Many of President Trump’s rollbacks and deregulatory pushes over the last four years have been driven by spite, as he zeroes out the legacy of his predecessor without regard for what comes next. But on Wednesday, Trump achieved one of the most inspired feats of his time in office, if you judge according to the imperfect metric of how often he complains about something.
The Associated Press reports that Trump administration has relaxed a regulation restricting water flow from showerheads, a frequent diatribe at his campaign rallies and official White House events. “So showerheads,” Trump said on the South Lawn on July 16, in an address focused on
“rolling back regulations to help all Americans,” starting with his own grievances. “You take a shower, the water doesn’t come out. You want to wash your hands, the water doesn’t come out. So what do you do? You just stand there longer or you take a shower longer? Because my hair — I don’t know about you, but it has to be perfect. Perfect.”
In pursuit of this acute perfection, the Energy Department rule change will allow Trump and others to get blasted during each shower. Previous regulations have limited showerheads to 2.5 gallons of water per minute — a rule that appears to have burdened those with elaborate, multi-head showers in their multiple gilded homes. Unfamiliar with the common man’s practice of removing flow restrictors, Trump instead harassed the Energy Department to change its policy to allow each nozzle on high-end showerheads to spray more. The rule changes will also remove water-use limits for some washing machines, but do not involve toilets, which Trump complains about needing to flush “10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once.”
“Americans can choose products that are best suited to meet their individual needs and the needs of their families,” Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said in the announcement of the new policy, in what must be a career low.
