"After Trump" (Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith)

TITLE: After Trump: Reconstructing the Presidency
AUTHOR: Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith
PUBLISHER: Washington DC: Lawfare Press, 2020, (436 pages).

The office of the US Presidency needs to be reconstructed. Whether it is due to the events with Trump over the past four years or not, reforms still have to be made. In fact, one should not simply blame Trump. Whether he was President or not does not eliminate the need to reform. Trump didn't create the problems. He merely exposed the weaknesses. The authors write: "Some of Trump’s excesses, and some flaws in presidential regulation, had been emerging in prior presidencies. But Trump’s particular brand of executive action has added significantly to past problems in ways that now demand comprehensive treatment." Key to this reformation is an adequate and appropriate accountability for the most powerful seat in the country. Such a seat needs to withstand whimsical personal misuses and blatant abuses. They propose four principles to guide any reforms:

1. Strong Presidency checked by constitution
2. Review Norms and Laws of the Presidency
3. Implementing the Golden Rule to Minimize Hypocrisy
4. Learn from History

Every President in history has his flaws, which was also made visible through the weakness of the office to check such flaws. From Watergate to a Post-Nixon; Clinton; Bush; Obama; and now Trump, the authors argue for urgency in such reconstruction so as to bring back the dignity of the office and the confidence of the people. The fourteen chapters contain over 50 proposed "concrete changes to the laws, regulations, and norms" about the presidency. Part One is about Presidential power for personal and political gains. It needs to be independent from foreign state influences that tempt the President with personal gains. It needs to watch against conflicts of interest, especially in financial and business matters. It needs to require presidents to file their tax returns not as a norm but as law. Then there is the tense relationship between the President and the Press which needs a balanced approach between accountability and appropriate new releases on the basis of responsible understanding of national security. The Presidential Pardon Power needs also to be reformed to prevent abuses.

Part Two looks at the relationship between the White House and the Department of Justice. Meant to be separate for accountability reasons, there is a danger of how the two become one force that threatens judicial independence; invites unethical practices; tempts criminal acts; etc. The authors highlight the predicament of the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller's whose investigation into the Russian influence in the Trump campaign met a number of difficult obstacles that obstruct truth finding. Even the FBI needs to be reformed, especially post-2016. 

Part Three deals with the uneasy shifting of power between the executive and legislative branches of government. One of the four issues is with regard to the war powers and nuclear weapons. Due to the expansion of Presidential discretion since the Civil War, the global climate has also changed. Such discretionary powers would need to be reformed simply because modern weaponry has a devastating impact. Any mistakes would be tragic. 

My Thoughts

The title of the book is revealing. It could mean in terms of time. Both Bauer and Goldsmith believe that any reforms that happen would have to be done "after" Trump leaves office, whether in 2021 or 2024. This however presumes that the next incoming President would make it easier to do such reforms. No guarantee exists. In fact, any reforms might even need the signature of the sitting President, and no President would willingly cede powers unconditionally. Plus, any reform would need the support of a large spectrum of political powers. "After" could also mean anytime in the future. Knowing the long-drawn process of anything that is political or any reforms that curtail the powers of any position, it might need a higher power to reform the highest power of the land. 

Trying to reform the most powerful office in the country would require not only the political will of the leaders and influential people, it needs the combined public opinion to sustain any such initiative. Bauer and Goldsmith admit that the biggest challenge of all is the public romancing of the "heroic presidency." Once this takes root in the minds of the common citizen, any reforms would be curtailed. In an Internet and Social Media age, public opinion would have an even bigger influence than before. Perhaps, even when the reforms might not be made in the near future, at least this book creates an awareness as well as a path forward to any would-be reformer. I would even say that every institution needs reforms on a regular basis. This is simply because times change and people change. Political structures too need to adapt accordingly. While vague on the specifics, Bauer and Goldsmith help us appreciate the need for change. Not only that, they have clearly outlined the various organs of ministry. If tackling any one of them is already challenging, imagine trying to work on all of them at the same time! As again, resolve is key. At all levels.

Bob Bauer served as White House Counsel to President Obama. In 2013, the President named Bob to be Co-Chair of the Presidential Commission on Election Administration. He is a Professor of Practice and Distinguished Scholar in Residence at New York University School of Law (on leave), as well as the co-director of the university's Legislative and Regulatory Process Clinic.

Jack Goldsmith is the Learned Hand Professor at Harvard Law School, co-founder of Lawfare, and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. Before coming to Harvard, Professor Goldsmith served as Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel from 2003-2004, and Special Counsel to the Department of Defense from 2002-2003.

Rating: 4.25 stars of 5.

conrade

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This book has been provided courtesy of Lawfare Press and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.