The Soft Power of Hard Rules: How the Presidency Controls the State Through Agency Rulemaking

In Washington, law is the headline.But rule is the footnote that changes your life.

Presidents may struggle to pass laws through a gridlocked Congress, but they don’t need to rewrite statutes to rewrite reality. Instead, they turn to the federal agencies—the alphabet soup of the executive branch—to reshape society, economy, environment, labor, education, and civil rights by changing the rules that interpret those laws. This is the quiet power of the presidency: not legislative, but administrative. Not glamorous, but transformational.

The Administrative State: Born of Law, Ruled by Policy

Congress passes laws like the Clean Air Act, the Affordable Care Act, or the National Labor Relations Act—broad frameworks meant to last for generations. But these statutes are written in general terms. It is up to federal agencies—like the EPA, HHS, or NLRB—to write the fine print. That fine print, known as administrative rules or regulations, is what governs the real-world implementation of law.

Who controls the agencies?The President.Who writes the rules?Political appointees chosen by the President

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Thus, the administrative state—technocratic, complex, and largely invisible to the public—is where presidential power is quietly exercised at scale.

Rulemaking: A President’s Pen Without Congress

Here’s how it works:

* The President Appoints Agency LeadershipAlmost all federal agencies are headed by boards or administrators who serve at the pleasure of the president. Boards like the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) are explicitly partisan: 3 members from the president’s party, 2 from the opposition. These boards function like courts within agencies, and they vote on rule changes, decisions, and enforcement policies.

* Notice and Comment PeriodsRule changes follow the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). A proposed rule is published in the Federal Register, and the public has at least 30 days (often longer) to comment. Agencies are required to “consider” these comments but not obey them.

* Final Rule Issued—With Force of LawOnce finalized, the rule has the force of law. It governs how citizens, corporations, workers, and other branches of government must behave. Want to redefine what counts as “clean energy”? The rule can do that. Want to narrow civil rights enforcement? The rule can do that too.

* Legal Challenges: The Illusion of Checks?Yes, rules can be challenged in court. But the courts move slowly. And when political operatives engage in forum shopping—choosing ideologically favorable jurisdictions—lawsuits often get dismissed or delayed until a new president is elected.

Trump, Biden, and the Ping-Pong Presidency

Donald Trump 2016 didn’t pass sweeping legislative reform. He didn’t need to. Through rule changes, his administration:

* Redefined asylum standards via DHS and DOJ

* Narrowed EPA climate regulations

* Loosened labor protections under the NLRB

* Weakened Title IX interpretations at the Department of Education

All through rule changes, not laws.All reversible—eventually—by another president.

And Biden did just that.He reversed many of Trump’s rules and initiated new ones through the same process. If a Democrat is elected in 2028, expect another wave of reversals. The system isn't broken—it was designed to function this way. Law gives agencies their scaffolding. Presidents decorate and rearrange the rooms.

Rule by Decree? Not Quite. But Close.

Some critics call this “presidential government.”Others say it’s rule by regulation—an American version of soft autocracy. Either way, it’s a far cry from the Schoolhouse Rock version of how government works.

This rule-based power is:

* Fast (compared to legislation)

* Low-visibility (most Americans don't know it's happening)

* Deeply impactful (it shapes the air we breathe, the wages we earn, the water we drink)

But it’s also:

* Precarious (rules can be reversed just as quickly)

* Politically polarizing (as every new president swings the pendulum)

* Litigation-prone (but rarely halted in time)

The Rule War Is the Real War

Every election isn’t just about who writes laws.It’s about who writes rules—the real governing text of American life.

The drama of Congress distracts us. The Supreme Court dazzles us.But while we argue over constitutional law, the rulebook gets rewritten every day. The presidency isn’t just a bully pulpit—it’s a full editorial board, publishing the instructions for how America operates.

So this coming week I’m going to go through all the authoritarian rule changes done by both Trump and Biden, just so you know, Congress is just a money pot, the agencies are where rules change laws and will. So please share this civics lesson to all your friends as well as the upcoming 3-part series I’ll call The 30-Day Empire

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