Today marks 16 months since the 2016 election, and 32 months before the one in 2020.
We are one third of the way through. Barring a major industrial or nuclear war, we are going to make it.
The only major legislative accomplishment so far is the pro-cyclical, lopsided tax cut giveaway to corporations and the wealthy. Additionally a bunch of lifetime judicial appointments have been made.
On the executive side, there have been a slew of directives, and a bunch of regulatory backsliding, chiefly at the EPA, and net neutrality.
In 2021, the executive directives can be quickly undone. New federal court judgeships at the lower levels can be established equal in number to those appointed by the current executive. Anthony Kennedy. bless his soul, looks like he is not retiring. The tax cuts can be reversed using the same reconciliation process as was used to establish them (and the booty clawed back). New regulators can restore what was lost.
And the blue tsunami of voters born since 1974 will building higher and higher as the red wave recedes one funeral at a time.
Deep breaths. We will get there.
I think you make it sound too easy, but I sure hope you are right. One thing missing from your list are the labor policies trump has reversed and tried to implement. And now with this SC looking to totally decimate unions, the GOP plan to eliminate the middle class is too close to success for any comfort.
One other thing:
” Note to Self: This is your reminder:
178.4 180.8 million people are represented by the 48 49 senators who caucus with the Democrats.
144.1 141.7 million people are represented by the 52 51 senators who caucus with the Republicans.
65.9 million people voted for Hillary Rodham Clinton and Tim Kaine to be their president and vice president
63.0 million people voted for Donald Trump and Mike Pence to be their president and vice president.”
http://www.bradford-delong.com/
And let’s not forget that:
“With preliminary data now available about nationwide congressional voting trends this year, we can begin to tackle some of these questions. First, while Republicans, as of this writing, received a plurality of votes cast for Congress nationwide this year—49.9 percent, again according data from the Cook Political Report—they received a greater share, 55.2 percent, of the seats. Democrats, as a result, won a smaller share of seats than they did votes: 44.8 percent of seats as compared to 47.3 percent of the votes. (These numbers may change as final vote tallies are updated.)
How does this stack up against the recent past? The figure below combines the preliminary 2016 Cook Political Report data with information from Vital Statistics on Congress to plot the share of all votes cast for House candidates nationwide won by Democrats against the share of seats held by the party at the start of the corresponding new congress since 1946. (For reference, the black line depicts a perfect linear relationship between votes and seats.) The points above the black line show years where the Democrats’ seat share outperformed their vote share, while the points below the line indicate the reverse. 2016 is denoted in red, and we can see that the past three congressional elections in 2010, 2012, and 2014 were also characterized by Democratic House candidates securing a greater share of the vote than seats.”
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2016/11/22/gop-seats-bonus-in-congress/
EM:
The system is pretty much broken for the House in that Reps no longer represent states by population. I will post something which kind of parallels what you are saying here. There is a solution to this. Return the House to what the framers of the constitution intended, representation by population of each state in Congress.
What this would do is:
– minimize gerrymandering with smaller populations per congressional district.
– force Congress persons to be more concerned with the interests of their districts due to less populations in each.
– retrurn the Electoral College to representing the Congressional Districts based upon population. (California would have had 14 more Reps and EC votes if its Congressinoal District population wa based solely on Wyoming’s lone Congressional District).
***And now with this SC looking to totally decimate unions, the GOP plan to eliminate the middle class is too close to success for any comfort.***
Simple plan to “re-cimate” labor unions: new Dem Congress passes legislation to make 80 year old NLRB work again: simply mandate union certification elections at every private workplace; one, three or five years apart, plurality rules where certification wins. Any workplace that votes against certification the first time out can have a chance to re-think after three years hence, the first time; after that it’s five years.
Hottest issue in a hundred years possibly: most every family will be affected profoundly economically and politically. Hottest by simple logistics — 94% de-unionized workforce desperately wants and needs protection.
What can Repubs say — mandated elections were their idea! In Wisconsin public employee unions are bound to re-certify every year; majority of member required for cert, not just of who voted. Florida Repubs now want public teachers union(s?) to de-certify anytime union membership falls below 50% of original number (can happen in summer when some go but nobody comes): de-certification without and election!
Neither mandate follow up certification elections if union can’t meet hard squeeze rules one time. Both probably unconstitutional attempts to crowd out freedom of association.
All Democrats and employees want is democracy.
“New federal court judgeships at the lower levels can be established equal in number to those appointed by the current executive. ”
Trump has filled the judgeships that the GOP would not let Obama fill. It will take years to reverse that.
I believe that history will look back at the Trump era, and show him to be a superior strategic thinker than nearly all (or even all) world leaders. One of his goals/promises was to renegotiate trade agreements making them better for American industries.
The tariffs, instead of being an axe-like approach, are proving to be closer to scalpel-like. Also they look to be pre-positioning moves for the greater trade agreement negotiations. NAFTA, TPP, EU trade agreements are all on the table.
We’ll have to wait and see how the economic impacts play out over time. Just as we are seeing the economic impacts of the Tax Reform and Jobs Bill.
This comic may just apply: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DX0JMafXUAECLFj.jpg
Nauseating.
He is a racist buffoon. Always has been, always will be.
Any man that cheats at golf is not to be trusted.
CoRev,
In the future — about the time portrayed in Woody Allen’s movie Sleeper — they will finally understand that Donald Trump was the greatest statesman of his era and the greatest American president of all time was Donald Trump.
Statues of him belatedly inhabit future public parks and his face (fittingly) adornes the thousand dollar bill. He appears to have lost some weight.
A reward exists for any portion of his DNA — even his nose will do.
Bad, some javelin systems to Ukraine……
There has been no “no fly zone” over Syria, like the one that gave Libya to anarchists and jihadis.
In January Trump did not end the Iran nuke deal although the threat remains.
Trump is in Netanyahu’s pocket, much deeper than Putin’s, but no one seems to mind, war is good for oligarchs.
If a democrat comes out that is neither neolib nor liberal imperialist then the Donald could have a run of it in 2020.
If the Russiagate nothing burger continues to roil DJT has a huge talking point about delusions.
Lack of modest choice is the incumbent’s gain.
No one in view to excite?
obviously, NDD doesn’t know any mothers who’ve been torn away from their children and dumped on the other side of the Mexican border…
@CoRev,
As a silly long-time climate change denialist, you lost me at “I believe . . . “
Good luck in 2020. I have taken my shots at the US in the past, but I hope things can be reversed from where the are now and the US can progress to a better future.
Robert:
Welcome to AB. First comments go to moderation to weed out spammers and advertising.
And were you paying attention AT ALL when Obama continued Bush’s war policies, ramped up drone assassinations, bailed out Wall Street and screwed everyone else? What makes you think the next Dumbocrat will do anything different, or won’t be so bad that yet another “red wave” will strike in 2022, just like it did in 2010 and 1994?
As a former blue voter I am sincerely hoping that the blue wave turns out to be utterly imaginary and that the Republicans continue to trounce that awful party until they are completely obliterated. Only THEN, if there is anything left to save, maybe we can start trying to save it.
Hmmm:
Put the economy on a even keel again after Repubs destroyed it again.
Put more people back to work than Repubs do which is typical.
Held the reins of the nation while the deficit decreases.
Successfully put a healthcare plan in place.
You are correct, Bush and Repubs started the wars on false pretense. Repubs blocked efforts to bring the wars to a close. No worries Karl when Ryan snatches your SS and Medicare.
it’s going to be a little hard to claw back
all that CO2 in the atmosphere
all that oil and toxic chemicals in the groundwater
all those dead in Iraq and beyond, not to say the regional hate created.
all those federal judges who believe that the Bill of Rights turns out to protect only the rights of corporations.
and all those “illegal” aliens time in jails.
i’m sure you can think of others.
i forgot to add (politically incorrect) it will be especially hard to claw back anything as long as Dems are voting for them while talking against them.
another thing… if i read the “blue tsunami” thing correctly:
don’t count on black and brown voters to be any smarter than “lower class” white men.
and don’t count on them being any more compassionate when they see themselves as having money that needs to be protected from the lazy poor.