You Think Jethro Didn't Mean It? He Meant It

 

One of the problems with electing a president who operates above the law is that there is no longer an agreed-upon set of rules to fall back on when trying to understand the incoherent brain droppings emanating from the Oval Office.

--Elie Mystal, commenting on Trump's Monday freeze and what followed it

Functionally (just so we're clear from the outset), Trump's Monday order froze all Federal spending for everything, except (his memo claimed) Social Security and Medicare. 

Karoline Leavitt, Trump PressSec.
"Did you notice my gorgeous hair?
Did you also notice my large cross?"

People who are actual lawyers instead of scribblers who copy their work filed court petitions showing that the order was a clear violation of the 1974 Impoundment Control Act, the US Constitution, and (according to Elie Mystal) "basic civics, good government, and common sense." To make matters worse, Jethro's Office of Management and Budget sent out a two-page "memo of incoherent gobbledygook. Everybody sued, everywhere, all at once. The OMB 'clarified' its insane order which boiled down to this: Any programs Trump likes are still funded; anything he doesn’t like is discontinued" (Mystal).

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt blithely claimed that all was intended and nothing has really changed in her boss's stampede to root out everything, including justice and scientific truth, that offends his singular passion for praise and personal profit.

On Wednesday, the OMB rescinded the freeze memo but left in place the underlying executive order directing federal agencies to "withhold funding for projects not in line with Trump’s agenda." In other words, every agency head, with OMB instrux now rescinded, get to guess at what Trump wants.

It does not matter at all that his approval rating has already dropped. The only president with a worse rating this early in his presidency was Donald Trump in 2017. But that obviously doesn't matter a whit.