We are six months into the Trump presidency. I have had several conversations with Democratic friends. In the course of these some would say I would regret my support of Trump in 6 months, and in others I said I would reassess him in 6 months. Well, it's time. How is Trump doing?
Pretty badly.
I'm happy about some things. I'm thrilled with the new Supreme Court justice. I completely approve of reductions in regulations. I look forward to his nominees to the National Labor Relations Board. I agree with his decision on transgendered soldiers, and also with his open support of police departments and the military. We pulled out of the Paris Accords. Our borders are being more aggressively enforced. Illegal aliens are being deported (thank God).
There is much I don't like, too. Trump really has to stop tweeting. His repeated, intemperate remarks are damaging not just him but his office and government. His White House staff are a mess. Scaramucci is an even bigger loose cannon than Trump, and Spicer, despite his missteps, is a pro they will miss. His tenure is one of the shortest of any press secretary. He is fumbling meetings with foreign heads of state in various ways. I can't tell if the silence from abroad is a reportage distortion or our allies being polite and saying nothing when they have nothing nice to say.
For all this, there are two overriding issues. First, Trump is not HRC, and I remain thrilled by that. He is also not a Democrat, and as long as he is in office a Democrat is not, and I have made no secret of being tired of their agenda and governance. Second, the partisan divide in DC is worse even than under Obama.
It is this divide that troubles me most. Republicans, in control of Presidency, House and Senate, have done almost nothing. They have become consumed with repealing the ACA. This has not only wasted time, it has consumed political capital and whatever good will is out there in DC and the nation. And for all that, they have failed. McCain cast what will go down as one of the most dramatic and historic of Senate votes to defeat the Senate healthcare bill.
I think Republicans will thank him for this. They have trapped themselves between outraging their base if they don't pass a bill, and outraging everyone else if they do. The best thing McConnell could have done was to let the bill die and not bring it to the floor, but he did not do this. After the vote debacle, Trump promptly stepped in it (again) by tweeting his disapproval of the three Republicans who voted 'no'.
Another measure of the partisanship is the ongoing insanity of the 'Russian Investigation'. I have never seen so many investigations by Congress. It is the only thing they seem to be doing. Each new 'revelation' gets a giant headline from the press, but despite overt attempts to make this like Watergate, it has merely been an annoying and occasionally amusing, side show.
Most of all, Trump has disappointed me by adhering to a conservative party line. My great hope for Trump was that he would disavow both parties, and articulate sensible things that disaffected independents, Democrats and Republicans would all support. Instead he has, for all intents and purposes, been President Pence, Huckabee or Cruz, except louder, more feckless and tweeting.
The generic House vote is +9 Democratic. Even allowing that the vote trends +3 Democratic almost all the time, this is a +6 edge, about where Republicans stood after the passage of the ACA. It suggests the Democrats will kick the tar out of the Republicans in 2018. Whatever the Republicans want to do they had best do now, but neither they nor the nation have any idea of what that is.
As long as Democrats keep putting forward an agenda based on open borders, abortion and gay rights, I will keep voting Republican. Trump's biggest accomplishment is he is not a Democrat and not Hillary. In most other respects this has been the ugliest, most disorganized government in my memory.
Ted
Pretty badly.
I'm happy about some things. I'm thrilled with the new Supreme Court justice. I completely approve of reductions in regulations. I look forward to his nominees to the National Labor Relations Board. I agree with his decision on transgendered soldiers, and also with his open support of police departments and the military. We pulled out of the Paris Accords. Our borders are being more aggressively enforced. Illegal aliens are being deported (thank God).
There is much I don't like, too. Trump really has to stop tweeting. His repeated, intemperate remarks are damaging not just him but his office and government. His White House staff are a mess. Scaramucci is an even bigger loose cannon than Trump, and Spicer, despite his missteps, is a pro they will miss. His tenure is one of the shortest of any press secretary. He is fumbling meetings with foreign heads of state in various ways. I can't tell if the silence from abroad is a reportage distortion or our allies being polite and saying nothing when they have nothing nice to say.
For all this, there are two overriding issues. First, Trump is not HRC, and I remain thrilled by that. He is also not a Democrat, and as long as he is in office a Democrat is not, and I have made no secret of being tired of their agenda and governance. Second, the partisan divide in DC is worse even than under Obama.
It is this divide that troubles me most. Republicans, in control of Presidency, House and Senate, have done almost nothing. They have become consumed with repealing the ACA. This has not only wasted time, it has consumed political capital and whatever good will is out there in DC and the nation. And for all that, they have failed. McCain cast what will go down as one of the most dramatic and historic of Senate votes to defeat the Senate healthcare bill.
I think Republicans will thank him for this. They have trapped themselves between outraging their base if they don't pass a bill, and outraging everyone else if they do. The best thing McConnell could have done was to let the bill die and not bring it to the floor, but he did not do this. After the vote debacle, Trump promptly stepped in it (again) by tweeting his disapproval of the three Republicans who voted 'no'.
Another measure of the partisanship is the ongoing insanity of the 'Russian Investigation'. I have never seen so many investigations by Congress. It is the only thing they seem to be doing. Each new 'revelation' gets a giant headline from the press, but despite overt attempts to make this like Watergate, it has merely been an annoying and occasionally amusing, side show.
Most of all, Trump has disappointed me by adhering to a conservative party line. My great hope for Trump was that he would disavow both parties, and articulate sensible things that disaffected independents, Democrats and Republicans would all support. Instead he has, for all intents and purposes, been President Pence, Huckabee or Cruz, except louder, more feckless and tweeting.
The generic House vote is +9 Democratic. Even allowing that the vote trends +3 Democratic almost all the time, this is a +6 edge, about where Republicans stood after the passage of the ACA. It suggests the Democrats will kick the tar out of the Republicans in 2018. Whatever the Republicans want to do they had best do now, but neither they nor the nation have any idea of what that is.
As long as Democrats keep putting forward an agenda based on open borders, abortion and gay rights, I will keep voting Republican. Trump's biggest accomplishment is he is not a Democrat and not Hillary. In most other respects this has been the ugliest, most disorganized government in my memory.
Ted
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