At this point, how are we supposed to process Donald Trump's executive orders?
I found myself asking the question, with acute irritation, as I learned this morning that the president has ordered the reopening of Alcatraz, the infamous federal prison shut down in 1963 because it was too expensive to operate. It seemed like a joke. But the instruction is, in fact, real. And like nearly everything else with Trump, it defies both fiscal and moral responsibility. Moments later, he announced that he also wants 100 percent tariffs on all foreign-made films.
Yes, this is how the president of the United States spent his Sunday evening: on social media, feeding a slot machine of executive orders, because why the hell not.
As I wrote earlier today, these orders are relatively low stakes when compared to the onslaught of cruel executive orders that, in many cases, have destroyed lives. But they neatly capture governance by way of dumb-posting, the outcome of federal policy left to feral instincts.
So what now? I have absolutely no clue.
—Inae Oh
