So I’ve seen a lot of chatter on here about how in 2028 if the Democratic nominee wins the Presidency, or the Democrats somehow win an unassailable majority of both houses of Congresss, there are a bunch of things they should do right away, including tear down the White House ballroom, restore various things, and so forth.
Is this wise? Not in the sense of is it wise to do any of those things in an absolute sense, but I mean in a political sense. Are we thinking voters will have voted Democrats into office with an explicit mandate of De-Trumpification? I’m not convinced that’s the case; assuming the Democrats win, it’ll be more because Trump will have screwed everything up so royally that it is seriously affecting people’s lives, probably in an economic sense. And as such, they’ll be expecting relief from that sort of thing, not for the President and Congress to go haring off to restore the DEI placards at the Smithsonian or whatever. De-Trumpification will look to the less sophisticated like the same political tit-for-tat that Trump engaged in.
Personally, I’d think beyond relief from whatever pushed people to vote against the Republicans, any Democratic President-to-come would be smart to concentrate on whatever got them elected first, then once that’s in hand, start working on preventing/limiting more Trumpian excess from future Presidents. Actually de-Trumpifying things would be way down on the list.
As far as “mandate”, we’ll have to see how the Democratic nominee campaigns. I would presume they will campaign with an explicit “deTrumpification” campaign in the primary, at least, since I think that will be necessary to win the primary.
I think the answer is “very necessary” – the most critical thing the next administration must do is SCOTUS reform; after that is deTrumpification, including prosecution of any and all law-breaking, from the bottom to the top. This is absolutely necessary to show future politicians that there are very serious consequences to corruption, to breaking the law, and to violating the Constitution.
Restoring what historians do agree is more accurate is not tit-for-tat. And most people did (more now) agree that what Trump did was asinine.
A White House report accused the National Museum of American History of promoting a “radical, activist ideology.” Historians largely disagree. Visitors spoke of their support for the museum.
That depends on how much effort is involved in de-Trumpifying something. If we’re talking about something like restoring the correct name to the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario, that’s an easy fix that should be done within the first week. If we’re talking about a complicated matter like ending the Iran war or restoring the United States reputation as a solid member of the NATO alliance, those are things which should be approached a lot more carefully. There’s lots of in between stuff as well, which I imagine would take something like months. Rehiring experts that served in various government agencies who were DOGEd is a good example.
Donald Trump abused the office and power of the presidency as much as he could get away with. To me, “De-Trumpification” would mean preventing all of that from happening again.
We need competent investigations into every crime and immoral thing Trump has ever done in his entire life both in his private life and his public life from birth to death. Then that info needs to be released widespread among the public to break his cult.
That is what happened in the USSR with Stalin. All of Trumps pedophilia, corruption, rapes, felonies, treason, medical issues, incompetence, frauds, lies, bribes etc needs to be heavily investigated by thousands of attorneys and investigators with subpoena power (both domestically and internationally). Then all the info needs to be released so that his cult can’t pretend ‘we didn’t know’.
However as others have said, if Trump’s party loses in 2026 it’ll be because of economics so I don’t know if this will be the first priority. True de-trumpification will probably only happen after he dies.
It is very likely that the next Democratic president is going to inherit an awful economy and an America that is in great pain. IMHO, the only good optics would be to first fix the economy - or, at least, be perceived as fixing and addressing America’s practical woes first. Then, after a year or two of that, the Democrats can shift to de-Trumpifying.
To first launch into de-Trumpefying, without doing much to fix the bad economy, would lead to quick media or societal accusations of, “You’re more interested in partisan politics and settling grudges than helping the common average Joe facing $5/gallon gasoline and backbreaking grocery prices.”
Another aspect is that by the time Trump leaves office, he would have dominated American media coverage and attention for 12 years. By that point, everyone will be thoroughly sick of anything related to Trump and his name. And Democratic attempts to de-Trumpify will have the unpopular effect of keeping Trump in the news at precisely a time when America wants to forget about him.
Well, sure- to some extent. A more sane budget will be passed. Many Tariffs will be removed, and yeah, most appointees will be replaced. That last is pretty standard.
I concur.
How? Of course as Justices die or resign, they are replaced, sure.
Replacing political appointees is pretty standard.
But what does trump do? He went after every one he thought was some sort of “enemy”, with prosecutions. Whatever the Dems do- we do NOT want to just became another trump. No political prosecutions, nothing done just for spite.
Exactly.
Right- “It’s the economy stupid”.
Whatever us Democrats do- let us NOT emulate trump.
Expand the court legislatively (at a minimum – other reforms are probably needed but will be tougher than just expansion). Nothing positive can happen with this SCOTUS in place. This SCOTUS is thoroughly and irredeemably corrupt (and partisan as well). They showed that with the immunity decision, among many others. They won’t allow any significant Democratic legislative priorities through.
Not for spite, for justice. Trump hasn’t prosecuted actual lawbreaking, just opponents. We should prosecute lawbreaking, by Trump and his many criminal underlings.
Not doing both of the above just means we’re going to get another fascist criminal eventually, and next time they may be smarter and more disciplined than Trump.
Gee, and then when the GOP controls Congress, they add more justices. And SCOTUS is not corrupt- they showed that with several sharp rebukes to trump. The Immunity decision, much talked about- so far has been a nothing burger. It is limited to Official acts.
The GOP claims the prosecutions are for law breaking. So, then when the Dems do it- with the same claims- it will appear as if the Democrats are just as bad as the last Administration.
Yes, of course the GOP will try the same thing. Further reforms are needed, eventually. But we start with expanding the court – the only single act that can break the power of these corrupt 6 GOP justices. The alternative is GOP SCOTUS forever, as they further erode election and citizenship and free speech and more.
The idea that this court has issued any “sharp rebukes” to Trump is an absolute joke. They’ve barely pushed back at all. Even on citizenship, which is as clear in the Constitution as anything! Citizenship is barely surviving. Give the Republicans another term and it would easily be gone, despite the crystal clear language of the 14th amendment.
A non-corrupt court would have rejected the absurd claims about citizenship 9-0.
The GOP will always lie about Democrats, no matter what Democrats actually do. Democrats should follow the law, and prosecute criminals, period.
I can’t believe anyone still thinks like this. Biden thought the “fever would break” with his presidency. He was so, so catastrophically wrong. The GOP is MAGA, Trump, corruption, fascism and all. There’s no more “decent” opposition in the GOP anymore. They’re all hopelessly corrupt and fascist or fascist-tolerant. We’re in a fight against fascism with democracy at stake. If we don’t go way, way beyond what Biden did to fight against Trump, it’s going to happen again and be much worse next time. And once the democracy is completely broken, putting it together will take much more than a single election.
Barely more than nothing. Enough so a few saps can say “see, SCOTUS isn’t 100% evil!”. But the citizenship decision was totally pathetic. Nothing could be more clear than the language of the 14th amendment – and still the decision was 6-3 (or really 5-4). A real court would have thrown it out from the beginning, or at worst, voted 9-0 to rebuke the absurd position of the administration.
What a fucking joke.
We expand (and eventually reform) SCOTUS, or Democrats will never be able to accomplish anything significant again. Corruption will be legal for Republicans, while Democrats will get smacked down for just about everything they try to do.
The fed firing ruling actually proves how corrupt they are because the did a specific carve out only for the fed based on literally nothing because they don’t want their own investments to tank.
Redecorating the oval office will be a great start because it can be done pretty much immediately and it’s something every administration does so it won’t look out of the ordinary.
I think there should be teams working behind the scenes to tackle different aspects of bio-hazardous waste disposal de-trumpification. As the new Admin works publicly to restore the economy, they can be preparing to reveal the changes slowly. Not unlike what the deplorables are doing now, with Heritage Foundation carrying out their fuckery while the Village Idiot People carry on with their culture wars.
To me the short answer depends on the election outcomes. Imagine FDR and the New Deal coalition terrified to repeal the 18th amendment because some past electoral majority had been for it.
Big elections necessitate big changes. If dems truly win by huge margins, then they need to treat that mandate for what it is.
See, the wonderful part of de-trumpifying is, most of them are actually guilty of actual crimes. Vigorously prosecuting them for that isn’t “just for spite”. We need to send a message to anyone who might try this again in the future that they will be at risk for their actions.
First they should do a couple of big ones that mean something, fix the reflecting pool, put the names of blacks people and women back, wherever they have been removed, his name off passports.
And they should come into office with a long list of things that don’t cost much to fix, Lake America, Gulf of America, etc, etc. get it all done in week one. America will start to feel a LOT better.
Wait on the golden mount and arch. I’d bet good money they won’t weather two seasons without showing how badly they were constructed. Shoddy workmanship will take the blame for demolition.
Renaming airport, and other stuff they should just quietly get done, without fanfare, no announcements. Same will the ballroom, shine everybody on, ‘we’re getting input still’, and just do it up nice. Get the Obama’s to decorate it, they have great taste, and it just feels right!