Donald Trump began his unconventional campaign to become President of the United States by pledging to voters to “Make America Great Again”!
To accomplish this, he proposed to make changes in healthcare, taxes, immigration, trade and foreign policy.
His method of communicating and promoting to achieve his goals is genuinely unique. For many, including his staff and yes, the opposition party, his style can be perplexing and often frustrating. His direct comments on Twitter can insult, anger and inflame, while at the same time be concise and insightful as well. His methods genuinely add to the drama of Washington politics and the ups and downs of this administration’s successes and failures.
One of the first projects tackled by President Trump and the Republican Congress was an attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare. In spite of the many challenges Obamacare has faced and the fact that the program is struggling, they failed to repeal the law altogether.
They were able to cut subsidies to insurance companies and starting in 2019 do away with penalties for not signing up. These revisions angered Democrats whose response has been to politicize Donald Trump by saying the move to remove the act to remove subsidies is a “spiteful act of vast, pointless, sabotage leveled at working families and the middle class in every corner of America.” They hope to distract the conversation away from the issues and rational discussions regarding problems and solutions.
We see finger pointing on both sides of the aisle.
During the recent budget resolution battle, the Democrats wanted to guarantee protection for the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program as part of the negotiation.
The Republicans politicized the situation by saying the Democrats cared more about people living illegally in this country than our military and our children who would be most hurt by a government shutdown.
The budget was passed for a while longer. With the battle for and passage of new tax reform legislation, politicizing continued. The Democrats feel they are losing more and more ground with their base and tried hard to paint a negative picture for the American public of what tax reform would be.
Senator Schumer and Minority leader of the House of Representatives were heard saying that “tax reform will be Armageddon for the American family,” “A $1,000 bonus is crumb’s” and “The bill won’t raise wages for the American worker.” It seems again a desperate effort to distract from the acknowledgment of change, its pros, and cons.
Trump most recently turned his attention to immigration reform. Immigration reform is a highly charged issue for the Democrats who feel that they best represent the interests of minorities and immigrants who they count on for their voter base.
In the first meeting with Congressional representatives, President Trump said he was “open to immigration reform,” including the extension of DACA which would allow for 700,000 children (known as Dreamers) brought here illegally by their parents to remain here temporarily.
In exchange for extending DACA, President Trump wanted improved border security and funding for a border wall (which Republicans say will cost between $10 and $20 billion).
In a second meeting of only a handful of people is where supposedly the President made the “s—hole” remark (regarding several countries) in response to Senator Durbin’s proposal. One other person in the meeting said he didn’t remember hearing Trump say that.
Immediately upon leaving the meeting, Senator Durbin met up with the press to relay his moral outrage at President Trump’s comment. Was it taken out of context to paint a picture of a “racist” president?
Again, could the Democrats be dramatizing the situation to distract from the fact that Trump is working to provide a merit-based immigration system, one which might hurt the growth of the Democratic base. That is the question.
Comments