Morris: Frozen the Federal Musical hits a sour note

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It doesn’t matter how you voted last November. This week is turning into one of the most stunningly confusing moments in the recent history of American federal governance.

It feels as if we’re all being herded into a house of mirrors by a president unbound by convention, who now freely flashes signs of his unbridled thirst for government by fiat.

Hours before a U.S. District Court judge issued an order Tuesday temporarily blocking a Trump directive to freeze spending on all federal grants and loans, the nation found itself abruptly plunged headfirst into chaos. The freeze could have caused untold harm to a sweeping array of federal programs from education, Medicaid, law enforcement, low-income housing, to countless other services vital to the American public.

As the bipartisan uproar grew by the hour, however, the Trump White House appeared to sense, if not belatedly understand, it was racing into legally questionable territory — and widely unpopular funding freezes. The administration has abruptly reversed course.

It provided clarity that the freeze warning does not include Medicaid, which provides medical care to the poor and the elderly. It also issued a brief statement saying that it was rescinding the freeze outlined just a day earlier in a memo originating out of the Office of Budget and Management.

But even before that freeze recalibration could set, the White House took pains to clarify that a full thaw wasn’t the intent after all. Instead, it outlined what appears to have been the administration’s priority objectives all along. The proposal may have simply been a trial balloon.

After all, the belated reasoning appears to be, why go after aging veterans who rely on Meals on Wheels for survival or poor kids enrolled in Head Start, when you can far more easily go after the undocumented or those who champion diversity as an American strength?

“In light of the (court) injunction, OMB has rescinded the memo to end any confusion on federal policy created by the court ruling and the dishonest media coverage,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

Leavitt added, however, that Trump’s executive order would continue to place spending holds on certain programs and projects directed toward “clean energy,” “foreign aid,” “undocumented migrant assistance” and “diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.”

The real targets all along?

So, now the confusion and uncertainty will at least temporarily continue for countless Americans and agencies that work to advance the public good. It is tempting to label what we’re all bearing witness to as rank incompetence or a Trumpian version of Chaos Theory.

It’s not.

Reckless? Yes. Intentional? Yes. Forecast? Absolutely. Trump is testing the power of the U.S. Constitution and his oversized presence in the executive office.

Was President Trump really willing to throw the baby out with the bath water as originally suggested in the freeze directive? Probably not. But he is not beneath demonstrating that he’s more than happy to play chicken with the American public, other branches of the federal government and even the majority of American voters who returned him to power; a return that he will continue to trumpet as an unfettered mandate.

I awoke in the early hours of Wednesday and couldn’t return to sleep. Trump was on my mind. Yes, he’s living rent free in my head. Inexplicably my mind returned to a period in earlier years where Trump used to entertain me.

I reached for my phone and watched an episode of Celebrity Apprentice on YouTube from the era when Trump was host of the popular reality TV show. I used to like the chaos on the show and the way the showman delivered his signature culminating line, which now pains me to write — so I won’t. Who’s laughing now?

Buckle up, America and the world by proxy. The Constitutional separation of federal powers is about to be tested like rarely before. I’m confident that essential playbook will continue to stand the test of time.