Remember, much of what Trump does can be undone

[babylonsister]

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-lemieux-trump-endurance-20180101-story.html

Op-Ed Remember, much of what Trump does can be undone
Scott Lemieux


President Trump finally got the major legislation he wanted when Congress passed a massive tax cut. Whether this will be an enduring legacy, however, is another question. The next Democratic Congress should be able to undo much of the tax bill — and, for that matter, much of what this administration has wrought through legislation. As the so-called resistance looks ahead to another year of protest, Trump opponents should distinguish between what’s likely to stick, and what isn’t.

snip//

What makes programs like Social Security sticky is that they provide valuable benefits to ordinary people. Tax “reform” doesn’t qualify. The next unified Democratic government will not pay a political price for modifying the GOP’s deeply unpopular cuts. Democrats will probably not fully repeal the bill — many of the middle-class breaks may be extended, for example — but they can and will substantially increase taxes on the wealthy the next time they have the opportunity.

Of course Trump is making his presence felt beyond legislation. As president, he has a great deal of power to affect how legislation is implemented after the fact. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt is busy dismantling critical regulations. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions is reducing civil rights and voting rights enforcement. The interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has literally removed consumer protection from the bureau’s mandate. And similar changes are happening throughout the executive branch.

As with the tax cut, however, such policy changes will mostly not endure. The next Democratic nominee to head the EPA will prioritize environmental protection over corporate profits. The next Democratic attorney general will robustly enforce civil rights. The next Democratic head of the CFPB will see his or her job as protecting consumers rather than dismantling consumer regulations.

snip//

Legislation isn’t forever. Damage to the nation’s reputation isn’t forever, either. A resounding defeat at the ballot box will suffice to undo much of Trump’s handiwork. Reserve your most acute outrage for everything else.

Scott Lemieux is a lecturer in political science at the University of Washington.

[Hortensis]

1. And we can rewrite all the bad laws Congress passes.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. Right. I keep on telling people this country will never recover from what's happening,

and what will continue to happen so long as Trump and Republicans are in charge.

There's a naive belief here that if we can only get Trump out of office, or if we only take back the House and the Senate later this year, then all will be well. It won't work that way.

[gordianot]

5. Much of the damage will take years to correct.

Even if Trump is removed with his family and traitorous GOP cohorts the damage to compromised intelligence community and the courts will linger. Something worse will emerge next time. Watch what happens to Puerto Rico they are canaries in the coal mine.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. Much of the damage will take years to correct,

and some of it may not be correctable. Soon we will all be Puerto Rico.

[SHRED]

3. Judges no. We need to take the Senate.

[Bleacher Creature]

4. Agree, but there are three big exceptions.

One is all of the judges that have been confirmed to lifetime appointments. Gorusch is essentially worse than Scalia. They're legal positions are similar, which essentially locks down that seat for the net 30+ years.

Two, at some point we're going to reach a point of no return on climate change, of we're not there already.

And third, people can't be brought back to life when they die because they lose access to the health care system, killed in a poorly thought out military exercise, etc.

[exboyfil]

8. Pray for the health and commitment of Kennedy and Ginsburg

I think they will need to be in the traces until 2021 to avoid a complete judicial disaster.

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. Exactly!

[unblock]

6. true, but it takes time to rebuild.

first, judges have life tenure, so there will be some truly insane people messing with our judicial branch for decades. gorsuch is not the only one.

second, for institutions such as the epa, it's not just a matter of signing a few executive orders. that's may be all that's needed from the presidential point of view, but in practice these are large organizations that need to be staffed with highly talented and dedicated people. you can't just turn it overnight from a neglected wasteland with many vacancies and many more partisan hacks into a well-oiled and organized research and investigative institution.


and there are knock-on effects of all his destruction. all of government (as is the rest of us) is further hobbled by the rest of government that's being forced to operate with a hand tied behind its back. maybe someone needs some statistic that the bureau of labor used to maintain but donnie's minions decided it was a waste of taxpayer expense. so there's time and money wasted in getting that statistic elsewhere, etc....

[FreepFryer]

7. Moreover, our 21st Century New Deal wave will be fundamental, unapologetic and unfettered. (n/t)

[Lucky Luciano]

11. We will need to remove the filibuster and ram things through.

Fuck decorum...that went out the window long ago. We are in the midst of a cold civil war.

[TeamPooka]

13. Time to fight Republicans like they fight Democrats.

[MarcA]

17. Yes. The damage of the last several decades requires bold action

like that of the original New Deal, only more so. On occasion,
the Supreme Court will simply have to be ignored.

[TeamPooka]

12. My slogan for 2018/2020: The Democratic Party: We Can Fix This!

Making Americans Great Again.

[RandomAccess]

14. Lovely pep talk but I'm not quite so optimistic

It's not going to be as easy as that. Some things will have been ruined beyond repair, or beyond quick repair.

Plus, it's not like we're going to be able to just obliterate Republicons from government all together.

[Calista241]

15. Trump's probably going to wait as long as possible to appoint a new head of the CFPB.

They serve 10 year terms, so he'll probably wait until November or December of this year, depending on how the Repubs do in the 2018 election.

Trump wasn't able to do anything about Richard Cordray, so I don't know how much success we'll have pulling the plug on that appointment.

[ismnotwasm]

16. K&R and retweeted

[kentuck]

18. Once the seeds of hate and division are sown, they cannot be simply dug back up....

They sprout and grow into bushes and brambles. That would be the one thing that will not be easily undone, imo.

[BigmanPigman]

19. The 2018 Women's March has a theme, "Hear Our Vote!".

It will realistically take 30 years to undo much of what the fucking moron and the two greedy sociopaths (Ryan and McConnell) have done. I asked this question on DU two months ago and also asked my older and wiser friends and family and pretty much everyone agrees 30 years (not in my life time unfortunately). It will be a long battle for local and state governments as well. But we CAN change some of the executive orders and other assorted BS. We need to rebuild our reputation on a global level and somehow get secured voting (non Russian tampering). Maybe we could even get rid of right wing propaganda/media Fux Ruse and AM radio, big $ donors, and gerrymandering. I wish, I wish!

[world wide wally]

20. I hope that the next Democratic President will do something on day one that can actually be done on

Day one. That is to overturn every last Executive Order that Trump has signed and undo the vast majority of what the marmalade moron has done. He (she) could have a team writing up these new EOs during the transition and as soon as the last Inaugural Ball is over, sit down and have a night of signing them.