Trump gyrations threaten fragile GOP coalition
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s near-simultaneous decisions this week to force a government shutdown over his demand to fund a border wall and withdraw U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan have imperiled the fragile Republican coalition, exacerbating the party’s fears about what may become of his presidency — and its own electoral prospects in 2020.
By placating the far right on immigration, embracing his instincts on foreign policy and unnerving investors with his trade wars and policy gyrations, Trump is elevating the nativist and noninterventionist elements of his party. In doing so, he is deeply straining his most important links to mainstream Republican governance, and the national security hawks and conservative business executives who have long been pillars of the right.
And by disregarding the counsel of seasoned advisers, Trump demonstrated that he does not grasp how damaging his impulsive behavior was to his party in last month’s elections, when his party lost 40 seats in the House, senior Republicans said Friday.
“I don’t think we’ve fixed the problems that caused the midterm losses yet, and I don’t know if we’re on a trajectory to do so,” said Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-Kan., who lost his re-election bid because of the suburban backlash.
Choosing to shut down the government after conservative media personalities belittled him for caving on his demand for border funding, the president proved that he remains more fixated on pleasing his base than winning back moderate voters he has alienated.
Yet inside the Senate, Republicans were on edge because the president’s approach to national security was both rash and anathema to long-held GOP views on America’s global leadership. After musing during his campaign about pursuing noninterventionist policies, Trump has now decided to embrace his “America First” approach — to the alarm of some traditionalists in his party.
“People are becoming significantly concerned,” said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who heads the Foreign Relations Committee. “It’s one thing to have issues on the domestic side. When you start willy-nilly foreign policy moves that are against U.S. interests, that is a wake-up call for people in the Senate.”
Corker, who has repeatedly clashed and reconciled with the president in recent years, raised doubts about Trump’s fitness for the job and whether he would even seek re-election.
“I question whether he runs again,” Corker said. “He’s having difficulty handling the situation. I don’t think he understands the seriousness of what he just did in Syria.”