Trump May Get It Done

I was most pleasantly surprised the other week when Donald Trump struck a deal raising the debt ceiling in return for Harvey disaster relief. It was a rare feeling, what with the hurricanes, the beating of war drums, and the countless other apocalyptic heralding scenes gracing our social media feeds and news broadcasts near daily. I was almost taken aback by the news headline “Trump Makes Deal With Democrats,” not that I was shocked he would leave behind his party leadership, for which I know he has no loyalty nor does he share any ideology, but that he would apparently humble himself to shake hands with Pelosi and Schumer was a bit of a shock for the man with the Oval Office, but I digress.

What was pleasant about the scene, as Brutus as it may have appeared, was that it became apparent then that Trump was figuring out that the best way to unify his fractured party, and get anything done, was to start following through on the threat of working with the other side. The look of shear horror on Congress’ face when he shook hands so quickly with the Democratic Party was no doubt a blow to the idea that Conservatives, Republicans, Tea Partiers, and the Freedom Caucus could govern together under a single banner. I mean to be honest, they were literally negotiating with disaster relief funds against a debt ceiling that would have to be raised under every imaginable and acceptable circumstance regardless, so I personally think Trump made the right choice either way.

He also succeeded in fending off the Bushian dilemma of screwing up disaster response efforts by looking partisan, petty or out of touch. I even admired the way he fended off criticism of not visiting disaster survivors by saying he did not want to impede relief efforts (of course he also loaded supplies into the lap of a driver instead of into the truck bed, but for a guy who has only ever seen the inside of a limo for the last 50 years, get over it). This was smart, well handled, good old fashion political public relations, and the Kelly, I mean Trump, administration handled it remarkably well, or at least up to standard.

My hope now is that Republicans will continue to fail at coalescing, unifying or even just governing, and Trump will continue to work with the opposition more closely. Maybe he will be successful in advancing an agenda that is best for all Americans. Because even Trump’s own administration was touting the fact that most successful laws are always bipartisan in nature. A fact decried by Republicans when ObamaCare became law of the land. The simple fact is that now the other side has control of the government, but seemingly cannot agree on what to do with it. It is as if four separate parties existed on the right and all four want to wrest control of the elephants reigns from Trump and steer the party in their own direction. It will be a wonder if they manage to not trample over any hope of accomplishing an agenda.

This new found willingness to work together, as humbling for Conservatives as it may be, should spearhead the momentum Trump needs to leave behind his first tumultuous eight months in office, and move towards accomplishing a real history altering agenda (at least one not involving nuclear war or impeachment that is).

If the president could work out tax and immigration reform on a bipartisan level, he may have a shot in the future at revisiting and “fixing” the Affordable Care Act, which could even include Democratic support, and managing some real semblance of a border wall. That could alter his legacy and set him up to deliver a real gut shot blow to those people already running to the presses with the 2020 history book in hand. But then again only time will tell, so again I am forced to digress and hope.