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Even if the House changes hands in 2026—even if a president is elected in 2028 who possesses a healthy respect for the rule of law—Trump’s second-term perversion of the government will not be easily undone. Yes, of course the next president must immediately fire Patel from the FBI—but will Trump supporters understand the difference between the firing of Patel for the abuse of his office, and Trump’s firing of his own appointee Christopher Wray for resisting the abuse of that same office? 
The American system depends upon public understanding that law is bigger than politics, that right and wrong exist independent of who screws whom. Trump’s life and career are based on discrediting the distinction between right and wrong, and on convincing himself and others that the only reality is who screws whom. As of right now, he’s winning that messaging debate, regardless of what happens to him personally. After Teapot Dome, after Watergate, the supporters of the implicated president accepted that he had done wrong, that the guilty should be punished, and that these misdeeds should never be repeated. Any aftermath of the Trump presidency seems more likely to resemble the aftermath of the Civil War: The reactionary losers who tried to overthrow the U.S. Constitution may acknowledge themselves beaten, but they won’t acknowledge themselves wrong.
If they won’t acknowledge that, what confidence can anyone feel that they won’t try again if they get the chance?

Trump Administration Orders Work Halted on Wind Farm That Is Nearly Built  (Lisa Friedman, Brad Plumer, and Maxine Joselow, New York Times)
The order to stop construction on Revolution Wind off the coast of Rhode Island is part of a campaign against renewable energy.

FEMA Staffers Warn That Trump Officials’ Actions Risk a Katrina-level Disaster  (Brianna Sacks, Washington Post)
About 180 FEMA employees, many of them anonymous, signed a letter to Congress arguing that the agency’s leadership has hindered its ability to effectively manage emergencies.

Gabbard’s Intelligence Purge Gambles with U.S. Security  (Max Boot, Washington Post)
Tulsi Gabbard undermines U.S. security with moves tantamount to politicized intelligence firings.
Bad things happen when intelligence agencies don’t do their jobs well. The United States saw that with the Pearl Harbor and 9/11 attacks and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. More recently, Russia has paid a heavy price for the willingness of its intelligence chiefs to confirm President Vladimir Putin’s misapprehension in 2022 that his troops could march into Kyiv in a matter of days. When intelligence is wrong, lives are lost — often many, many lives.
That makes it alarming to see the Trump administration launching purges of supposed “deep state actors” in the U.S. intelligence community who almost invariably turn out to be, on closer examination, skilled and dedicated public servants. The professionals in the intelligence community will try to weather this partisan storm and continue to do their jobs to the best of their abilities. But the administration’s actions are raising the risk of a politicized intelligence process leading to costly, even catastrophic, intelligence failures.
Particularly concerning are the firings of senior intelligence professionals for what appears to be the sin of telling President Donald Trump what he doesn’t want to hear. This has now happened on three occasions, concerning Russia, Iran and Venezuela.