In my optimistic moments*, I think about what Democrats will need to do when they take back power in 2029. What is remarkable is how pervasive the effects of Trump et alia are. We’re all aware (hopefully) of the effects on the constitutional order and functioning of the government, but there’s also a bunch of smaller things that will need to be fixed, like the signs at our National Parks (boldface mine):

One of the stops was the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument, designated by the Obama administration in 2016 to honor the National Woman’s Party, which fought for women’s equality and was founded by suffragettes Alice Paul and Lucy Burns.

McBurney helped inspect the informational plaques outside the brick building until they found what they had been looking for: a recent alteration on a sign describing some of the tactics used by suffragists to fight for the right to vote.

A 2025 photo of the plaque shows the sign stating that after women were imprisoned for a protest outside of the White House in 1917, they were “beaten and force-fed when they went on hunger strikes.”

The sign now reads: “The women, many of whom came from prominent and politically connected families, demanded to be treated as political prisoners.”

The new placard also leaves out a reference that this was a turning point that helped change public opinion on women’s suffrage. In other words, they are “removing the fact that that action worked,” McBurney said.

These protestors for women’s equality weren’t being ‘performative’, they were beaten and tortured. Trump’s fascist lickspittles are hiding that historical reality with lies.

As I said, compared to things like ICE’s fascism and the corruption of the constitutional order, this is small beans, but it still must be fixed. And this is just one example of one small thing. We will need a ton of De-Trumpification, and, again, not just of the obvious stuff.

And we will have to tell Americans about it too, as part of the process–we can’t just do it quietly. People need to be aware of what Republicans actually did.

*I actually am optimistic about winning in 2028, but how Democrats will govern in 2029 is a separate matter about which I’m fairly pessimistic, given previous performance and goals.