But that is only nipping at the heels of the foundational problem. That being the ceding of the legislative power – at both the state and the federal level – to unelected regulatory apparats that have acquired de facto legislative power. It is as undemocratic a thing as can be imagined. Arguably even more so than rule by a single dictator – who is at least identifiable as the source of the decrees. Who are the little dictators within the apparats? We can identify their chief – as for example Michael Regan of the EPA – but what of his minions? The minions are also the ones who have the real power because they are not political appointees (as Regan is and now was) and so are all-but-impossible to get rid of once ensconced.

President Trump could – and should – address this undermining of democracy by publicly asking how it came to be that the entire country is effectively ruled by unelected bureaucracies and how it came to pass that a bureaucracy in California got the power to effectively legislate for every other state as regards the kind of cars the people in those states are allowed to buy.

Or forced to buy.

How about the people of the states – each one, independently – get back the opportunity to vote for representatives who legislate rather than submit to the emissions of unelected bureaucrats who regulate? More finely, how about legislators – and legislative bodies do the work that is supposed to be their job rather than offloading their work onto bureaucracies they can then both blame for problems and use a foil to escape accountability for having caused the problems?

President Trump wants to make America Great Again? A good place to start would be freeing Americans from the unchecked and illegitimate power of regulatory apparats -and apparatchiks – in California and Washington, DC.