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Who is in charge of the executive branch of government?

That's the only question you need to answer in order to understand the controversy over President Trump ordering certain federal agencies' Twitter accounts to stop making pronouncements in the government's name. Presumably, this restriction will last only until the agencies' new directors and secretaries are in place. Or maybe not. (Frankly, very few government social media accounts are probably worth the cost of running them, but that's for another day.)

Earlier today, the Badlands National Park's official Twitter feed sent out four tweets about climate change. They were subsequently deleted.

We can argue all day over whether this has anything to do with the Park Service's mission, or its mission at that particular park (it doesn't), but this was pretty obviously an effort to test the limits of the person who ultimately controls that account as of Friday. The Constitution tells us who that is:

The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.

The Park Service is an executive branch agency. It has no pretense to independence from the president's authority. And in fact, our constitutional system depends on such agencies obeying the competent authority. They don't get to have a life of their own outside of what the Congress permits and the president demands. Elected officials make these decisions this is what democracy looks like.

This account is a lot like the Twitter account of any other business or organization. It exists in order to disseminate the policy message of the organization and its rightful leadership in this case, Trump Forest Service. It's not for employees to use to disseminate their own messages. As the libertarian @Popehat blog's Twitter feed eloquently put it:

Also from the Washington Examiner

"Turns out you're just like all the rest selfish and spineless."

01/26/17 11:13 PM

And the answer to that is no, in case you were wondering.

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A month into 2017 and Republicans haven't repealed Obamacare and Koskinen still has his job.

01/26/17 5:01 PM

Read the original here:
Is Trump 'censoring' federal agency accounts? - Washington Examiner (blog)