Evils of President Obama

Trump confidant Kellyanne Conway took off the gloves in an interview with CNN. Kellyanne closed her EPIC bombardment on the Evils of President Obama by simply saying it would be “very unfortunate if politics were the motivating factor … We can’t help but think that’s often true. That is not the way that peaceful exchanges work in a democracy.”

Conway went on to outline what she called calculated steps Obama had taken to torpedo Trump’s presidency.

Abandoning Israel by having UN declare Israelis in Jerusalem and the West Bank to be Illegal.

Sanctions against Russia and Putin to stop Trump from working with Russia to fight Radical Islam.

Prevent energy exploration, cattle grazing, and other development by using the 110-year-old Antiquities Act to steal 1.65 million acres of U.S. land from Utah and Nevada.

Banning oil and gas drilling on hundreds of millions of acres owned by the federal government in the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans.

Ending the Registry that President Bush put in place to force Muslim men from tribal regions of the Middle East to identify themselves when entering the country.

Most of these are the result of executive actions that Trump can counter by repealing once he takes office.

Trump has promised to part ways with former administrations in his stand on Israeli settlement activity and a move of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. But even if Trump changes U.S. policy toward Israel, it is doubtful the U.N. resolution condemning Israeli settlements will be repealed without a lengthy battle.

To do so, he would need to convince nine members of the Security Council — including four members with veto power, China, France, Russia and the United Kingdom — to back a measure to rescind the resolution.

Obama’s recent moves to sanction Russia complicates things as well. The actions against Russia included booting 35 officials from the United States and closing down two compounds that Obama claimed were being used by Russian intelligence to spy on America. Since many congressional Republicans praised the retaliatory steps even there may well be a fight within Trump’s own party over those sanctions.

Obama permanently banned oil and gas drilling across large sections of the Arctic and Atlantic and oceans and closed off 1.6 million acres of Western land to development. Some have raised questions that point to doubt that Trump has the constitutional authority to undo Obama’s use of the Antiquities Act.

No president has ever reversed actions to actions to create a monument under the Antiquities Act. Environmental groups and the Obama administration argue it can’t legally be done. Undoing Obama’s national monument designations might require a prolonged legal battle.

“In terms of whether it can be overturned, no,” said Christy Goldfuss, managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. “The Antiquities Act gives the president the authority to create monuments, but does not provide explicit authority to undo them.”

This does not mean overturning Obama’s unilateral decision is impossible. However, it probably will take another long and costly legal battle to undo what Obama leaves behind.

All these actions have long-lasting ramifications that are obviously intended to complicate Trump’s policy goals. Obama knows he can’t legally hang on to his office after the next three weeks but he can and has done everything possible to weaken his successor.

If Republicans who now control the House and Senate don’t support Trump they shouldn’t be surprised if the same voters who elected Trump show them the door next election cycle.