Congressional Republicans Must Codify Trump’s Executive Orders

In his first weeks holding office, President Donald Trump has done far more than any Republican in recent history to restore the justice system, eliminate radical DEI, and dismantle the unelected bureaucracy. But what would stop a future Democrat president from undoing this?

Executive orders can simply be reversed — which can be good, since this is what allowed Trump to undo former President Joe Biden’s executive orders like the one that turned federal agencies into Democrat get-out-the-vote machines. But many of Trump’s most vital executive orders — like “Protecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation” — have already drawn lawfare attacks from deep blue states like Washington. 

Through executive orders, Trump has brought the censorship-industrial complex to the brink of death. He has taken steps to protect children from genital mutilation in the form of “transgender” surgeries. He has sent DEI to die. Through the Department of Government Efficiency, Trump is dismantling the bloated bureaucracy that has been using billions of taxpayer dollars in a massive leftist-funding scam. Republicans have only dreamed of such progress since before President Ronald Reagan. But without further action, this progress could disappear in just four years.

While Republicans still control both chambers of Congress — 53-45 in the Senate, and 218-215 in the House — they must act swiftly to turn Trump’s executive orders into law. Come midterms in 2026, control of both chambers will not be guaranteed. So while Republican Speaker Mike Johnson committed to “advancing President Trump’s America First agenda,” Congress must quickly step into its purpose. That means stepping out, away from the influence of lobbyists and special interests, to pass laws that place the American people first.

Americans resoundingly rejected the do-nothing “establishment” GOP of Mitt Romney in 2012 — and again with the bellwether Republican nomination of Trump in 2016, and again with his Republican landslide (and popular vote victory) in November’s election. If former Vice President Kamala Harris’ astroturf presidential campaign — which started with a “soft coup” of former President Joe Biden — taught anything, it is that special interest groups and millions of dollars can no longer buy elections on their own. Politicians must also have the support of the people for their campaigns to succeed.

When Trump reaches his term limit in four years, Republicans will be expected to carry on the America First movement that drew together an unlikely alliance to save America — from former Democrat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (now Director of National Intelligence) to health activist and former Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (now secretary of Health and Human Services) to billionaire Elon Musk (now leading DOGE). 

So if Republicans in Congress sit on their hands for the next two years — and allow a future Democrat president to return power to unelected bureaucrats — they can expect to be primaried. But if they codify the steps Trump has taken to bring back “America’s Golden Age,” they stand to gain much, not only politically, but in terms of restoring accountable government at a scale their GOP predecessors in the modern age could only have imagined.