The breadth of President Trump’s onslaught of executive orders is wearying even to the most experienced officials, journalists and analysts — likely by design.

Although many of the proposals contained in Project 2025 have yet to be implemented, the White House’s initiatives go far beyond even that capacious document. Indeed, dramatic changes in long-accepted policies and institutions are emerging from the Oval Office daily.

It is difficult to generalize about such a wide range of initiatives, but a few patterns have emerged. Recognizing these patterns can allow us to better assess what we are seeing and target our attention appropriately.

First, although the Trump administration often begins an initiative with one or more executive orders, few of the orders themselves merit close examination. With a few exceptions — such as the orders purporting to terminate birthright citizenship, invoking the Alien Enemies Act and eliminating federal employees’ unions — the orders are peppered with language directing subordinates to follow the law.

This does not mean that these initiatives are empty or harmless. Instead, the lawlessness is carried out by underlings relying on often-absurd interpretations of law to justify their actions.

For example, the executive orders against particular agencies — the first of which attacked the Inter-American Foundation, the United States African Development Foundation and the United States Institute of Peace — state that the administration is only eliminating the agencies’ “non-statutory components and functions” of the agencies. This might sound reasonable. Who could object to stopping the Department of Agriculture from building aircraft carriers?

But the administration’s interpretations of what are “statutory functions” is indefensible. With the Inter-American Foundation, the administration contends that the statute requires the foundation only to have a president, a board and an office. This ignores a substantial list of purposes that

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