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Trump Bypasses Ryan and McConnell; Cuts Deal with the Real Congressional Leaders
So here’s why PDT bypassed Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell and went to work with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer on the debt increase: What do you do when you’re a customer and an employee isn’t doing his job? You demand to talk to their supervisor. Which is essentially what Trump did, he went to the people who are actually running the House and Senate.
Ryan and McConnell are all butt-hurt now, but seriously, what was their plan anyway? They were going to cave to the Democrats eventually, they always do. Trump just forced them to cut to the chase.
Congressional Republicans (apart from the Freedom Caucus) are in a perpetual conundrum because they actually want the same things as Congressional Democrats: bigger Government, more spending, mass immigration and cheap labor, and favors for their cronies. But Republican constituencies do not want these things. So, the trick for Republicans like Ryan and McConnell is that they have to fool the voters into thinking they’re against what they are actually for, and for what they are actually against.
It’s much easier for them to do that as Kabuki opposition; they can put forth all kinds of legislation… Obamacare repeal, border security, even modest spending cuts… knowing that Democrats will stop them and then they can shrug and say “Well, we tried.” (This is what is known as “Failure Theater.”)
But when they are the majority in both houses of Congress with a Republican president, it’s a harder for them to advance a Democrat agenda while pretending to oppose it. But still, they manage.
Published in Politics
Trump defenders during the election: Democrats are literally evil! We need to do everything we can to make sure they stay out of power as long as possible. We can’t give them anything! Even sitting the election out is not an option! Do your duty!
Trump defenders now: Making a deal with the Democrats is really the best thing for the country right now. How can you not see how brilliant this deal is?!
Moderator Note:
Desist, Matt. You were warned today on another thread. Now you have been warned on this one.Liar.This isn’t pivoting, or triangulation, or brilliant strategy, or anything smart at all. If we grant Trump and his team the strategic wherewithal that Domenech lays out, it’s pure idiocy. Dems will not give Trump anything, and Trump will not hold together or cow his own party. Try passing any one of those populist chimera policy creations and you will see bills that never make it to the floor because they won’t even have 30% votes in either house.
More stupidity on stilts from the “Tear it all down!” morons.
I recommend a revision to the title of this post from:
Trump Bypasses Ryan and McConnell; Cuts Deal with the Real Congressional Leaders
to:
Trump Bypasses Ryan and McConnell; Gets Rolled by Pelosi and Schumer; Unilaterally Gives up All Republican Leverage; Makes the Democrats the de facto Congressional Leaders
…because that’s what actually happened.
But he fights or something.
When Trump signs Single Payor or increased Abortion funding or an enormous Stimulus paid for with a equally enormous middle class tax increase you know we’re going to get lectured about how “conservative” it is…….
Pithy. Rolls off the tongue. Two thumbs up. So much winning.
None of those things will get passed either. Nothing is going to pass in the Trump presidency, and he will be shown to be the incompetent buffoon he actually is. You are right, though, that conservatives will bear the brunt of the outrage from the Trumpsters for not signing on to his democratic policy agenda and be told we are the ones who made Trump a failed president.
You’re supposed to just lie back and think of Gorsuch. Stop being so uppity, cuck!
When Trump signs Single Payor and Gorsuch is the deciding vote to make it unconstitutional, will the universe implode?
h/t to some witty dude on Twitter who I will attribute when I find it again.
Can anyone explain to me what Mitch McConell can do when so called conservatives like McCain, Murkowski and Portman of Ohio, the last two not facing the voters for 6 years, vote against repeal of Obamacare?
If you problems with the Senate, try talking to the senators who actively lied to there constituents and not one of the guys who actually votes for the stuff we want.
That wasn’t repeal of Obamacare, it was theater so that Trump could claim he had repealed Obamacare. I don’t blame McConnell, I blame Trump for having no idea, or desire whatsoever, to sell a real reform that would have actually helped achieve something.
So are you saying you think Ryan and McConnell would not have caved on DACA?
If Republican voters don’t want these things, why haven’t they voted Congressional Republicans out of office?
It’s not as though this phenomenon is anything new. Even in 2015, one of the strongest arguments for Trump was “all of the career Republicans do nothing but betray us”.
People here seem to be getting excited about Trump getting elected to school Congressional Republicans by teaming up with Democrats. Wouldn’t it have been easier to school the Congressional Republicans by just…voting them out of office?
And before anyone complains that incumbents are nearly impossible to vote out of office: Republican base voters pulled off an even more impossible feat by getting Trump nominated and then elected. They have the power to solve the problem of spinelessness in Congress; why haven’t they exercised it?
Exactly to the comment above. Parties and politicians are overplaying the so called ‘mandate’. Many who voted for Trump are not trumpkins, they don’t support him or everything he does – see his approval ratings. That doesn’t mean they didn’t vote for him, or wouldn’t do it again depending on the options. The same is true of members of congress. Their support may be stronger or weaker than an election shows. The real take away: The GOP is splitting, Trump is not going to pull it back together. Everyone wants to claim they are the real conservative because over the last 20 years conservative came to mean not liberal. Fine, the term is now meaningless.
Trump siding with democrats, can’t say I am surprised. Can’t say I think it is a good thing. Can’t say there is an easy answer or way out.
Can’t say I don’t live in interesting times.
The way I see it Trump didn’t so much cave to Democrats as lay down a marker to Republicans. The President was dealing with one massive disaster with Harvey, a second imminent disaster with Irma, FEMA nearly out of funds, and a Debt Ceiling that everyone knew was going to get raised anyway. Meantime the Republicans took 8 months to fail to produce an O-Care repeal bill. To the Republicans he was saying, if you can’t get anything done, I will look elsewhere. I don’t love that he went to the Dems, and I doubt this is any prelude to continuing success with them. Instead I am hoping it’s a kick in the butt for the Republicans. Trump is a doer and nothing was getting done. Let’s hope this incentivises the Republicans to get tax reform across the line. The economy is doing well, but with a good tax reform bill it could be doing great. A great economy will mean a super majority in the Senate. That means repeal of Obamacare and much more. But we still need to have Republicans honestly do what they campaigned they would do.
At what point during Trump’s campaign did he promise to undermine Republican Congressional leadership and make deals with the Democrats?
I am coming more and more to this point of view. I was very opposed to Trump in the primaries and feared that he was not a true conservative (which he is not). However, I am seeing him unmask the “establishment” Republicans for what they seem to truly be. In the past I shrugged off such opinions like this as simplistic and too glib and cynical for me. I’m coming around, though.
BTW, the legislation for debt ceiling and disaster relief passed the Senate 80-17. All 17 no’s were Republican. How many months would the wrangling have continued if Trump had not gone to the Dems. Who here believes the Federal Government should not be providing assistance to our traumatized fellow brave citizens in Texas and next, unfortunately, it looks like Florida and the entire Southeast coast?
At what point did he say he wouldn’t do that? Maybe he did. I don’t know. But I will bet he never expected to be dealing with a Republican controlled Senate that was so feckless–even worse–antagonistic. He still has several hundred appointees languishing without confirmation. Why?
Yes, but the democrats would have been forced to cave if the GOP had held the line on a debt ceiling deal that put off the next battle until after next November. Trump and the GOP could have hammered Democrat intransigence as holding hurricane victims hostage and humiliated them into putting the next debt ceiling battle beyond the midterms. Instead, Trump gave away all the GOP leverage and got nothing in return. Now we still have to have the same old debt ceiling battle in December with no leverage to cow the democrats, and the GOP will either cave or shut down the government and be blamed for Washington dysfunction again. Total political fail and malpractice in the use of power.
Having read Trump’s tweets since the DACA announcement (which was not a repeal) I think he has caved and would be very happy to have it legislatively approved. MCConnell and Ryan will be happy to oblige. We will get little or nothing in return.
You mean like spending decreases in other parts of the budget in exchange for a Debt Ceiling increase or a clean hurricane relief package? Those MONSTERS!
How many of those Republicans would have voted yes if the President had not betrayed them?
That right there is an interesting question. Super Ted voting for the Schumer/Pelosi plan has a certain tinge of karma attached to it that is more than a little enjoyable. I guess we can say “adios” to his 100% ACU Lifetime rating and inflated Liberty Score. Who am I kidding, I bet CR loves the Dem Debt Ceiling deal.
I suppose this is the crux of it. If Republican’s can’t come together behind a plan that gets 50 votes, it doesn’t really matter that Trump cuts a deal with the dems. Get the relief package passed and fire a shot across the bow of the senate to tell them they need to hang together. But Trump needs to be a guy setting the agenda and selling it to get people to fall in line. Instead he is an impulsive tweeter constantly sticking his and his party’s foot in his mouth, insulting and making empty threats to the very GOP senators he wants to support him.
You don’t happen to live in Houston or those parts, do you? How about Miami, Ft lauderdale? These kinda happen to be fairly strong Republican areas I believe. Not that it matters. If I had lost my home to flooding and needed assistance just to get a roof over my family’s heads, waiting for Congress to figure out and vote for legislation that would cut some parts of the budget in order to get a clean hurricane relief package which would also necessitate a Debt Ceiling increase, there is no doubt I and 10’s of millions of others would think they were monsters. Thank God our President has a big heart and cares about people, don’t you think?
I don’t know. Do you? That is if I were to even stipulate that anyone was betrayed.
Last disaster bill not passed? The Republican Bill was the House Bill, one with no strings attached (like pork as in the Sandy Dem hurricane package) for just relief.
I don’t, but I’m betting it’s greater than zero.
There, I fixed that for you.