Posted on 11/28/2016 9:35:18 AM PST by Kaslin
What a difference a few weeks makes. Right up until the morning of November 8th the two parties were lined up in the political equivalent of trenches on the western front in WW1. You’d have been hard pressed to find a Democrat anywhere in the nation who wasn’t ready to declare open rhetorical warfare on Donald Trump and anyone agreeing with a single policy he endorsed. But now, with the dust largely settled, there’s a particular group of Democrats in the Senate who suddenly are finding common ground to be a good thing and are ready to work across the aisle. (The Hill)
North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) is ready to work with Republicans on legislation to invest in “clean coal” technologies. More broadly, she says she’s willing to work across the aisle on regulatory reform…
Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) is ready to work with the GOP and the Trump administration on military mental healthcare issues, curbing the exodus of U.S. jobs to foreign countries and combating the opioid epidemic…
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) hopes to work with Republicans to reduce the deficit, clean up Washington by stopping former lawmakers from becoming lobbyists and passing legislation to improve service at the Department of Veterans Affairs, a major Trump talking point during the campaign.
Those three are joined by Joe Manchin, Bob Casey and Sherrod Brown, all of whom have some ideas about a legislative agenda which could line up nicely with the GOP’s priorities. And Chuck Schumer isn’t doing anything to tamp them down either. Have you already guessed what they all have in common? For one very good hint, just take a look at this map of 2018 Senate seats which are up for grabs.
The GOP was fighting some stiff headwinds in the Senate this year, but in the next cycle the shoe is on the other foot. Republicans are defending seven seats plus one retiring member and none of them look very tenuous. The Democrats, on the other hand, are going to be trying to hold on to almost two dozen and they include a number of states which Donald Trump carried… some of them by considerable margins.
So what sort of opportunities might this open up? Just because some of these senators want to begin looking decidedly bipartisan and seeking support from voters who might not appreciate an attack on Trump’s agenda, that doesn’t mean they’re all going to cosponsor the Free Bushmasters For Everyone Act of 2017. But when you hear some of them talking about clean coal and saving coal mining jobs (which is decidedly different than “putting a lot of coal miners out of business“) you know they’re going to be in the mood to wheel and deal. Would that new spirit of comity extend far enough for them to approve Trump’s Supreme Court pick and remove worries about a possible filibuster? Could be. We’ve seen examples aplenty from both parties in the past where they’ve been willing to give a new president some leeway. I’m not expecting them to all suddenly jump onboard with a federal bill banning all abortions, but they clearly seem ready to find whatever middle ground there may be.
The first two years of Trump’s presidency represent a rare moment of opportunity. If the midterms produce any sort of stampede such as we saw in 2010 that could stretch to four years. But windows such as this have a nasty habit of closing before you expect them to. If an ugly midterm calendar can put a half dozen or so Democrats in the mood to cooperate there could be much on the table to be accomplished next year.
Yeah, the ones who are toast for 2018. Take no prisoners !
If there are any smart dems, they’ll work to accomplish things while they clean out their elitist trash.
Also, some might decide to side with Trump to try and be relevant in the next 8 years versus irrelevant.
“unexpected”
I like it better in version 2.0
Don’t kid yourselves. They’re only afraid of losing their cushy jobs next election.
Trumps play is to reach out to prominent Democrats in the house and Senate — particularly the house should Pelosi win minority leader again.
He should create a gang of 6 in the Senate 3 dems, 3 gop and invite them for breakfast now and again.
In the house, he needs more A gang of 30, 15 of each dem and gop. Invite them to the same breakfast.
He should have separate breakfasts for the Leadership posts.
I can’t wait to see the daily caption on Drudge
YOU”RE FIRED!
Don’t let up. These seats take away more dems at the national level who could run for president.
Just goes to show how cowardly they all are. They know Trump will kick their a*ss*es
Trump’s a negotiator the first ones that cross over will get the best deals.
Unexpected!
All the Democrats are talking about wanting to work with Trump. It’s expected, just like had Hillary won the Republicans would be talking about finding common ground with her. But we will see how much support Trump gets from them on his appointments, Obamacare replacement, and spending priorities.
Seems there are still a few demodummies with some common sense, all they need to do now is purge their poor leaders and things might get brighter for all Americans.
Yep...he will totally co-opt the not-totally-batshit-crazy wing of the Democrat party. there aren’t many, but he may be able to nullify the nuts!
Back in 94 you had a few Dems change parties. If Trump restores integrity to the vote, to block all non-citizens, I would presume we’d see another wave of transfers.
If California is stupid enough to exit the union, there will not be another Democrat majority in either House, nor President for a generation.
Do it!
Complete waste of time. Regardless of what they say in public, in private their goal now is identical to McConnell's stated goal in 2008 - make Trump a one-term president.
Not unexpected, schmucky knows what he is doing, they can all do as they wish cause he knows they will be in his corner for the real prize and that is the SC. Schmuckster knows the game, and senators don’t lose their seat over votes on SCJs.
Dingy Harry also put out to pasture should help in terms of cooperation. I think he was even able to embarrass some Democrats.
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