A ‘winning’ idea: Work with the Democrats
After President Donald Trump’s first legislative battle, a deplorably stingy attempt to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, went down without a vote in the House, I wondered: What happened to all of the “winning”?
“We are gonna win, win, win,” he promised at a National Rifle Association convention last May in Louisville, among other locations. “We’re going to win with military, we’re going to win at the borders, we’re going to win with trade, we’re going to win at everything. And some of you are friends and you’re going to call, and you’re going to say, ‘Mr. President, please, we can’t take it anymore, we can’t win anymore like this, Mr. President, you’re driving us crazy, you’re winning too much, please Mr. President, not so much,’ and I’m going to say, ‘I’m sorry, we’re going to keep winning because we are going to make America great again.’ ”
When House Speaker Paul Ryan was forced to withdraw the repeal-andreplace bill that he designed and Trump supported, Trump sounded more like one of the “loo-zahs” he loves to mock.
It was quickly apparent that Trump was too ignorant of the contents of the American Health Care Act to play his usual blame game very persuasively after the bill’s defeat.
At first he tried to blame Democrats. That was hilarious. The Grand Old Party controls the White House and both houses of Congress, yet Trump still flatters the magical power of Democrats to gum up GOP plans. “We had no votes from the Democrats,” Trump said Friday shortly after the bill was pulled. “They weren’t going to give us a single vote so it’s a very difficult thing to do.”
By Sunday, Trump had broadened his list of the blameworthy to the far-right House Freedom Caucus and two conservative political groups. “Democrats are smiling in D.C.,” he tweeted, “that the Freedom Caucus, with the help of Club For Growth and Heritage, have saved Planned Parenthood & (Obamacare)!”
Humbled by GOP disarray, the president said he was “moving on” to other issues after Ryan’s bill collapsed. But he was damaged. The hot air had escaped from his hyper-inflated reputation as a master “always winning” deal-maker who can bluff his way through issues and political factions with which he is barely familiar.
But, when all else fails, try a little cooperation. Amid Sunday’s circular firing squad of finger-pointing and recriminations, Trump offered to work with (gasp!) Democrats to push through his future policies. In fact, this is an opportunity for Trump to revive the hope he raised during his campaign that, since he worked across party lines before he became a candidate, maybe he’ll do it as president.
But will Democrats work with him? Obviously not on a defining issue like the demolition of Obamacare. But other issues, such as Trump’s proposed infrastructure construction projects, appeal to lawmakers in both parties with the possibility of jobs, dollars and badly needed repairs to their districts.
Yet Team Trump and other Republican leaders appear to be more interested in taking on tax reform, an issue that is even more divisive inside Republican ranks than health care. Everybody has vastly different priorities as to what should be taxed or tax-freed — and passions run even higher about taxes than about health care.
With that in mind, Trump’s best bet for a badly needed win to help rebuild his “winning” image may well come by working with the other party. Ironically, moderate Democratic leaders must contend with their own radical “resistance” on the left that would rather leave the Trump White House to sink on its own.
Watching Trump founder sounds attractive to Dems after months of putting up with his bluster. But if either party passes up obvious opportunities to work for the nation’s common good, they’ll sink along with him.