Trump missteps a learning curve?
An editorial from the Winnipeg Free Press, published March 28:
Canada’s trade deal with the United States and Mexico, resembling a dead duck two months ago, looks a whole lot stronger and healthier today. U.S. President Donald Trump and the ruling Republicans in Congress proved last week they were unable to repeal and replace the health insurance system enacted by former president Barack Obama. Their prospects of tearing apart the North American Free Trade Agreement are probably no better.
Trump threw his weight behind a health insurance bill prepared by House Speaker Paul Ryan and campaigned hard to persuade the Republican majority in the House to pass it. The low-tax, smallgovernment wing of the party refused. Trump and Ryan on Friday called off the vote on the bill. As a result, Obama’s Affordable Care Act, the repeal of which Republicans have been promising for years, remains.
Part of the problem is Republicans seemed united in opposition to Obamacare but were never united around a replacement. Another part of the problem is Trump, who craves and courts applause from angry people who feel ignored by the power structure, pays little attention to the details and the mechanics of government. He bellows against Muslims but he cannot draft a travel ban that stands up in court. He bellows against Obamacare but can’t craft a replacement plan that Congress would approve. It is possible he will learn the art of government as the failures accumulate? It is not unusual for presidents to suffer setbacks in the courts and Congress. But in order to learn leadership, Trump would have to decide he needs to learn. There was no sign of that in his early reactions to the health insurance debacle. He said he had learned something about loyalty, meaning congressional Republicans had betrayed him. He also blamed Democrats. He cast blame far and wide. The one person who bore no blame for the shipwreck was the captain. It’s hard to learn from your mistakes if you never made any.
The next big item on Trump’s agenda is tax reform. It is widely agreed in the United States federal tax law is absurdly complex, riddled with inconsistencies and special tax breaks benefiting special interests. Almost everyone can find something unjust in U.S. tax law. But what looks like an outrageous loophole to one person looks like fairness to another. As soon as you propose a specific measure, the apparent support for tax reform falls apart – as with health insurance. Further down Trump’s list comes doing something about NAFTA. He won applause during the election campaign by complaining free trade with Mexico had destroyed American jobs or moved them out of the country. He seemed to want to abrogate the treaty or make large changes to it – he never said what. He would have to figure out changes Canada and Mexico would accept and would do more good than harm in the U.S. economy. He would also have to win congressional support. With the smell of failure and impotency now surrounding his administration, his chances don’t look good. NAFTA, the former dead duck, is flying high.