Perspectives: Trump's COVID-19 Executive Actions

Perspectives across all sides of the political spectrum are split regarding the executive actions for economic relief that President Donald Trump signed on Saturday. With four different signings, the president moved to extend unemployment benefits, suspend the payroll tax for many workers, create an eviction moratorium and suspend federal student loan payments through the end of the year. Perspectives on the president's actions are largely divided, regardless of partisanship, into three camps: those who claim his actions are illegal and ineffective; those who say they are legal but ineffective; and those who think the actions are both legal and beneficial to Americans. Some voices from the right claim that Trump's step into legislative territory is unconstitutional and ineffective, while others commend him for taking action to provide economic relief during the pandemic when congressional stimulus talks stalled. Many voices on the left claimed the actions are an illicit abuse of power. Others said the orders were not illegal, but merely band-aid solutions for a much broader economic problem.