Post by nighttimer on Sept 7, 2017 9:58:49 GMT -5
Is Trump starting to get the hang of this president thing? From the way the professional pundits in Washington are slobbering all over the deal he cut with the Dems (and cut out the Repubs), you'd think he had a monumental epiphany.
THE BIG IDEA: In early 2016, as the field of Republican candidates winnowed, Bob Dole said that Donald Trump was preferable to Ted Cruz because he could “probably work with Congress.”
“He’s got the right personality, and he’s kind of a deal-maker,” said the former Senate majority leader and GOP presidential nominee.
Cruz pounced on that quote, working it into his stump speech as evidence that “the Washington establishment” believed Trump could be coopted. “If as a voter, you think what we need is more Republicans in Washington to cut a deal with … Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, then I guess Donald Trump is your guy,” said the Texas senator.
That line of attack never resonated with most Republicans. Many rank-and-file conservatives don’t like dysfunction, gridlock and government shutdowns. In the general election, even if they didn’t like him personally, swing voters overwhelmingly felt like the author of a book called “The Art of the Deal” could probably make pretty good deals – whether with foreign countries, defense contractors or Democrats. Indeed, that was a central rationale of Trump’s populist campaign.
Yesterday, President Trump cut his first big deal with Pelosi and Schumer. Snubbing Republican leaders and his own Treasury secretary, he agreed with Pelosi and Schumer on plans for a three-month bill to fund the government and raise the debt ceiling for the same amount of time.
The president also signaled support for a Democratic push to pass legislation that would shield undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children from deportation. “Chuck and Nancy want to see something happen — and so do I,” Trump said.
Then he flew to North Dakota on Air Force One with Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, declared he really wants to work with her on overhauling the tax code and called her “a good woman.”
-- As some Trump advisers signaled that this is a sign of what’s to come, Republican leaders on Capitol Hill seethed with anger about all three of these developments. Veteran negotiators in Trump’s adopted party think the freshman president agreed to a bad deal that gives Pelosi and Schumer more leverage. They feel like they’re being boxed in on immigration and being set up as fall guys. And they resent that Trump just gave meaningful air cover to one of the most beatable Democrats in 2018.
-- Entertaining counterfactuals can be silly, but what if Trump had acted this way from Day One? What if he had positioned himself consistently as a nonideological pragmatist? What if he made an earnest show of bipartisanship and focused on issues which Democrats would have felt compelled to cooperate on, such as infrastructure spending to repair crumbling roads? What if instead of demanding a straight repeal of Obamacare, he had insisted on regular order, supported fixing the health-care system and frontally challenged pharmaceutical companies over drug pricing? What if the White House tried negotiating in good faith on overhauling the tax code, instead of focusing primarily on big corporate tax cuts?
Yesterday offered a small taste of what might have been if he had triangulated from the beginning. For one thing, it does not seem unreasonable to speculate that his approval rating would be higher than 37 percent."What if Trump didn't completely suck at being a president?" Entertaining counterfactuals aren't simply silly. They're downright dumb. Trump is who he is. Who cares if she cut a deal with Pelosi and Schumer and blindsided Ryan and McConnell? Trump just wanted a win. Any kind of win and he got one by kicking his own side in the groin.
Today, the Democrats think Trump can be a pragmatist when he gives them what they want. Tomorrow, he'll do something to remind them he's anything but.
THE BIG IDEA: In early 2016, as the field of Republican candidates winnowed, Bob Dole said that Donald Trump was preferable to Ted Cruz because he could “probably work with Congress.”
“He’s got the right personality, and he’s kind of a deal-maker,” said the former Senate majority leader and GOP presidential nominee.
Cruz pounced on that quote, working it into his stump speech as evidence that “the Washington establishment” believed Trump could be coopted. “If as a voter, you think what we need is more Republicans in Washington to cut a deal with … Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, then I guess Donald Trump is your guy,” said the Texas senator.
That line of attack never resonated with most Republicans. Many rank-and-file conservatives don’t like dysfunction, gridlock and government shutdowns. In the general election, even if they didn’t like him personally, swing voters overwhelmingly felt like the author of a book called “The Art of the Deal” could probably make pretty good deals – whether with foreign countries, defense contractors or Democrats. Indeed, that was a central rationale of Trump’s populist campaign.
Yesterday, President Trump cut his first big deal with Pelosi and Schumer. Snubbing Republican leaders and his own Treasury secretary, he agreed with Pelosi and Schumer on plans for a three-month bill to fund the government and raise the debt ceiling for the same amount of time.
The president also signaled support for a Democratic push to pass legislation that would shield undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children from deportation. “Chuck and Nancy want to see something happen — and so do I,” Trump said.
Then he flew to North Dakota on Air Force One with Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, declared he really wants to work with her on overhauling the tax code and called her “a good woman.”
-- As some Trump advisers signaled that this is a sign of what’s to come, Republican leaders on Capitol Hill seethed with anger about all three of these developments. Veteran negotiators in Trump’s adopted party think the freshman president agreed to a bad deal that gives Pelosi and Schumer more leverage. They feel like they’re being boxed in on immigration and being set up as fall guys. And they resent that Trump just gave meaningful air cover to one of the most beatable Democrats in 2018.
-- Entertaining counterfactuals can be silly, but what if Trump had acted this way from Day One? What if he had positioned himself consistently as a nonideological pragmatist? What if he made an earnest show of bipartisanship and focused on issues which Democrats would have felt compelled to cooperate on, such as infrastructure spending to repair crumbling roads? What if instead of demanding a straight repeal of Obamacare, he had insisted on regular order, supported fixing the health-care system and frontally challenged pharmaceutical companies over drug pricing? What if the White House tried negotiating in good faith on overhauling the tax code, instead of focusing primarily on big corporate tax cuts?
Yesterday offered a small taste of what might have been if he had triangulated from the beginning. For one thing, it does not seem unreasonable to speculate that his approval rating would be higher than 37 percent.
Today, the Democrats think Trump can be a pragmatist when he gives them what they want. Tomorrow, he'll do something to remind them he's anything but.