Donald Trump’s run of executive orders to start his second term, totaling more than 90 three weeks in, continues to be met with resistance. For example, 22 states and pregnant women have brought suit against Trump’s EO to curtail citizenship birthright, which was paused by a Washington State judge almost as soon as it was signed. Some civil rights groups, the American Civil Liberties Union most notably, have sued to block the administration’s deportation plan.
Others have filed lawsuits against Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), claiming it does not comply with the legal requirements for advisory committees.
But the orders are built for battle, David Closson, director of the Family Research Council’s Center for Biblical Worldview, said on Washington Watch Friday. The legal twists and turns are yet to play out, but Closson contends the orders may be written in such a way that opponents have a hard time picking them apart.
“One of the things I’ve been paying attention to during this second Trump administration is how carefully worded some of these Executive Orders are,” Closson told show host Jody Hice. “They are not sloppy, not hastily written. You can tell a lot of thought has gone into these.”
Last week Trump signed an EO that many thought would never have been necessary, succinctly titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”
There have been legal challenges and discussions around policies in various states as biological males have sought to compete with females while also invading spaces like dressing areas and restrooms.
The NCAA, the national governing body for college sports, waited until a Trump EO to boldly announce it won’t allow men on women’s teams – even though Riley Gaines, a former swimmer for the University of Kentucky women’s team, has campaigned against men in women’s sports for three years.
The NCAA updated its participation policy after the order: “A student-athlete assigned male at birth may not compete for an NCAA women’s team,” it now states, employing woke phraseology.
“We strongly believe that clear, consistent, and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today's student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions. To that end, President Trump's order provides a clear, national standard," NCAA president Charlie Baker explained.
Higher education dollars at risk
Baker found clarity in a carefully crafted executive order that states the members of the NCAA – colleges and universities – will forfeit federal funding (which averages $4,546 per student nationwide) if men continue to compete on women’s teams.
The order states, “It is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls, and deprives them of privacy. It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity and truth.”
Closson applauds the order. “This is wonderfully clear language, and it’s needed because over the last four years you saw the Biden administration rewrite Title IX to include gender identity and sexual orientation,” he said.
Proponents of transgenderism say the numbers of biological males seeking to compete on women’s teams is small, “but this has taken medals, scholarships and opportunities away from women because this gender ideology has been allowed to run amok,” Closson said.
The order calls for the Secretary of State and relative U.S. representatives to the United Nations to promote this policy at the U.N. for adoption abroad. It calls for the State Department to “use all appropriate and available measures” to see that International Olympic Committee follows suit.
“It orders that there be a convening of sports-specific governing bodies to make sure they're getting in line with this. So it's very comprehensive, and this is a return, I think, to creation-order common sense. As Christians, we should be very excited by what we’re seeing in this Executive Order,” the FRC spokesman said.
Trump’s executive order “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias” is equally clear and strong, outlining a number of incidents under the Biden administration’s watch that makes the order necessary.
“It specifically notes that there were over 100 attacks on churches and pro-life pregnancy centers and charities. It mentions that even the House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning this, trying to draw to the Biden administration's attention, and yet the Biden administration did nothing on it,” Closson noted.
The order also references the 2023 FBI memo that sent out the alarm on “radical traditionalist Catholics” and suggested the infiltration of local churches to help root out extremism – and it notes that the Biden administration praised the Transgender Day of Visibility on Easter Sunday.
Impressive task force roster
The EO creates a task force to set about ridding the government of Christian bias. It’s not your average task force, Closson noted.
“Whenever a task force is created, the first thing you should do is see who's on the task force. If it's a lower level, mid-level political appointee, it means maybe the administration is not serious about it," he stated.
But that's not the case with this task force, according to Closson. "This task force to review and root out anti-Christian bias is to be chaired by the Attorney General and includes the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Treasury and several cabinet-level officials,” he explained.
