White House Shelves ‘Evil Genius’ Idea

Jonathan Swan: “Last year, the head of the White House Domestic Policy Council, Andrew Bremberg, told senior administration officials and Hill staff about an idea he had to tie the hands of future Democratic presidents. The idea would be for Trump to introduce a series of hardcore left-wing regulations — e.g. on climate change, the environment, labor and health care. Then, the Republican-controlled Congress would disapprove of these regulations using a law called the Congressional Review Act. That would bar future administrations introducing ‘substantially similar’ regulations.”

“Trump administration officials are no longer seriously entertaining this idea, largely because Bremberg and others have recognized that it’s politically infeasible. Republicans only have a one-vote margin in the Senate, and there’s no way Mitch McConnell would waste precious floor time on such a moonshot.”