Jun.29

electoral-vote.com

Dem 47

   

GOP 53

What Might a Democratic Trump Do?

Donald Trump has shown that the president can do almost anything he wants, whether or not it is legal. Democrats are taking notes. There is a nascent Project 2029 being created by a couple of staffers, but miscellaneous policy wonks are spewing out ideas that Democratic Trump, call him President Drump, could do and then weasel out of any attempts to block him. The Supreme Court might try to block him, but if there is a Democratic trifecta, Congress could both expand the Court with friendly justices and simultaneously strip the Court of jurisdiction in many cases, allowing President Drump to run rampant.

The Roosevelt Institute, the Center for American Progress, and other groups are assembling lists of what a President Drump could do just using the newly invented Unitary Executive. Some of the initiatives below could get shot down along the way, but that didn't bother Trump and shouldn't bother Drump. We have added a couple of ours as well:

• Encourage (tech) CEOs to "donate" billions to a presidential slush fund if they want to avoid the IRS, antitrust, and criminal investigations. This can bootstrap some funding for other items. They are used to shakedowns now. Just up the scale.
• Pack the Supreme Court with liberal zealots. More here.
• Create a public health option—say, for 60-year-olds initially.
• Redirect money from red states to the public health option in blue states.
• Use acting appointments to fill all positions on day 1.
• Seize some patents from drug companies and license them to generic drug makers unless they slash prices.
• Force agribusiness giants to slash seed prices or have their patents taken away.
• Establish subsidized government-run grocery and other stores.
• Initiate government banking and lending using post offices for transactions.
• Cut government funding and export licenses to companies that don't pay at least double the minimum wage.
• Take "golden shares" in very large corporations and AI companies.
• Nationalize AI companies and have the government own half the stock.
• Order electricity companies to cut power to AI data centers unless the owners add to the slush fund big time.
• Establish government-run factories to produce solar- and wind-energy technologies.
• Announce that only members of an approved well-regulated militia can sell, buy, or own guns, and enforce it.
• Dismantle DHS and vigorously prosecute former employees who broke the law.
• Unwind previous mergers like Paramount + Warner Bros. and take antitrust suits to new heights.
• Vigorously prosecute all Trump administration officials who broke the law; aim for maximum prison sentences.
• Mandate that hospitals spend much more on care for poor people.
• Crack down on abuses by private equity in health care and rental housing.
• Strip broadcast licenses from Fox and other conservative outlets for [whatever].
• Impound funds for projects in red states.

The powers to do some of these things are already on the books, through laws such as the Bayh-Dole Act, the Defense Production Act, and the Affordable Care Act. Push the limits. Declare health care, climate change, housing, gun violence, trade, and other emergencies to justify the above actions. If the Supreme Court shortly rules that the president can fire agency heads and boards, fire them all on Day 1.

A key problem here is having Republicans govern by one set of (very expansive) rules and Democrats govern by a different set of (very narrow) rules. It is unsustainable. Part of the above blitz would be to show why the "limited government" conservatives have always worshiped is a good idea. If Republicans begin to see what an untrammeled president of the other party was capable and willing to do, they might suddenly be amenable to major checks on the president's power, including constitutional amendments that greatly reduce it. Some possible amendments (starting at #28, because there are already 27 of them):

28. Every federal officer who requires Senate confirmation can be fired only with Senate confirmation.
29. Authorize Congress to pass laws determining how political campaigns are financed including banning PACs.
30. Authorize Congress to establish a wealth tax, analogous to the 16th Amendment.
31. Make failure to spend funds appropriated by Congress as directed by Congress a federal felony.
32. Revoke immunity and make a president subject to prosecution after leaving office for crimes committed in office.
33. Authorize states to hold elections by mail and require early voting for 60 days before an election.
34. Authorize the SCOTUS to void laws passed by Congress, but only by a unanimous vote.
35. Allow the president to nominate a SCOTUS justice after each election win. Vacancies would not be filled.
36. Make House elections statewide and allocate seats to parties using proportional representation.
37. Allocate Senate seats by population with every state getting at least one seat.
38. Abolish the Electoral College and elect presidents by popular vote.
39. Every person present in the United States, regardless of immigration status, is entitled to due process of law.

This is just a sampler. In some cases legislation might be enough, but putting them in the Constitution makes it impossible for a future Congress to undo them. In all cases, give Congress the power to implement the amendments. Push the Republicans to the pain limit and well beyond by XO to get them to agree to the above. Actually, voters support many of the above, even if Republican politicians do not. States that refused to ratify the amendments would lose federal funding (i.e., the "Trump principle"). By giving the Republicans a real-time demonstration of why a unitary executive (aka a king) is a bad idea, they might suddenly warm to structural changes otherwise impossible.

You are welcome to send us suggested XOs and amendments for the Sunday mailbag, at comments@electoral-vote.com. (V)