3 Parties; Democrats, GOP and Trump

SWMBO has said for some time that the present two parties should be replaced with quite a few more political players so that they would need to reach coalition compromise solutions.  She also sees the need for action to prevent the formation of gerrymandered House districts.  I can't argue with any of that.

IMO yesterday's Trump/Dems agreement represents a beginning for a radically different poltical paradigm in Washington.

The Republicans are moaning today about a loss of leverage in arguing with the Democrats. Yes, they did lose leverage.  But, it was leverage that they had proven themselves incapable of converting into any sort of legislative action as they have been mired in internal factional politics and blocked from solutions by the purists who are determined not to give the liberals and centrists in either parties anything at all.

Trump has an agenda.  I need not list the items.  The Congressional Republicans are a failure in moving that agenda. 

As has often been stated, Trump is really a New York City business liberal.  IMO he is not comfortable with the real ideological hard-asses from places like Texas and Arizona.

People on Foxnews are now moaning about what will happen in December.  SHREAK!  A mouse!  The Democrats will demand concessions and compromise!  Oh Those awful "C" words.

Well, pilgrims, what will happen is that Trump will make compromises to get Democrat votes.  That will terrify the Republicans because they will then face the prospect of answering to their constituents after having lost the initiative to their Democrat opponents' party in satisfying voter needs.  My guess is that a lot of them will abandon the GOP leadership and vote with Trump.

If this is the art of the deal, I consider it to be a meisterstuck.  pl

Comments

[John Minnerath]

Well said sir. Trump is not a party politician, he has a good innate feeling and understanding of the masses at large in the country.

[Jack]

Sir

It will be interesting to see what policies the Art of the Deal produces. The debt ceiling and funding of the government were always hostage to political football but inevitably passed with more pork. I'm willing to bet that nothing much changes in terms of policy. We'll get more government spending, bigger bureaucracy and more interference in our daily lives. Big, politically well connected groups will continue to reap the biggest benefits and the Deplorables will be left to fend for themselves.

[Morongobill]

The crazies on both sides have had their say. The leadership of both parties have blown their chance. At long last, something may finally start happening.

Any doubts about this president's staying power surely must be dispelled after the last couple three days events in DC.

[notlurking]

Totally in agreement that Trump was never a part of the republican establishment...that is why he has shaken things up a bit....when he was running for the presidency the Republican bigwigs never contemplated he would win....

[Daniel Nicolas]

'America First' Party with Trump vs the Globalist Democrats/Republicans.

[Medicine Man]

Nothing I can disagree with here. In fact, I think this was pretty much inevitable.

The Republican majorities are not large and, as Col. Lang observes, ideological divisions make party-line victories hard to come by. The scorched-Earth conservatism of some parts of the GOP is inimical to the interests of Trump's working class supporters. Similarly, the globalist, laissez-faire economics of the GOP establishment is actually a major threat to the more nativist Trump supporters. This underlying reality was visible during the GOP primaries last year. I remember Trump was the only candidate who defended his supporters entitlement to the social security they've paid into. He received as much applause for this as he did his many attacks on the eGOP for their serial sellouts on border security and the outsourcing of the country's future. That Trump was going to need to stiff-arm some people on his own side to get his own agenda moving forward seems a foregone conclusion.

If the Dems are compelled to cut deals with Trump while the GOP is punished for squandering their majorities in service to revolutionary zeal, then if looks like justice all around to me.

[paul]

im curious how willing democrats are to being seen as cooperating with trump on major legislation, after all 2020 is almost here.

[Laura]

I think this merely proves that Trump wants to win some legislative victories (naturally and of course) AND that Pelosi and Schumer and simply better political animals than Ryan and McConnell and have actual doable goals of legislation they want to accomplish. Ryan and McConnell may well be toast.

And, YES, that is how politics is supposed to work.

[Kooshy]

"I can't argue with any of that'

Colonel lang, who can? I hope we all be able to overcome the , Borg, the prostitute Media, and the well paid elected congress personalities, and make this happen one day. that would be the real second American revolution.,

[Ramojus]

All,

Why does this remind me of the Nixon presidency? There are so many similarities e.g. "the silent majority" vs "deplorables", the possibility of impeachment. The only exception would be the EPA (created by Nixon and being dismantled by Trump).

I recall when Nixon was running for his second term, he did not campaign as a Republican, only as "President Nixon".

[Lisa Tate]

I've thought Trump worked through running for/being president long before many have thought he did. (eg, he did some dry runs before?) I hope he's playing smartly the hand he's been dealt from prior admistratons.

[David E. Solomon]

Colonel Lang,

All I can say is that I certainly hope your are correct.

[Thirdeye]

The parallel occurs to me too, plus a few more. Nixon was propelled to his wins by the race riots of the late 1960s, the Democratic response to them, and revulsion towards the student left. The BLM riots, Democratic racial politics, and the antics borne of campus PC culture gave Trump a boost. Trump and Nixon inherited foreign policy messes from their predecessors, for which they receive disproportionate blame (partly due to their own mistakes). Nixon got a bad rap on race because of insufficient rhetorical pandering while in policy his administration was forcefully pro-black on desegregation, affirmative action, and urban-targeted educational and economic programs. The "racist" label gets hung on Trump over symbolic issues while his approaches to immigration and trade objectively target two reasons the condition of blacks has worsened over the past 40 years.

[MRW]

If this is the art of the deal, I consider it to be a meisterstuck.

I’m with you on this one, Colonel. Laffed my ass off when he did it, and your tag line encapsulates it. Masterpiece.

Trump just stuck a fork in Ryan, and McConnell ain’t the king of the hill that he thought he was, no matter the status of McConnell's wife in the Trump admin. They thought Trump was going to play the game the way they have declared Trump is supposed to play it, ’neophyte that he is'. McCain should be ordering up a four-foot-cube of Charmin. He’s going to need it. Foreign policy is NOT his purview sez the constitution, and losing the presidency in 2008 does not make him equal to the President of the US no matter how much he whines his senate seat grants him that equivalency every chance he can recently.

Getting elected in Sedona is not the equivalent of winning the country. McCain couldn’t manage it. Trump did.

Bring out the popcorn. (Use truffle butter and die. dartagnan.com)

[TonyL]

I think people gave Donald Trump too much credit for the "The Art of The Deal". The ghost writer thinks differently. He is full of remorse for having written that book for DJT.

Trump’s Boswell Speaks:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all/amp

[Bill H]

The Republicans kept poking Trump in the eye and he finally said, "Okay, if you don't want to work with me, I'll work with Democrats." Republicans are living in a glass house and should not be throwing stones.

[turcopolier]

Tony L

People like him seldom write their own books. The point is that he actually was good at makinf deals in the business jungle. pl

[Babak Makkinejad]

Neither Trump, nor Republicans, nor Democrats, nor Tea Party, nor Libertarians or anyone else have an answer to the following:

https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/restoring-americas-economic-mobility/

It matters not what they all say when median price of house stands at $ 450,000 in California or that 2.8 million jobs have been moved off-shore, during the presidencies of both a republican and a democrat, in the first decade of 21-century.

[Medicine Man]

Watching Ryan and McConnell run around telling anyone who'll listen "this is all Trump's doing, we wuz robbed" makes me think they were actually willing participants in this spectacle. After all, regardless of whatever deals Trump agrees to, he doesn't actually authority to force Congress to vote on anything. The only way Ryan and McConnell can be bullied is if they are secretly happy to be pushed. All of their caterwauling is just them not wanting to be held accountable by the conservative wing of the party. Doesn't look like right wing media is fooled though.

[Seamus Padraig]

I would block-walk for that!

[dilbert dogbert]

I have read that "First Past The Post Wins" rule devolves into two parties. When a third party achieves a large enough vote it gets absorbed in one of the two majors. The Electoral College has a tiny bit of influence too. Good luck with changing those two things.

[TonyL]

Col,

Yes, I would agree that DJT is a successful salesman and a conman. Everything is about his brand. I meant to point out that perhaps there is not much "Art" in the "Deals". His ghost writter admitted that he inflated and exagerated every accomplishments DJT ever had in writing this book.

[Huckleberry]

The only way the GOP will survive is if the myth of Reaganism is finally abandoned and the Boomer Cucks are liquidated by younger, smarter, nationalists who understand that the future lies in white identity politics.

Given the tremendous amount of money involved in keeping the total failure of Conservatism going in Zombie Mode, and the lingering influence of anti-American NeoCons and the MSM, I doubt this is possible but hope to be surprised.

[turcopolier]

Tony L
"conman?" This is anti-Trump BS. The essence of being a salesman is "conning" the target. IMO you have never been in business. pl

[Laura]

PL -- I thought the essence of business was to provide a necessary (or perceived to be necessary) product at a competitive market price. I know a lot of very successful businessmen (in sales) and they are persuasive but they aren't conning anyone. Madoff is a conman. Do you consider him businessman?

Honestly wondering how we differentiate between those two types of business dealings.