Stay Engaged: The Battle Resumes on Jan. 20

As soon as the election results sank in, federal bureaucrats shifted into high gear, furiously finalizing regulations that could be issued before President Obama left office. According to The New York Times, President Obama used “every power at his disposal to cement his legacy and establish his priorities as the law of the land,” and the new rules were “intended to set up as many policy and ideological roadblocks as possible” before Mr. Trump took his oath of office.

The rest of Washington’s permanent governing class is also gearing up to fight the new president in every possible way. Ground zero of the opposition is the Center for American Progress (CAP), which employs hundreds of staffers and enjoys a budget of $50 million. CAP was founded in 2003 by John Podesta, who left to run Hillary Clinton’s failed presidential campaign. CAP is now run by a former Hillary aide named Neera Tanden. Since 2011 she has been president of both CAP, which claims to be a nonpartisan think tank, and its affiliated “action fund,” which shares the same office and staff.

In the 1970s, Phyllis Schlafly pioneered the idea of having (c)(3) and (c)(4) organizations work together under one roof. For decades, her organizations were the only major interest group to adopt that dual structure. But unlike Phyllis Schlafly, who frugally managed small donations from thousands of supporters, Neera Tanden enjoys millions of dollars from major corporations. Among the household names that have given five- to seven-figure donations to CAP are Walmart, AT&T, Microsoft, Facebook, and Bank of America.

Tanden recently announced that CAP’s goal “is to be the central hub of the Trump resistance.” In fact, they have just hired retiring Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s deputy chief of staff, who said he hopes to bring a “relentlessly aggressive attitude” to this organization whose website promises to “push back rapidly and forcefully” against the incoming Trump administration.

Listen to today's daily commentary here: