began to meet resistance from within the US government itself. First, this morning, members of the US State
Department leaked news that they were preparing a ‘dissent memo’ on the
Administration’s executive orders concerning foreign relations, and most
particularly the intensely controversial ‘extreme vetting’ order. Then this evening, Acting Attorney General,
Sally Yates publicly announced that she would be instructing the Justice
Department’s lawyers to not defend
the President’s executive order from Friday that has caused such chaos at US
airports, because of her fears that Trump’s order was not in fact legal. In both cases, these government officials
were not being especially partisan, but fulfilling the obligations of their
jobs. Its just been reported that Yates
has just lost her job, and from statements made by Trump’s press secretary the
hundreds of State Department officials who have signed the dissent memo have
put their jobs at risk.
