Trump has ‘transformed nothing that can’t be turned back the day after he leaves office’: Erick Erickson

Conservative radio host Erick Erickson warned that President Trump may have to work with Democrats in his final two years if he hopes to leave office with a stronger legislative record, calling his current agenda “impermanent.”

“This is the most impermanent second term of any president in American history,” Erickson told NewsNation’s Leland Vittert. “Every single thing the man has done other than a cryptocurrency bill , the Laken Riley Act and the tax bill have been by executive order. They can all be undone.”

Trump has broadly used executive orders to shape his second term agenda. He has avoided the use of Congress for some of his key policy initiatives like tariffs , regulating elections and birthright citizenship , most of which have been blocked by the Supreme Court.

The University of California Santa Barbara’s American Presidency Project tracks executive orders from presidents over time, and found that Trump in his second term is averaging 166 orders per year, a pace not seen since President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Even when executive orders are not found unconstitutional, they can be easily undone by the next president. One example is the Paris climate agreement, which Trump pulled out of in his first term, which former President Biden reversed on his first day in office. Trump then left again during the first week of his second term.

Erickson said Republicans should worry that the president may work with Democrats on legislation that is more permanent so that history looks favorably upon him.

“[The orders] can all be undone unless he does cut some deals with the Democrats,” Erickson told the “On Balance” host. “He wants credit in history for being a transformational president. He’s transformed nothing that can’t be turned back the day after he leaves office.”

Trump told the Wall Street Journal on election night that he was willing to work with Democrats but acknowledged his ability to veto anything they pass.

The president will have to work with Democrats to get anything passed out of Congress after the party’s landslide election victory . Democrats will begin the 120th Congress with at least 54 Senate seats and 251 House seats, according to Decision Desk HQ’s projections, and they lead in more races that have yet to be called.

Still, the “Erick Erickson Show” host was skeptical that Democrats would make an effort to work with Trump.

“I don’t know that the Democrats are willing to work with him. I think they want to spend their time investigating,” Erickson said. “The Democrats believe they’ve been affirmed back into their righteousness as well.”

“The only thing that I can guarantee about this election is neither side is going to win or understand the right lessons,” he added. “And that’s going to drive further rage of the voters.”