The Hidden Gifts in Trump’s Executive Orders

Sometimes what looks like a crackdown is a place for resistance to begin.

Jun 28, 2025

🎁 Just taking a moment to honour one of life’s best gifts to all who know him — my wonderful partner, E. Thank you for believing in me and supporting my writing — even through your recovery from a broken pelvis! — and for being so patient while I finish this post. Wishing you a wonderful birthday, and many more to come. x

Dear friends

It’s been a heavy couple of weeks for all of us, and when we're already feeling that weight so keenly, my piece on Trump’s Wildfire Executive Order may have seemed like more than you could carry.

But that piece wasn’t meant to close a door. It was meant to open it.

On the surface, Trump’s Executive Orders are often designed to look like swift, muscular exercises of power — but underneath, many of them are actually gifts to the Resistance, if we know how to use them.

Let me walk you through why.

1. Trump tends to overreach

Trump’s Executive Orders (EOs) often reach further than they can actually hold. They land with force, as if he’s reshaping the country in one sweeping gesture. But when we take the time to read them closely, a pattern starts to show itself. Many of these orders are built on weak foundations. They sound firm, but the legal footing beneath them can be surprisingly unstable. Sometimes they lean on laws that don’t actually grant the power he’s claiming. Sometimes they push federal agencies beyond what they’re legally allowed to do. And often, they leave big gaps—steps that can’t be enforced quickly, or sometimes at all, because the machinery to carry them out simply isn’t in place.

That’s the opening. That’s where the Resistance can move. Because when an EO is built like this, it’s not a fortress—it’s a house with doors half-fitted and windows left open. These are the places we can push. We can challenge them in court. We can exploit the vagueness. We can outpace the government’s ability to build the systems that would make them stick. And this isn’t just a possibility—it’s already happening. Trump’s craving for spectacle, his need to announce something big and immediate, often means the details come later, if at all. His executive actions can end up rushed, imprecise, and full of places where those paying close attention can quietly begin to pull at the seams.

The power behind these orders is rarely as solid as it looks. They may be loud declarations of intent, but more often than not, they’re legally shaky, practically fragile, and deeply disruptable — if we know where to push.

2. They are not laws

One of the most important things to remember is that Executive Orders are not laws. They might sound like sweeping declarations that instantly change the rules of the game, but that’s not how they work. An EO gives instructions to the federal government which then tells agencies what to prioritise, what to build, what to enforce. But it can’t rewrite the Constitution. It doesn’t carry the automatic weight of statute, reaching into every corner of the country.

What this really means is that there’s still a huge amount of space to move. State and local governments don’t instantly fall in line just because Trump signs an EO. They still have their own powers, their own laws, their own discretion. Some will resist outright. Some will quietly stall. And some may find ways to sidestep the order entirely.

And it’s not just the states, either. Federal agencies can drag their feet. Courts can step in. Even frontline federal workers — the people actually tasked with carrying out these orders — can resist, delay, or follow them in the slowest, smallest way possible. The system is full of human beings with their own judgement and, sometimes, their own quiet loyalties to democracy.

So yes, Trump can try to set the direction. He can sign the order. He can shout about it. But how quickly that order moves, how far it reaches, and whether it ever fully takes hold — that’s not entirely in his hands. There are still plenty of people who can say no, or not yet, or not like this. All they need as motivation is the deeper understanding of what they’re being asked to do.

For the Resistance, that’s real breathing room. That’s space to organise, to challenge, to push back. Because an Executive Order only pushes the door open — it doesn’t guarantee that everyone will walk through. And not everyone will.

3. They show us what the regime cares about most

Executive Orders don't signal immediate action — they’re like big flashing signs that tell us, “This is where we’re heading next!” Trump’s government often moves this way. He issues an EO to plant a flag, to signal his priorities, to start shaping the battlefield long before the full machinery is even ready to move.

This is incredibly useful for the Resistance. These EOs provide an early warning system. They show which sectors the administration is about to tighten its grip on. They reveal which rights are being lined up for erosion. They expose which regions of the country are likely to feel the next wave of federal pressure. They provide a map, often long before the boots hit the ground.

And this kind of early visibility is precious. Because if we’re paying attention — really paying attention — we can get out in front of these plans. We can start organising before the enforcement mechanisms are in place. We can build alliances, raise public awareness, and create pressure points that make the next move harder to land. We can shine a light on the operation before the doors are locked.

Trump’s Executive Orders don’t just reveal what he’s doing now — they reveal what he wants to do next. And that’s the chance the Resistance needs. If we can learn to read them properly, we don’t have to wait for the clampdown to arrive — we can disrupt it before it fully takes shape.

4. They are strategic goldmines

Executive Orders aren’t just declarations — they are roadmaps, telling us the what, how, who, and when of what the administration’s planning in remarkable detail. Trump is addicted to public displays of power, and just loves to broadcast his moves, but in doing so, he’s actually handing the Resistance his operational framework.

Think of a crime syndicate dropping the blueprints of their heist on social media, tagging everyone involved, and publishing the schedule — because they’re so sure of their power they don’t bother to hide it. Ridiculous idea, right?

And yet Trump's Executive Orders do just that, revealing the sequence of operations — and often even before the first pieces are in place. That not only gives us his desired timeframe — it gives us time to track the key agencies, watch for budget allocations, anticipate contractor partnerships, and build counter-pressure exactly where it hurts.

Once we get those blueprints, we can disrupt the plan before the trucks even start their engines.

5. They can galvanise people who were on the sidelines

When Trump signs Executive Orders that sound extreme — when they come across as bold, harsh, or sweeping — they can actually have an effect he doesn’t intend. Instead of intimidating people, they can wake people up. They can galvanise those who were sitting on the sidelines, watching, unsure whether things were really as serious as some of us have been saying.

There’s something about the scale and tone of these orders that can snap people out of their comfort zones. Sometimes it takes a blatant power grab to make the threat visible to people who would rather not see it. Trump’s most aggressive moves can shake moderates. They can push cautious voices to realise that the danger isn’t theoretical anymore — it’s happening, it’s laid down, and it’s being enforced.

In that way, every power grab carries the risk of backfiring on him. The more Trump overreaches, the more people he forces into awareness. The more he tries to seize control, the more people he drives toward resistance.

Trump’s need to dominate can end up building the very movement that stands in his way.

6. They can accidentally empower resistance strategies

Some of Trump’s Executive Orders — especially the ones signed in the middle of media chaos — end up doing more than just tightening his grip. They can accidentally hand power to the Resistance.

His wildfire executive order is a perfect example. On the surface, it’s framed as a push to strengthen wildfire prevention and response. But if you read the details carefully (or my post), it’s really about consolidating federal power over wildfire-prone states, many of which lean blue or swing purple. It’s a subtle move to expand control into regions where Trump’s influence is weakest.

But here’s the thing: in his rush to sign the order and capitalise on public fear about wildfires, Trump has made it possible for state and local leaders to raise urgent questions about federal overreach, state sovereignty, and land management rights. Suddenly, governors, city officials, firefighters, and even local communities have a platform to push back — not just on the practical details of the order, but on the deeper question of who gets to control the land.

Even more importantly, the order triggers public conversations that Trump would probably prefer to avoid. It invites scrutiny of how climate-related disasters are being politicised. It pushes people to start building community-led emergency response systems that don’t rely on federal approval. It may even encourage new alliances across political lines, because wildfires don’t care whether a county is red or blue.

When Executive Orders like this are written in a hurry, especially as part of a distraction cycle, they can miss how much resistance they actually ignite (pardon the pun). They can create space for public debate, new local organising, and decentralised solutions that step outside the federal framework entirely. In trying to grab control, Trump might spark exactly the kind of resistance that builds power where he can’t easily reach.

Trump’s Executive Orders often arrive like finished declarations, as if the country has already changed. And while they may at first look terrifying, when we stay with them — when we really look — we find something else. We find rushed scaffolding, legal gaps, soft ground where he wanted us to see concrete.

These orders are not the end of the story. They’re a starting point for resistance. They show us where the regime is reaching next. They expose the gaps. They reveal the cracks. They offer time. They offer maps. They can spark action, wake the politically sleepy, and bring new energy into the fight.

That’s the gift I see in Trump's Executive Orders.

Not because the danger of his plans isn’t real — it is — but because these moves provide precious chances to act before the ground settles. They tell us where to gather. Where to push. Where to build something stronger than the order itself.

That’s where hope lives — not far away, not later, but here, in the space that’s been left open.

Let’s move while that window stays open.

— Lori