A Connecticut senator has accused Donald Trump of carrying out a “blitzkrieg” of executive orders in his first week in office in an attempt to “collapse our democracy.”
Democrat Chris Murphy said that the flurry of orders issued by the president since taking back the Oval Office were designed to help in “seize control.”
“The freezing of federal grants, the firing of all inspector generals, the immunization of political violence – does everybody not see what’s happening?” Murphy wrote on X Tuesday. “In a blitzkrieg, Trump is trying to collapse our democracy – and probably our economy – and seize control.”
A blitzkrieg, or “lightning war,” was a series of short, powerfu military attacks intended to bring about a swift victory used by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi forces in World War II.
As of Tuesday, just eight days into his second term, the president signed almost 40 executive orders, including those referred to by Murphy.
One, freezing federal grant funding across government agencies, was temporarily blocked by a federal judgeTuesday evening. US District Judge Loren AliKhan issued the two-day temporary restraining order after a brief hearing in Washington on Tuesday.
It came after a memo issued late on Monday by the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget,ordered federal agencies to temporarily pause “all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance.”
“This temporary pause will provide the Administration time to review agency programs and determine the best uses of the funding for those programs consistent with the law and the President’s priorities,” the memo read.
Other controversial orders signed by Trump have included the removal of the U.S. from the World Health Organization and Paris Climate Agreement, and the firing of all federal employees on DEI programmes.
A separate executive order, effectively banning transgender people from serving in the military, has already resulted in a lawsuit from a group of transgender service members.
On his first day in office, the president also pardoned nearly all January 6 defendants, granting roughly 1,500 “full, complete and unconditional pardons” for those charged in connection with the Capitol attack, including 169 who confessed to attacking police officers.