He’s obviously nuts. I can’t even imagine what that’s all about. But get a load of this. Trump has apparently frozen all federal grants and loans, domestically and internationally—hitting the pause button on what may potentially amount to hundreds of billions of dollars of money appropriated by Congress for a dizzying array of specific, pre-ordained purposes. From constitutional lawyer Steve Vladek tonight. I’m sharing the whole thing because I suspect you may need a thorough explainer. I know I did: The move was announced in a cryptic and thinly reasoned two-page memo that went out over the signature of Matthew J. Vaeth, the acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. And the consequences are potentially cataclysmic—for virtually all foreign aid (including the distribution of HIV drugs in poor countries); for medical and other scientific research in the United States; for tons of different pools of support for educational institutions; and for virtually every other entity that receives federal financial assistance. (The memo excludes funds paid directly to individuals, like student loans or Social Security—although it offers no principled basis for the distinction.) The freeze purports to be temporary—and only “to the extent permissible” by law, whatever that means. Thus, the Vaeth memo directs all agencies that administer affected funds to submit detailed lists of projects suspended under the new order by February 10. Those agencies in turn must assign “responsibility and oversight” to tracking the federal spending to a senior political appointee, not a career official. But there is no guarantee that the spigot will be…