Personality Crisis
Prez stuck between GOP camps
TO paraphrase Groucho Marx, President Trump has a position on the Lamar Alexander/ Patty Murray health-care deal, and if you don’t like it, he has another one.
Within hours, Trump veered wildly on the bipartisan compromise on Obama Care the Tennessee Republican and the Washington Democrat forged at his personal urging. At times supportive, noncommittal and opposed, Trump finally came out against, his final answer until further notice.
It isn’t unusual for a politician to wobble when confronted with a nettlesome issue or a shifting political environment. It’s downright weird, though, for a president to rapidly switch sides on something he gave every indication that he wanted.
The Trump administration has formidable obstacles in the way of substantive success, but none looms quite as large as the fact that Trump himself has no idea how he wants to govern.
Trump’s decision to end Obama Care’s cost-sharing reduction payments last week made sense as a political strategy only if he wanted to pressure congressional Republicans into a bipartisan deal.
The termination of the payments wasn’t going to discomfit the Democrats, who could scream “sabotage” and blame Trump and Republicans for every failing of Obama Care going forward. It was nervous Republicans who were going to feel compelled to remove the political heat by propping up Obama Care.
It seemed that this is precisely what Trump wanted. The president on Tuesday took credit for forcing Republicans and Democrats to talk about a health-care deal. He initially welcomed Alexander-Murray as a stopgap to restore the CSR payments, calling it “a short-term solution so that we don’t have this very dangerous little period.”
Alexander reports that Trump told him he wanted a deal because “I don’t want people to suffer.” Yet, in turning around and opposing the deal, Trump said he couldn’t support “bailing out” insurance companies. This disso- nance recalls Trump’s celebration of the passage of the House Republican health-care bill that he called “mean” shortly afterward.
You can either believe the CSR payments are a boon to ordinary people or an unconscionable giveaway to insurance companies (in reality, neither is true). You can’t believe both, unless you have the protean policy views of Donald J. Trump.
Trump can’t decide who he wants to be. As a matter of substance (malleable and nonideo- logical) and self-image (the ultimate deal-maker), he should be with Republican moderates. This is the Trump who encourages Lamar Alexander to get together with Patty Murray and talks a DACA deal with Chuck and Nancy.
As a matter of affect (unapologetically outrageous) and sensibility (thoroughly anti-establishment), he should be with the House Freedom Caucus. This is the Trump who pulls the plug on CSR payments over the advice of more cautious advisers and releases immigration principles that will never be realized in any bipartisan agreement.
Which of these Trumps predominates depends on which meeting the president happens to be in.
In terms of internal GOP politics, it suits Trump to be up for grabs. Both major factions within the party are vying for his affections. Steve Bannon wants to persuade the president to support a crusade on behalf of True Trumpism; Mitch McConnell wants the president to steer clear of dubious candidates and show enough discipline that he’s not an obstacle to passing legislation.
Trump is happy to keep a foot in each camp.
Trump’s approach keeps everyone guessing and keeps him from getting pinned down, but it’s no way to lead a party. This is why Trump’s strong suit is things he can do on his own, namely culture-war battles, fights with the news media and other critics and executive actions.
These don’t involve many moving parts and don’t require much constancy; in fact, Trump’s tendency to fix a target for attack and then move on when he’s bored or it no longer serves his purposes often works in his favor in his feuds.
For Trump, very little is ever truly ruled out or ruled in, and before long, a bipartisan health-care deal will surely again strike his fancy.