Keith E. Chism (USE)

Keith E. Chism
69th President of the United States
In office January 20, 2018 – January 20, 2023
Preceded by	Jerry Gardner
Succeeded by	Lars Brandt
Personal details
Born	Keith E. Chism
Political party	New Liberals
Relatives	Chism family

Keith E. Chism was the 69th president of the United States from 2018 to 2023 and was the first New Liberals president since 1998. Prior to becoming president, Keith had very little experience in national politics, only being a state representative for the majority of his political career. He would make a successful run for Senator in 1990, where between 1998-2003 he would go on to serve as the chairperson for the Congressional Committee for Civil Rights. After the New Liberals major loss in 2003, only comprising about 2% of total authority in the federal government, Keith would end up retiring from politics and took upon his congressional pension to start a foundation to support people of color's education and life, to help keep them out of prison.

Keith was the first black president in US history, and also the first non-white and atheist president. He was mainly known for attempting the largest justice reform in the 21st century, which includes directing the Department of Justice to implement a $92B initiative to reform all US federal prisons to be rehabilitative as opposed to punitive like they have been since the US's founding in the 18th century. He is noted by historians as being the most costly president in recent history.

Presidency (2018-2023)

Inauguration

Chism was inaugurated as the XX President of the United States on January 20th, 2018. He was the first NLP president to be inaugurated since 1998, and the first black president in US history.

First 100 Days

Compared to other presidents, Keith did not do much within his first week, or even within his first 100 days that was significant. The most significant items dealt with justice reform, attempts to amend the Constitution to codify the FRA permanently and attempts to amend the Constitution to permit a permanent peacetime military with unrestricted funding. Much of the issues he campaigned on failed massively, with the only partial exception being the justice reform, which was so costly and expansive it ran into the next presidential term.

Domestic Policy

Law Enforcement & Judiciary

The biggest issue in Chism's term was reforming the justice system. Within his first two weeks, he had already directed most federal agencies related to law enforcement to produce records and open investigations into their conduct and practices surrounding wrongful imprisonment, turnaround times, stress, etc.

Environment

Environment was a non-issue in the eyes of Keith, and he had very little in terms of environmental policies or goals. One thing he did do however, was reverse the previous administration's heavy restrictions on fracking, permitting it with very little to no regulation in most cases, and he did this within his first year in office.

Education

Education was a relatively non-issue, however, he did help to address some of the issues of his predecessor Gardner, albeit questionable. In August 2018, President Chism announced that a new federal grant would be offered to help students pay college tuition, and it would be explicitly for people of color and minority populations and in addition, the original grant that was for all citizens would be retired, leaving the only open avenue for government support for college at loans. There were some positives in this announcement, and in subsequent ones, that would help quell the backlash that he would receive in response. The same day he announced that the government would no longer be charging interest on federal student loans, and any interest that was owed would be automatically forgiven. The states would challenge Keith on the interest forgiveness policy, ultimately failing to strike it down after the courts ruled that due to the law passed under Gardner, Keith had the full authority to forgive debts. Some members of Congress would attempt to pass a law reversing this precedent but it ultimately failed to gain the traction necessary for it to pass.

In 2020, the Secretary of Education {name here} announced on behalf of the Chism Administration that "Due to the dipping amounts of enrollment in college institutions across the United States, the Department of Education is establishing a new policy supported by the president that if you work in certain qualifying fields for 5 years, your loan will be forgiven completely." This was the only part of Chism's education policy that was widely supported across the board, including by the states. Finally in early 2022, the Department of Education announced a new federal grant for certain qualifying college institutions to support diversity and equity in education by providing certain types of scholarships.