by Shlomo Rudman. In last Tuesday’s midterm elections, Democrats managed to flip dozens of Republican-held seats, allowing them to retake control of the House of Representatives. While Republicans and their allies have been lamenting the loss of the House to Democrats, President Trump seemed completely unperturbed by the defeat, and chose to focus on Republican gains in the Senate. My theory is that Trump is not agitated by the Republican trouncing in the House because it actually benefits him in the long run.
President Trump ran his presidential campaign not as a thought-provoking outsider, but rather as a larger-than-life personality who had an uncanny ability to stir up conversation and attack his opponents in their weakest spots. Clamping down on illegal immigration by building a wall was pretty much the only policy position that he spoke of on the campaign trail. The rest was a litany of insults and accusations being hurled toward his opponents at a torrid clip. During the Republican primaries there was ‘Lyin’ Ted’, ‘Little Marco’, ‘Low Energy Jeb’, and a plethora of others for the candidates in the crowded 2016 primary field. During the general election campaign there was of course ‘Crooked Hillary’ and chants of “lock her up!” which, along with tirades against US immigration policy, was (and still is) a staple at his rallies. His tactics worked and got him elected as President of the United States. But what remains clear is that Trump is no policy wonk; he relies on bashing others to keep himself afloat and his supporters energized.
It is therefore quite reasonable to suggest that Democrats overtaking the House of Representatives will result in a net positive for Trump. Although it will now be far more difficult to advance Republican legislative agendas in Congress, and Democrats will be investigating Trump for at least the next two years, Trump now has a nemesis to blame for any failures of his in the runup to the 2020 campaign. If nothing comes of Democrat investigations into the Trump Organization finances or his administration’s maneuvers, he will point to them as causing widespread harm to the people of the United States. Instead of focusing on what was best for the people, the Democrats decided instead to investigate me in an attempt to discredit me and destroy my Presidency, Trump will argue.
In many ways, he would be right. Democratic leaders have already made clear that investigating Trump will be their top priority in the new Congress. Democratic chairs of House committees are already lining up investigative strategies and are making public statements suggesting that the House agenda for the next two years will contain barely anything other than investigations into the President.
In doing so, Democrats are making a conscious decision to put aside bipartisan efforts to fix many woes ailing the country, in order to advance their own priorities of toppling Trump and his administration. They had better hope it works for them or Trump will be further emboldened and motivated in his condemnation of Democrats in the 2020 presidential campaign.
The Democratic takeover of the House, while upsetting to conservatives for the moment, may result in their happiest dreams coming true: a second term for President Trump.
In other words They will be so busy with investigations that they will have nothing done when it comes to policy
In Florida they voted to allow felons the rights to vote. There are 1.4 million felons in Florida. Most are minorities. The vote in Florida is usually within two per cent one way or the other. Although, I think that felons should be permitted to vote, the results of this vote are likely to be catastrophic. Trump can not afford to lose Florida. If he holds Florida it will be very tough to beat him, as Ohio is turning red. He’d just need either Michigan or Pennsylvania.
I don’t think felons should be able to vote. I also believe only tax payers should vote. Why should someone who does not pay into the system, get to decide how much of other peoples money to take?
Trump has said he wants to work with Dems unless they investigate him. If they investigate him then he says he won’t work with them. Sounds like a dictator to me.
@Zman I am sure you love to work with people who continually harass you!
“…he relies on bashing others to keep himself afloat and his supporters energized”.
Respectfully disagree. He relies on bashing others to control the narrative which is usually under the complete control of the Democrat party and their media wing, MSNBCCNNNBCABCCBSWAPOSTNYTIMES. That is brilliant political use of the bully pulpit. It indeed also keeps his base energized, but so much more than that. It makes his base extremely loyal because they see they finally have someone in the White House willing to do the dirty work and fight for them no matter what it takes.
It is also so much more than bashing that Mr. Trump does: he has kept an unbelievable amount of campaign promises and keeps fighting for more. He has instituted policies leading to a record setting explosive economy. He has been a tremendous success on the Foreign policy stage. No patriotic American cares one bit for the opinion of Frenchmen that are offended by the President. You’re right. He’s not a policy wonk, just a policy success.