Posted on 09/10/2017 2:21:44 AM PDT by Kaslin
Donald Trump enjoys being liked. When he gets favorable poll numbers he is quick to cite it. When he gets unfavorable poll numbers he is quick to cite the best numbers in it or, if there arent any in it, ignore it completely. Thats politics and to be expected. But polls are one thing, being liked by politicians is another. And thats where there is a lot of room for trouble.
President Trump this week cut a deal with Congressional Democrats on funding for Hurricane Harvey relief and raising the debt ceiling for 3 months. Yes, you read that right the Republican president cut a deal with Congressional Democrats. The problem is Democrats dont control Congress.
The scene was reported this way, President Donald Trump surprised the leaders of his own party in Congress on Wednesday when he backed a deal pushed by Democrats to attach hurricane relief money to a shorter-term bump in the debt ceiling as well as keeping the government open, cutting off his own Treasury secretary to strike a deal.
Conservatives wanted a longer deal than 3 months and concessions on spending to address the debt ceiling. They got none of it, nor did they get any say in the deal the president cut with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.
Schumer and Pelosi were happy, which should worry everyone.
On Air Force One later in the day, the president told reporters, We discussed that also today, and Chuck and Nancy would like to see something happen, and so do I. And I said if we can get something to happen, we're going to sign it and we're going to make a lot of happy people.
Why would the president cut a deal with Democrats, a deal in which he got nothing other than the ability to say he got a deal?
A smart strategy would have been to try to peel off a few Democrats, since hes going to need Republicans to have any chance to pass tax reform. But he didnt.
The president seems to think agreeing with Democrats is a good way to build up some goodwill that could carry over into other policy areas. Like maybe giving them a victory here would make some of the inclined to help him gain a victory elsewhere. This is never going to happen. Ever.
When not calling him a white supremacist or a Nazi sympathizer, Democrats are dedicated to making sure Donald Trump and Republicans have as few legislative victories as possible in the hope of retaking Congress next year so they can ensure he gets no legislative victories and loses in 2020. They dont want to be his friend. Moreover, their voters would punish them if they were.
Its not just the big issues, even on small issues Democrats are not going to give the president an inch.
On his way out the door, President Obama instituted a bunch of new regulation and rule changes that were so important that he waited 8 years to do any of them. As President Trump moves to undo some of them, each will be used as a hammer by Democrats to beat him over the head. Which is why they were done, they were Obama weaponizing the regulatory state against him.
And its not just names you know. Backbench Virginia Democrat Bobby Scott is going after the president for moving to reverse a last-minute Obama regulation limiting worker exposure to beryllium in the abrasive blasting industry, which is employed on construction sites and in shipyards to smooth rough surfaces and ship hulls.
Obama slashed what is acceptable exposure to the point it would be impossible to use. Of Trumps sensible move to reverse it, Congressman Scott said, The older beryllium rule really endangers the workers. The new beryllium rule, which is a 90 percent reduction in exposure, really helps the worker.
Putting aside the fact that Obamas beryllium exposure rule was not justified by science or facts on the ground there has never been a case of beryllium-related illness in the history of the abrasive blasting industry, as many have pointed out Rep. Scotts real goal was to use an Obama regulation to promote a company in his district. Scott made his statement at company in Norfolk that he thinks would benefit from the new regulation, so he basically tossed in a little cronyism with partisanship. Two birds one lie.
That he would reverse this pointless and costly rule was obvious, especially given Trumps background in construction, so it was an easy target to whine about. A lame-duck time bomb, seemingly innocuous by itself, but its not by itself, nor are any of them truly innocuous. Every reversal of Obama executive orders and midnight regulations is met with similar, local attacks. None major, but each a little cut.
Big attacks, small attacks, constant attacks are what he can expect. Even when you give them a victory they will want more; demand more. If Trump doesnt learn this lesson, if he doesnt accept that theyll never like him some may work with him, if pressured, but never like he will continue to rack up victories for Democrats and alienate Republicans.
Before Trump was sworn in Schumer made clear the only circumstances under which hed be willing to work with the new president. The only way we're going to work with him is if he moves completely in our direction and abandons his Republican colleagues, Schumer said, That's not going to happen very often.
Lets hope.
The writer has apparently never been to a Trump rally.
This is purely and simply a warning shot across the bow of the “do-nothing” Republicans.
What you haven't done is read the op-ed otherwise you would have noticed Derek Hunter is talking about the rats in Congress, not the voters
GOT IT?
Exactly
Trump is perfectly happy being loved by his supporters. He’s too smart by orders of magnitude to sacrifice the loyalty, love and devotion of those who put him in office for the illusion of winning approval from those who will only approve in a temporary and superficial way At Best.
Conservatives wanted a longer deal than 3 months and concessions on spending to address the debt ceiling.
War with North Korea is a possibility, Hurricane Irma is real. Now is NOT the time to play hardball. He bought himself 3 months. A lot can happen in three months.
No President Trump... your not part of the “Leftist Swamp” and they hate you..... so keep doing what you’re doing and F them!
Why is being liked such a big deal? Are we children? Who cares? Trump is doing what’s right for America and for Americans. ‘Likability’ be damned.
I think that is why he did it too. I think President Trump dealt with he McConnell and Ryan plan to screw the country effectively.
>I dont think so. And did you read my link on how it has been expanded beyond the original DACA? Only certain criminal convictions disqualify you. You just need to claim to have been here under age 17, up to four years before the bills passing, etc.
>Already half of the 800k approved for DACA are reported to be fraudulentand the fraud in this program is certain to be much greater.
So they’re is only 400k of them? The DOJ can arrest and try the fraudulent ones and ship them back to Mexico.
Btw, 400k is less than half the people we import legally every year. Sure it’s a big issue but we’re flooding this country with a million new people every year as it is.
>How do you expect it not to happen? For Trump to veto it now that hes asked Congress to pass it?
You use it as a negotiating point for the wall and getting rid of crazy legal immigration system.
Nope, the Dream Act that is moving ahead in the Senate vastly expands who is eligible and lowers the bar in terms of criminality, education, etc.
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