Hello Falcons, and welcome back to the third edition of Falcon Flash! We’re officially two months into the year, although it seems like we’ve had enough news to fill years of news cycles. This week, I decided we should take a step back from top stories to answer the underlying question of all of them: who’s actually making the decisions of our government? Besides president Donald Trump, who’s pulling the strings? This week, join me as we dive into Executive Branch 101.
Who is the “Executive Branch”?
Contrary to popular belief, it’s not just Trump making decisions in the Oval Office. There are many executive departments and committees hidden in the woodwork, but for the purposes of this column, we’re going to focus on the three main components: the president, the vice president and the president’s cabinet (USA Gov.).
No matter how much of AP Gov you understood, you likely know the gist of the presidency: commander in chief of the military and overarching head of the nation. Currently, this role is fulfilled by president Donald J. Trump. When Trump isn’t controversially posting on Truth Social (CTV), he’s the one who works to sign bills into law, conduct international meetings and collaborate with other leaders to advance his platform (George Bush Presidential Library). Along with him, you’ve also probably heard of his right-hand man, vice president JD Vance. In addition to public appearances and assistance to president Trump, the vice president presides over the senate and has the unique power of casting a tie-breaking vote in the instance of a deadlocked 50-50 vote (United States Senate).
However, lesser-known but often even more influential are the members of Trump’s cabinet. The cabinet is not only an advisory team that helps influence Trump’s overarching policy goals, but is also composed of the heads of executive departments. In other terms, every member is either a secretary of a department (such as U.S. Secretary of Defense, where Pete Hegseth currently serves as the leader of anything military) or a director of an influential office created by Trump (White House, White House Archives).
What do they have the power (constitutionally) to do?
In addition to the basic job descriptions mentioned above, let’s dig deeper into the details of what these people do to earn their six-figure salaries (NewsNation).
Let’s start with the most misunderstood ability of the president: executive orders. If you’re like most people, you probably perceive these to be the same as laws; they’re signed on the same desk of the oval office and make hundreds of headlines, so aren’t they basically the same? In actuality, not only are they completely different, but the orders’ impacts are also limited to solely the executive branch. As the Legal Defense Fund puts it, “They allow the president to tell federal agencies how they should implement and enforce laws passed by Congress.” To put this into more understandable terms, this essentially means that all an executive order does is allow the president to officially direct a department to act a certain way (still within existing laws; American Bar Association). This becomes critically important to understand when we talk about Trump’s cabinet and the multitude of orders and directives they give, as these executive orders then often become the overarching influence weighing above them. Remember, these cabinet members are appointed by the president, so if he calls upon them to do something through an order, they want to follow the instructions so they don’t get removed. Think of it like if your friend was a manager at a store and got you a job — if they told you to do something (even if you disagreed), you’d probably do it anyway.
Why does it matter?
If you’ve made it this far into the weeds of the executive branch, you’re likely asking: but what does this mean in terms of the news I hear? If the goal of this column is to increase political awareness, I think that one of the most important parts is knowing who’s actually behind the controversial headlines you see. ICE deportations in Minneapolis? Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem (AP News). The talks of taking Greenland? Secretary of State Marco Rubio (AP News). The Epstein files? Attorney General (the main legal officer for the government) Pam Bondi (PBS News).
No matter how you feel about the current events happening around us, it’s important that we all at least know who’s actually making those decisions; the first step in either showing support or dissent for our government is knowing who to direct it toward! I hope this week’s edition has been a helpful bit of context to the frustrating news that always assumes you already know how every part of our system works. Thanks for reading, and I can’t wait to see you back here in two weeks for more news in a Falcon Flash!
