In the aftermath of DT’s victory, the party to worry about is not the Democratic Party (who will vote ‘No’ on anything and everything he tries) but the GOP party…. GOPE incarnate.
Lest one think DT’s election victory will lead to smooth sailing, we must be vigilant against the GOPE forces that oppose us. Neil Munro has an important piece titled “GOP Leadership to Delay Donald Trump’s Election-Winning Priorities”:
A top ally of House Speaker Paul Ryan has outlined the GOP leadership’s strategy to isolate and block President Donald Trump’s populist campaign promises, likely including his popular immigration reforms.
“We all agree that some of President Trump’s proposed policies are not going to line up very well with our conservative policies,” Texas Rep. Bill Flores told an inside-the-beltway audience on Dec. 1.
“Let’s do the things where we agree — let’s do tax reform, lets do Obamacare, lets replace Obamacare, let’s start dealing with border security, let’s rebuild our national security and then, on those areas where his agenda is not exactly aligned with ours … then, we’ll figure out the rest in the next six months,” Flores told Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute.
“The GOP Congressional leadership wants to pass all its priorities quickly — tax cuts, regulatory cuts, Obamacare repeal, a Scalia replacement, maybe throw in some kind of weak ‘border security’ bill for show,” influential blogger Mickey Kaus told Breitbart, adding:
But once Trump signs their bills, what do they need him for? His leverage is cut in half. If he wants new laws — mandatory [mandatory] e-Verify, funding for a Wall etc.– it seems like he has to get them while he still has leverage.
Flores also said that if the GOP takes the lead, Trump also will be less likely to push his populist agenda by changing agency policies and regulations. The GOP leadership will “just tell him, ‘Hey, we’ll take the lead on this, and we will give you the legislative and constitutional support to go forward,’ and that way, he’s not inclined to use a pen, to try to follow the Obama model,” said Flores…
The GOP’s business donors strongly oppose Trump’s popular immigration plans, partly because they would reduce the massive legal and illegal immigration that transfers roughly $500 billion a year from pay packets to corporate profits and to Wall Street…
Both Ryan and Flores are also offering Trump the opportunity to get distracted in complex plans for infrastructure spending — knowing that any debate on infrastructure — airports, roads, buildings — may drag Trump away from pushing his election-winning immigration reforms through Congress.
With Trump, we must be wary, and always on the offense, providing continuous pressure on him, GOPE, and the cultural zeitgeist.
Think of it this way: Collectively, our voices are a variable in an equation, the equation being the meta-level negotiating parameters for Mr. T to work with.