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.
You would think that some senators like Tester (D-Montana) would switch parties.
Back in 1994-96, you still had Conservative-voting Democrats in Congress, however tiny. There’s no right-of-center Democrats left.
He’d never survive renomination. Tester is a far-left Democrat, earning a 92% leftist rating from the ACU in 2015.
Trump is changing by the dynamic, suddenly it's these guys who desperately need to look like they're supporting Trumps agenda. Trump is in a position of strength, he has his favorite thing: leverage! He will use it to get what he wants, not the other way around.
Just a comment: saying those red states are “up for grabs” in 2017 is more than a little specious: There is absolutely zero chance a Dimocrat could be elected to the Senate from Texas, for example - I doubt they’ll even manage to find a sacrificial candidate - and I imagine Tennessee and Mississippi are similar.
And I think the odds are good that waffling Liberals like Heidi Heitkamp and several others are at risk of having to find a real job.
Trump is changing by the dynamic, suddenly it's these guys who desperately need to look like they're supporting Trumps agenda. Trump is in a position of strength, he has his favorite thing: leverage! He will use it to get what he wants, not the other way around.
I think this is where Trump’s dealmaking skill will come into play. He will find ways to neutralize/co-opt some Dems, and some RINOs. As long as he sticks to his agenda, I have no problem with that.
Our job as Trump’s citizen bosses is to make sure - insofar as we can - that Trump fulfills the most important elements of his (our) agenda: secure the border, stop terrorist immigration, dump CommieCare, cut taxes and regulations, appoint constitutionalist justices.
When your opponent's idea of winning is to give you nothing then there are few, if any, deals to be made. This isn't the business world where both sides want to come out of it with something. This is politics. Deals here aren't the same. And if Trump thinks that they are then he will soon be disappointed.
8-10 term limited gop governors will be available to run for the senate.
You failed to include deport in your rant, why?
Most Thugs are willing to co-operate when you wrest their gun from them. How co-operative they really are is how they acted when they were pointing it between your eyes.
8 years of closed door committee meetings with no Republicans allowed tells me to pull the trigger.
Thread winner. Excellent Strategic Thinking.
How about the blue states being up for grabs?
What a coincidence! All these Democrat Senators are from “Red” States.
I think Trump probably has a good idea of how deals are made in the Swamp. Newt Gingrich said he is the fastest learner he has ever met.
Winners tell jokes. Losers say, “Deal!”
Did not realize I was ranting.
And you’re right - deport criminal aliens is another of his high priorities.
I just forgot to include it.
He may think he does. But he's facing opponents, on both sides of the aisle, whose goal is to see him fail, completely and totally. How do you work a deal when faced with that?
I’d be inclined to change the title from:
Unexpectedly some Senate Dems are ready to work with Trump and the GOP
to:
Unsurprisingly some Senate Dems are ready to suck up to Trump and the GOP until it is no longer profitable for them at which time they will revert to their normal backstabbing
Yep too strong a word.
rant:fulminate, go on, hold forth, vociferate, sound off, spout, pontificate, bluster, declaim; shout, yell, bellow; informal mouth off.
List would have been strong enough, I surely did not mean anything negative and rant is definitely more negative than positive. Sorry for that.
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