Announcement: Donald Trump is no
longer the president of the United States.Oh sure, he has the title and he
has the bully pulpit – from which he’s bullying everyone from NBA players to
people protesting white supremacists to DACA kids.But he’s not actively governing the
United States. That work is happening elsewhere – in Congress, the courts, the
Fed, the career civil service, lobbyists, and in the states.It’s not just that he lost
the epic battle to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Trump never
understood the Affordable Care Act to begin with, and played no part in
developing Republican alternatives.The budget Trump submitted to
Congress in March was dead on arrival. House
Republicans ignored Trump’s request for $54 billion in cuts to departments and
agencies and decided instead to cut non-defense spending by just $5 billion,
and explode the defense budget.The 9-page tax plan congressional
Republicans and Trump unveiled last week only vaguely resembles Trump’s original
tax proposal from April, and all the important decisions have been left to the
tax-writing committees of Congress.Trump’s relations with Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan have become so
strained they have no interest in looping him into policies before they have
to.Meanwhile, Trump has run out of
Obama executive orders he can declare void. Major regulations, such as the
EPA’s Clean Power Plan, can’t just be repealed. They have to go through a legal
process that could take years.Trump doesn’t seem to be aware of
this. He told a cheering crowd in Alabama recently that he had ended the Clean
Power Plan by executive order. “Did you see what I did to that? Boom, gone.”Nope. The EPA will soon reveal its
strategy for reversing the Plan, but whatever it is, environmental groups are
almost certain to appeal it in the courts. Big businesses and utilities,
fearing that the courts may rule against the administration, are lobbying the
EPA to come up with a replacement rather than try to eliminate the Plan
altogether.Meanwhile, although General John
Kelly has reduced White House chaos somewhat, the firings and shakeups are
unremitting.Trump’s Cabinet secretaries don’t seem
to have a clue. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos
wants to spend taxpayer money on for-profit schools and colleges that cheat
their students. Won’t happen. The EPA’s Scott Pruitt is trying to strip
the agency of scientists. Another non-starter.Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin still has no idea how to deal with Congress. He tried to persuade Republican
House members to support Trump’s budget deal with the Democrats by asking them
to do it “for me.”Health and Human Service Secretary Tom
Price wasn’t fired not for his ethical violations. If that were the criteria,
most of the Trump administration would be gone. Price broke Trump’s cardinal
rule, which was never to get bad headlines for Trump.Top echelons of departments and
agencies are still empty. Trump has said “in many cases, we don’t want to fill those jobs,” which
means decisions are being made by career civil servants and industry lobbyists.By the start of September, more than a third of the leadership
positions at the Federal Emergency Management Agency were still vacant. Not a
good way to begin hurricane season.As of mid-September, out of 599 key government positions that
require Senate confirmation, Trump had made only 159 nominations, according to The Washington Post.
Trump had yet to submit nominations for 320 positions.Meanwhile, Trump’s political clout
is waning among Republicans. He couldn’t even get his pick elected to a Senate
primary in Alabama, a state bulging with Trump voters.Business leaders have deserted him
over his remarks over Charlottesville. NFL owners have turned on him over his
remarks about players. Tom Brady, who once called Trump
“a good friend,” now calls him “divisive” and “wrong.”Don’t get me wrong. Trump is still
a dangerous showman and conman – tweeting condemnations of critics and ranting before
friendly crowds at his never-ending campaign rallies. He continues to fuel
bigotry and meanness. He has reduced America’s standing in the world. His
outbursts could start a nuclear war.But when it comes to the work of governing
America, Trump is becoming utterly and completely irrelevant.