Trump is in trouble, maybe. Something might actually stick to the Teflon Don this time. It’s bad. It’s really bad. And I hope he’s held accountable for it. But how bad has he really been as President? It’s a fair question.

Several years ago, I was talking with a friend of the family about the radical shift that happened in the United States because of Obama. He hated Obama, and was outraged at this supposed shift. I tried to get from him exactly what changed. He turned to heath care, but couldn’t really come up with anything beyond about a 5-cent increase in his monthly Medicare payments. Seriously, that’s what he had, and didn’t have any shame when continuing to call Obama “radical” even though 5 cents a month was all he would say. To be frank, my guess is that the radical change had more to do with having a black president, but he wouldn’t say that out loud because that would make him face his racism (which he made explicit several other times).

This conversation was in my mind today as I asked myself what my answer would be if the roles were reversed and we had the discussion today about what Trump has really done to change the direction of the country.

It was pretty easy to come up with a sizable, but incomplete, list:

Ended environmental protections on important pollutants, hazards, and land use.

Gutted the diplomatic core, making foreign relationships much more difficult to maintain.

Empowered nationalism here and in other countries, eroding the alliances that have served us so well over the past 70+ years.

Invited foreign interference in our elections.

Politicized and weaponized the State Department and Department of Justice to help his upcoming election.

Just to list a few. So I’m left thinking, yes, it really is that bad. I just hope it’s fixable.