With President Donald Trump’s second inauguration in the books, he is already taking immediate action on a slate of urgent issues ranging from the economy to immigration.
But few topics hit closer to home for the President than that of debanking. After all, the growing list of those impacted by viewpoint-based bank account closures includes his wife, Melania, youngest son, Barron, and his namesake, Donald Trump, Jr.
These high-profile instances are just the tip of the iceberg. Debanking has become a highly troubling trend across the nation, as high-profile banks like JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and U.S. Bank suddenly and with minimal explanation shut down the accounts of long-time clients in good standing.
It’s also one of precious few bipartisan issues—one that unites those as far left as Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders with conservative firebrand and chair of the House Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government Rep. Jim Jordan.
This is an ideal moment for President Trump to score a major policy victory on debanking that benefits all Americans. And the President’s executive orders aimed at ending the weaponization of the federal government and federal censorship provide the perfect springboard to do so.
President Trump’s best opportunity for immediate success is created by the vague nature of banking regulations themselves. Because Congress has written most banking regulations so broadly, the interpretation and implementation of the law has largely fallen to banking regulators. Over time, that unwieldy process has yielded the inevitable—a regime where banking regulators have too much unchecked power, going so far as to claim the ability to regulate banks based not only on their own reputation, but also the reputation of the banks’ legal customers.
These “reputational risk” policies are often at the heart of debanking. They provided the fig leaf for Bank of America to hide behind after it canceled three separate accounts associated with Indigenous Advance Ministries, which cares for impoverished orphans and widows in Uganda. One of those accounts belonged to a small church in Memphis that occasionally supports the international Christian charity—an especially troubling fact given the widespread support of overseas missions by U.S. churches.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network took full advantage of this regulatory scheme in the wake of the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots. Along with colluding with major banks to flag shoppers at Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s, and Dick’s Sporting Goods in the greater D.C. metro area as potential terrorist threats, FinCEN also seized on a hyper-partisan “hate list” to associate mainstream conservative groups like Alliance Defending Freedom, where I work, with “domestic violent extremists” and target us for surveillance.
Fortunately, this abuse of power can be corrected. President Trump can order the Treasury Department and bank regulators to immediately stop overstepping their legal authority and set up real protections for Americans’ constitutional freedoms.
Of course, the regulators are not the only problem. Those lucky enough to control banks sit on a mountain of government-granted protection and power over the economy. This power and protection is granted to banks to facilitate a national economy and protect Americans from the fallout of bank failures.
It is no defense to claim that these banks are private actors, because they enjoy power and protection for a certain purpose, and picking winners and losers is contrary to that purpose. There’s no question this authority has been abused—by both the banks and federal regulators.
Politicized debanking strikes at the heart of Americans’ right to self-governance. Its many and high-profile abuses have united politicians on both sides of the aisle in a call for meaningful and lasting action. President Trump has a golden opportunity to strike a blow for freedom, ensuring that every American can access financial services without fear of viewpoint discrimination. Let’s hope he seizes it.
