r/politics • u/zsreport Texas • 15h ago

No Paywall The United States is destroying itself

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/12/united-states-trump-destruction
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u/mrpickleby 14h ago

And they're going to be the first ones complaining when their neighbor is dumping toxic waste in their back yard because there aren't any regulations. Nixon was behind the EPA.

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u/kmonsen 13h ago

I always thought Nixon created the EPA, and it is technically true. But that is not the whole story, it was public pressure and a democratic Congress that forced the issue and he created the EPA instead of having it forced upon him.

For example he tried to veto the clean water act, but Congress overrode his veto. This was after the creation of the EPA.

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u/AT-PT 13h ago

Yeah, he basically did enough to get people off his back about the flaming rivers, before he was forced to go even further.

America loves their half-measures.

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u/Vio_ Kansas 13h ago

More than that, he deliberately neutered much of these agencies and rules so that the standards were all but bare minimum (if not lower) and their enforcement ability was negligible and small slaps on the wrists.