Joe Biden has an abiding interest in foreign affairs and he has moved swiftly to put in place a national security team that will repair institutions here and abroad. What's happening with domestic institutions is going to take even more effort. The Trumpists are placing landmines and wrecking the place on their way out in a wanton act of policy vandalism that could take years to unravel.
In their final weeks in office (yay!), the Trumpists are adding truly atrocious rules that the Biden team will have to roll back. Death by firing squad is only the most outrageous. Most of these rules are just needlessly cruel or inefficient. They are policy tantrums, like the one changing regulations on washing machines and shower heads. The industries who make these devices might like fewer regulations, but they really want policy certainty. I doubt many industries are going to rush into a business model where they structure their plants to pollute more, knowing that these regs will get overturned in time.
Finally, we can hope that perhaps the defining characteristic of Trumpistan - its abiding incompetence - will save many of these rulings. Some have already been struck down in court and a Biden DOJ can simply drop the appeals. Most will no doubt contain some elementary blunder that will allow a court to reverse it. But we can't forget that the overruling purpose of Trumpistan for Establishment Republicans was control over the Judicial branch.
Adam Serwer at The Atlantic has been one of the greatest analysts of Trumpistan and early on he encapsulated it's central ethos: The cruelty is the point. As he shambles off the stage, Trump will add chaos and dysfunction to the main ethos of his presidency.
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