Trump’s methodical destruction of Obama’s legacy
We’ve all seen footage of those carefully timed explosions that bring down antiquated buildings and clear the ground for new ones. A horn sounds, the detonations begin, the building shakes, suspended for a frozen moment, and then collapses in a vast cloud of dust. That, metaphorically, is what is happening to the Obama administration’s legacy.
The presidential edifice has come down in two episodes, and the dust has not yet settled from either one. The first wrecked President Obama’s most consequential policies: the Affordable Care Act and the Iran nuclear deal. The second, happening now, is crushing its reputation for integrity, for following the most basic rules for conducting free and fair elections.
Consider Barack Obama’s biggest policy achievements. Trump campaigned on overturning both Obamacare and the Iran deal. And that’s what he’s done as president. For Democrats, these were bitter losses. Liberals and progressives alike were determined to defend them, even after losing the House and Senate in 2016. On those and other touchstone issues, such as immigration and judicial appointments, they were not looking for compromise solutions.
Neither was Donald Trump. As the new president, his most fundamental decision was to obliterate those Obama policies, not modify them at the margins. He wanted to erase the Affordable Care Act before it became an indelible feature of American life. Although the Republican Congress fell just short of repealing it and the Supreme Court didn’t do the job for them, Trump did manage to eliminate its essential funding mechanism (the “individual mandate”) and to lop off as much else as he could. (He and his party still haven’t figured out how to replace it. Obama’s lasting achievement is that even conservative Republicans realize they must do more than repeal it. They must deliver a replacement.)
Internationally, Trump rejected Obama’s ideas of cooperating with Iran, edging away from Saudi Arabia and Israel, and using treaties, cash, and economic ties to tame the Islamic Republic. None of that worked, Trump concluded. He saw Iran as an implacable foe, determined to dominate the Middle East and threaten American interests. Once the nuclear deal expired, Iran would rush to build nuclear weapons. Instead of waiting, Trump exited the agreement, began ratcheting up sanctions, and bolstered the military to deter Iran, China, and others.
Trump did not run as a moderate Republican. His populist, nationalist agenda posed an obvious threat to everything President Obama and his party had accomplished, as well as establishment interests within the Republican Party. The good news for Democrats (and their allies in Washington’s law firms, lobbying shops, and government bureaucracies) was that candidate Trump had only a remote chance of winning. Still, he needed to be watched closely.
Now we know just how closely. We are learning just how many laws, regulations, and procedures the Obama administration trampled in the process. Each new tranche of declassified documents adds to the disturbing picture. All would have remained hidden if Hillary Clinton had won.
The documents put the lie to Obama’s famous declaration that his administration was not tarnished by “even a smidgen of corruption.” Now, it seems, there are smidgen droppings all over the place.
