After Trump: Proposals for a Post-Authoritarian America (Shikha Dalmia and Andy Craig, Jun 15, 2026, The Bulwark)
The Declaration not only affirms the right of a self-governing people to “alter or abolish” an abusive government; it affirms their duty to “institute new Government.” And our constitutional system established mechanisms by which Americans could restructure our government when necessary. After FDR broke the two-term norm, the Twenty-second Amendment imposed presidential term limits. Following Nixon’s abuses, Congress enacted a suite of guardrails—the National Emergencies Act, the War Powers Resolution, the Impoundment Control Act—to constrain an overweening presidency.
Trump knocked down each of these, and they will need to be not just rebuilt, but strengthened. Internal guardrails such as inspectors general, expert commissions, and the nonpartisan civil service must be insulated from at-will removal by the president. But Trump has created a blueprint for future authoritarians, so restoring the pre-Trump status quo won’t be enough. Two deeper structural reforms are essential.
First, strip the executive of the massive powers that have accumulated over the last century. Congress must claw back discretion over war, economic policy, and emergency powers it has ceded to the president. Many statutes will have to be completely rewritten. Most urgently, Congress should enact an automatic thirty-day sunset on presidential emergency powers unless it approves an extension—reversing the current perverse arrangement wherein Congress must pass a veto-proof resolution to stop powers already invoked. Had such a rule restricting the exploitation of emergency powers been in place, Trump could not have used them to impose his “Liberation Day” tariffs.
Second, make the powers retained by the executive subject to greater oversight with real consequences for abuse. No president should fill the cabinet with loyalists and rogues whose chief qualification is personal allegiance, or fire experienced officials for refusing to do his illegal bidding. Congress should sharply limit acting appointments and ensure major executive roles cannot be filled indefinitely without Senate approval. White House staff, advisory by design, should be statutorily barred from issuing directives to Senate-confirmed agency heads—as Stephen Miller has done, creating a shadow chain of command beyond constitutional accountability.
Congress must also adopt “for cause” standards for oversight officials, require written findings before removals take effect, and—most crucially—tie department funding to compliance with these safeguards. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent might have thought twice before stonewalling the Senate Finance Committee this month on whether Trump and his family retain IRS audit immunity if he feared having Treasury’s funding halted.
Reseparate the powers.
