President Trump is planning to issue a string of executive orders on China, bringing manufacturing back from overseas, and immigration, according to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
The flurry comes after key allies and advisers urged the president to demonstrate that he is a man of action in contrast with Joe Biden, his rival for the White House.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday morning, Meadows also drew a comparison with members of Congress before their three-week summer recess.
“Most Americans don’t get that, and so for us, it’s dealing with a number of executive orders that may go all the way from dealing with some of the immigration issues that we have before us to some of the manufacturing and jobs issues that are before us, and ultimately dealing with China and what we need to do there in terms of resetting that balance,” he said.
Meadows offered no further details on the content or timing of the orders.
The announcement suggests a clear focus for Trump after significant voices advised him to make more use of executive orders to bolster a stumbling reelection campaign and demonstrate that he is a president who can deliver for his supporters.
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, for example, has used public and private channels to get his message out.
“He’s the president of the United States,” he said on John Fredericks’s radio show. “He’s not a candidate. You act like president of the United States, you take action like the president of the United States, you govern like you are president of the United States — you are going to be reelected.”
Other advisers fear the president’s campaign has been too reliant on mass rallies, the sort that are difficult to arrange amid a pandemic, and say that it should be focused instead on amplifying presidential action to create jobs and rein in an aggressive China.
“That’s what got him elected, and that’s exactly what he should be doing in office so that he can run on his record of getting results,” said a former administration official.
That message appears to have reached the Oval Office.
The president signed three executive orders in one day in June. In all, eight were issued last month, compared with 24 during the preceding five months.
On Friday, he used Independence Day celebrations to order the federal government to build a park honoring “American heroes” with statues. The White House issued an executive order shortly after Trump’s combative speech delivered at Mount Rushmore.
Read the full article from The Washington Examiner.