How to Reform the Presidency After the Wreckage of Trump

By Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith, The New York Times

18 December 20

Our post-Watergate laws and practices for the presidency need revamping.

ow that Donald Trump’s time in the White House is ending, an urgent task is the reform of the presidency that for four years he sought to shape in his image and to run in his personal and political self-interest. What those years have shown is that the array of laws and norms that arose after Watergate and Vietnam requires an overhaul.

Any program for reform of the presidency must give precedence to our health and economic crises. It must also acknowledge political realities. Some reforms can be carried out by the executive branch, but others require legislation. Those must attract at least modest bipartisan support in the Senate.

With these constraints in mind, an agenda for reform of the presidency could realistically reflect the following priorities.

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