Posted on 05/01/2017 4:19:03 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
All of you FReepers and conservatives out there listening to smug media reports about Schumer and the Dems popping champagne corks over the Continuing Resolution (CR) need to remember who you are dealing with again. As Rush likes to say, do not doubt me.
Trump is the Jason Vorhees of business, and now politics. He didn't get to the pinnacle of success by selling himself and his supporters out for short-term gain as so many politicians do. Rather, this is what in military terms is called a tactical retreat.
In a tactical retreat, you cut your losses and regroup. This is also a "tell" in poker.
Trump has nothing to gain by fighting for spending cut crumbs within an existing fiscal year, especially when you have North Korea breathing down our backs, our military needs immediate funds, and the structural side of big government programs (Obamacare, etc) still in effect. Fighting for cuts now is the equivalent of haggling over the cheapo purple properties in Monopoly.
By signing the CR, Trump just isolated Schumer and put the RINOs in Congress on notice: Advance my priorities or face an angry conservative/populist base in 2018.
The latest CR expires perfectly right at the end of the fiscal year 2017, which means Mulvaney will set the table and outline a clean budget for the new fiscal year that will honestly addresses entitlement spending, spending on liberal special-interest programs, and even the proper role of the federal government in said programs itself.
Once that is discussed, the Republicans can own and run with the narrative, if they choose to do so. They can argue that they reached out to Dems 5 months earlier and funded the government, but now it's the Dems' turn to work with Republicans on reducing the size and spending of the Federal Government.
Meanwhile this spring and summer, Trump can work on tax reform, repealing Obamacare, and getting the states more involved in policies. Also this takes away the shutdown card from the Dems. It will not have as much as an impact in September because the budgetary process will be returned to normal in September.
Of course, if there is another CR or if Republicans give away the store and continue the status quo, then yes I'll be red-hot too. But for now I'm willing to give Trump the benefit of the doubt, because he's got his plate full and needs to get more of his picks confirmed and prepare for an upcoming 2nd SCOTUS vacancy. That also removes leverage from the Dems on blocking such a pick.
Ryan is incompetent and McConnell is in the witness protection program.
“When you control both houses of Congress and the White House, the whole idea of a tactical retreat should be laughable.”...”I still expect Trump to fulfill that promise despite the weak sisters of the GOP he must work with, but it’s off to an embarrassingly bad start.”
He hasn’t had much time to haggle, but please, seeing as you must know how DC works, give us your plan for how Trump should proceed...tell us what you would do to turn the Rinos in DC to vote for the wall and please be specific.
I agree with you. But that's why the expiration of the CR right at the end of fiscal year 2017 is perfect. This will separate the RINOs from the true Republicans who support Trump's agenda. Trump still has veto power. He will call out the cowardly Republicans who support CRs instead of a simple annual budget.
Putting the Republicans on notice in late September, when people are paying attention again to politics after the summer break and next-year candidates start preparing their runs, will make it harder on Paul Ryan and the RINOs.
All you will hear from the dems and the media is, "You just fully funded these programs! Now you want to not fund them just cause Trump wants to cut them!" Attention: government shutdown threat! Republican cave.
There is so much spinning I think the clutch burned out. Seriously, if Trump announced the wall was built with a sophisticated invisible material and the Mexicans wired the funds overnight it would be believed.
“Why should I need to do that? I didn’t run for president, nor for Congress.”
Just as I figured...you got nothin!!! How about calling your Reps and Senators? Could you do that? Naw...you just want to rant and rave.
RINOS are in competitive districts. They are more vulnerable when they take a hard line.
"Trump has no pitching (McConnell) and no hitting (Ryan). But you can’t take a few innings off in “tactical retreat”."
What Trump got wrong about draining the swamp is this. Noting that ordinary voters bought the Senate when they unthinkingly pressured state lawmakers to ratify the ill-conceived 17th Amendment, it was up to patriots to exercise their voting power to clean up both Houses of Congress long before Trump announced that he was running for president. But generations of low-information patriots have not only miserably failed to do so, but are pointing their fingers at everybody else.
So Trump’s first two years with the current corrupt Congress are arguably practice years at best, patriots needing to make sure that state sovereignty-respecting, Trump-supporting candidates are on the primary ballots for November ’18.
Bull Shit.
Trump was being crippled by stupid Russian allegations by the Dems and media. How the Hell could he have had some Big Mo? He didn't even have Little Mo.
Now back to our host's good words.
The aftermath of last shutdown had the republicans gaining 14 house seats and over 5,000,000 vote margin advantage. Not diasterous.
Did the Democrats singlehandedly block Gorsuch for two months? I thought McConnell was in charge of the Senate?
Plans for the wall are still under review. Bidding is ongoing as well. Trump got increased border security $ in this CR. Plus there are still ways to leverage the cost of the wall. (Taxing remittances is just one option.)
The hysteria needs to die down. We’ll get the wall.
The 17th Amendment was the beginning of the end.
You’re delusional.
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