Executive orders: Trump loves to sign them, but they seldom have much effect
WASHINGTON - A seated President Donald Trump handed commemorative pens to his wife, daughter and eight others who hovered around his desk, then theatrically held up for the cameras the latest executive order bearing his oversize signature.
He had done "something that people have wanted presidents to do for a long time," a triumphant Trump told the applauding military families who packed the White House East Room. "We will now ensure that you have better access to federal jobs."
Yet 11 months later, it's clear that the four-page document he signed in May did no such thing.
The order provided no money, created no policies and added no hiring authority. It merely required federal officials to post notices on their websites and draft reports about an order signed a decade earlier by President George W. Bush, which allowed agencies to waive competitive hiring requirements for military spouses in some circumstances.
The substance mattered little, however. For a president who relishes pomp and shows of executive action, unchecked
