The speed with which President Trump issued executive orders on pipelines, abortion, and trade deals in recent days has alarmed critics—but he's not behaving very differently than his predecessor. Trump's pace on executive orders is similar to that of Barack Obama, whose orders in his first week included one to close Gitmo within a year, though George W. Bush and Bill Clinton went a lot slower. Bustle describes the trend as a product of partisanship, with Trump following Obama's lead in using the "absolute maximum of presidential power" without seeking the approval of Congress. A roundup of executive order coverage:
- The Washington Post looks at how far presidents from Harry Truman onward have gone in revoking the orders of previous presidents. Obama holds the speed record, with eight in his first 30 days, while George W. Bush set the record for quantity by reversing 64 previous executive orders during his term.