Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Trump Chose This

Sure, there is a stunt-like quality to the image of Trump sitting at a table with his Democratic friends "Chuck and Nancy" conspicuously absent which highlights his side of the argument that they aren't trying to reach out to him over issues such as the looming government shutdown or tax reform, but I can't help but direct attention back to what Trump did to basically disinvite them:

Leaving aside that this meeting wasn't even supposed to really be about crime or immigration--he does know that the GOP plan right now is actually going to raise taxes on millions of people, right? Or does he once again have no idea what's supposed to be in the policies he allegedly wants passed? The CBO has said this plan is liable to increase the deficit and will hurt the poor, and frankly, the only fixes proposed for the deficit issue is Sen' Corker's "trigger" to freeze the tax cuts if (when) the deficit is negatively impacted, and, well, there really isn't a solution to do squat for the poor that I can see. And despite Trump's describing his meeting with GOP leaders as a "lovefest" , it still genuinely sounds to me like Republicans have some serious ground to cover before they are all in the same place on this bill. 

What Trump did today was a failure to get Democrats to the table. He could have made it seem like negotiation was possible, but he was the one who insulted Democrats' position and even said "I don't see a deal!"

Wait a minute--wasn't he supposed to be the master of the "art of the deal"?  That was supposed to mean some kind of genius at seeing opportunities? And, well, right here he didn't. So. "Chuck and Nancy" didn't have to waste their time. And if the party that controls both houses of Congress and the White House has to shut down the government to sort their own self-made problems, Democrats do not exist to save Republicans from themselves. It would be great not to have a government shutdown, but, shit. Republicans. What are you gonna do?

Trump had a choice. Act like a leader and an adult and try to get something done. He instead Tweeted something dumb and ended up talking between empty chairs--and maybe some of his fanclub see that as a success. 

But that kind of "success" is just as empty as those chairs. 

1 comment:

Harry Hamid said...

I think he's taking it hard. That combover seems flatter than usual.

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