Hail to The Iconoclast-in-Chief ( and Turdmeisters in Charge)

What’s worse than spending all day scrubbing and sanitizing a stinky bathroom only to have a wayward turdmeister stroll in and unload a monster dump?

How about being POTUS #44 and using executive orders and regulations over an eight-year period because Republicans refused to work with you, then having POTUS #45, along with the 115th Congress, flush away almost everything you issued.

Pardon my earthy analogy, gentle readers, but it’s actually quite pertinent. Despite the current President’s lament of “To be honest, I inherited a mess,” President Obama was the one who inherited a crappy national nightmare.

To be honest, Obama was the one who kept America’s then economic crisis from mushrooming into another catastrophic Great Depression. Now you may not have liked President Obama. You may not have approved of everything he did while he served in office. But there’s no way you could possibly argue that Dubya #43 helped Obama with the transition. He didn’t. There’s no way you could argue that Obama coasted into a problem-free, financially sound nation, either.

An economy on the verge of major collapse, wars waging in the Middle East, a failing automotive industry on life support, escalating unemployment, soaring national debt — not very good things for any new President to inherit.

Then to make everything even more difficult, there was that decidedly uncooperative GOP clan that desperately wanted him to fail at every turn. Remember Senator Mitch McConnell’s battle cry? We’re going to do everything we can to make sure Barack Obama is a one-term President, he declared.

Well, Barack Obama served not one but two full terms in office. Thanks to Mitch and the boys, though, they weren’t eight easy years for President #44.

And yet, now that President Obama has become Citizen Obama, Republicans are determined to remove all traces of his very existence in office. Not only are they tarnishing his legacy, they’re also erasing his executive branch regulations.

It all started on January 20, 2017, with the newly inaugurated President Trump. Before his first Presidential luncheon had even digested, Trump rescinded Obama’s order that provided low-interests rates for poor people struggling with affordable housing. By month’s end, USA TODAY reported, “In his first 10-and-a-half days in office, President Trump has signed more executive actions than any other President in modern history, just edging out President Obama.”

The headline of 01.31.17 said it all: “10 DAYS 20 ORDERS.”

Then on February 2nd, USA TODAY published TODAY’S DEBATE: PRESIDENTIAL POWER with the headline “Obama’s Orders were imperial, but Trump’s aren’t?” Hello, hypocrisy :

“Remember when Republicans were dead set against sweeping executive actions? Remember when they called Barack Obama an imperial president, and worse, for issuing a string of executive orders, presidential memoranda and national security directives?

That was so yesterday.

In his first 10 days in office, President Trump issued 20 executive actions, more than any incoming president in the modern era. And for the most part, Republicans have adopted a position of silence or support, conveniently forgetting their past practice of denouncing executive decrees as a major threat to constitutional governance.”

Of course, I must applaud USA TODAY for taking an interest in #45’s dismantling act and reporting about it. More newspapers should be doing that. What’s unfortunate, though, is how Trump’s antics are overshadowing The Congressional Review Act.

But wait.

You’ve never heard of The Congressional Review Act? Me neither. In fact, if I hadn’t watched Samantha Bee on TV’s “Full Frontal” last week, I wouldn’t have even included it in this editorial. But her weekly monologues on politics and current events are fast becoming a respected news source for me. She might be funny. She might be entertaining with satire and irony. But The Bee is one comic commentator who uses truth in humor to report the news. Like, if Jon Stewart (from “The Daily Show” where The Bee used to work) had a little sister who got better grades and could beat him at arm wrestling. (Her weekly half- hour television show airs on TBS every Wednesday right now, before Conan O’Brien. Check it out sometime, and you’ll see what I mean.)

Anyway, this little-known, seldom-used Act is currently in widespread use on Capitol Hill. OBJECTIVE: to repeal whatever Obama officially adopted when he was President. Now that Washington is crawling with wall-to-wall Republicans, Trumplandia’s lawmakers are working nonstop to undo what it took #44 eight long years to do.

Oddly enough, this power of repeal came from the same brain that once wanted to make moon colonies a national priority. That’s right, we have Newt Gingrich to thank. Twenty-one years ago, when he was Speaker of The House he introduced his “Contract with America” reform agenda. His reforms were passed, along with the accompanying Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act and The Congressional Review Act.

Congress seemed to forget about using The Congressional Review Act until 2001. The Clinton Administration issued an OSHA rule in November, 2000 — one that required employers to curb ergonomic injuries in the workplace. In March, 2001, Congress voted to overturn it. Dubya #43 signed the resolution of approval; no more ergonomics regulations. So no more using the repealing powers of The Congressional Review Act…until now.

If you want to read a really excellent, detailed explanation about this Act and what’s currently happening on Capitol Hill, google dailysignal.com. Rachel del Guidice posted an informative report on February 15th entitled “Lawmakers Are Using Congressional Review Act to Dismantle Obama Regulations.” Her article certainly helped this writer better understand how petty the GOP clan has gotten these days, now that they seem to be in absolute power.

Here’s one example from her article that seems unbelievably absurd to me. Last week, The Senate adopted a resolution of disapproval about — what else? — a gun regulation that Obama had issued. Essentially, it prohibits Social Security Disability recipients from possessing or purchasing firearms. Seemed like a pretty good regulation to me, especially since most of the mass shooters in the past decade have been mentally ill. Given the the stubborn loyalty of Congress towards the gun lobby, I think Obama acted sensibly and wisely in issuing this regulation — especially when you consider all the relatives of the shooting victims he had to console.

Needless to say, the genius from Iowa disagreed with me and Obama’s sage action.

On Valentine’s Day Senator Chuck Grassley spoke about the resolution of disapproval that he’d introduced . You know you’re in Trumplandia when a Senator believes someone with an eating disorder can actually get social security benefits. Duh. It just wouldn’t happen. And if it did, I can tell you those small numbers of recipients are unique exceptions to the usual rule. Then there’s the “Constitutionality” of this regulation…

Why do Republicans always cite The Constitution when it comes to their beloved guns but completely ignore it when it comes to whatever The Donald in The White House is now doing and saying?

Stay tuned for more turds in the punch bowl during the upcoming months.