I don’t think anyone could have predicted (as has been the case both with Candidate Trump and now President Trump) the frenetic…(and yes, often chaotic) pace of his first two months.
Since the “First 100 Days” Thread was getting pretty long; I thought that it would be good to start a thread because of what promises to be a big test for the President; going from weekly, (almost daily, in some cases), Executive Order; to pushing actual Legislation.
The White House has stated that March should reveal more Legislative action on 1) Obamacare repeal and replacement and 2) on Tax Reform/Code Simplification (which has been promised since I’ve been voting).
How do you guys feel he will deal with a “friendly” Congress?
How much fear will there be of being “Tweeted-Out” for non-cooperation with the President’s Agenda?
One thing that is worth mentioning…there has been more than one President whom had an aggressive domestic agenda, only to have it hijacked by some International Crisis. This President has not been tested yet…but it is almost certain to happen. How will he respond? Who will he blame for the Crisis?
Things are certainly becoming more and more interesting.
I don’t even think it is that friendly now–Trumo divided the party during campaign season and while those divisions may be under the radar they haven’t actually healed. I suspect most republicans are less friendly toward him than they are “play along to get along”, or trying to save their own seats.
Trump doesn’t have that same loyalty to the person that Obama or GWB had with their party. Any perceived loyalty is all about partisanship and wining that war.
I think this part is very important. What we’re inevitably going to see is members of Congress (mostly in blue states) pushed into weird middle zones where following the Trump line may be riskier than disobeying him.
I think we saw the first hint of it with the 2 repub senators that voted AGAINST Devos for Sec of Edu. If I had to guess (no research done) I’d bet you’d see a lot of teachers historically supported these 2, and they felt the pressure more from their base than from Trump.
It won’t be large victories by any stretch, but I’m alright with nickle and dime’ing Trump’s bad moves where we can get them.
I think the dynamics between Trump and Ryan should really prove interesting.
Ryan’s overall constituency seems more “pragmatic” (correct me if I’m wrong); much like I think he tends to be; so I don’t get the impression that he is so much worried about “The Home Front”.
I think Ryan’s challenge will be in trying to get all of the very immovable GOP “caucuses” that exist in the House to come to some overall consensus. They have proven to be caucuses unwilling to budge unless specific criteria were met (e.g. each spending increase be matched with even greater spending cuts).
He has a great agenda and has chosen some really good people to carry it out. But he will always be Trump. That means that he will act in goofy ways which sometimes undermines his own goals.
Exactly. In many ways, Trump’s presidency hasn’t even started yet. While most in the GOP voted to confirm his cabinet picks, there is still a very evident lack of support considering the silence from the GOP on many of Trump’s policies and ideas. I would expect his party to fully backing and defending pretty much every move he makes.
So many of them are walking a tightrope right now. They don’t want to be too early in their support should Trump face-plant, nor do they want to be last in case he’s a success.
I see him butting heads with a particular senator and immediately tweeting something insulting and wholly inappropriate. Two days later, after coming to an agreement on the issue, he’ll be tweeting his praises, how he always knew the senator was super smart.
Part of the hesitation of congress to back Trump, I’m sure, is this Russian cloud hanging over his head. After Comey’s meeting Friday with the SIC, not a single word has been said by anyone present. It seems eerily quiet.
Yeah, it’s not his overall agenda per se, it’s the details and execution. Not to mention that Trump can change his mind on something within a single, run-on sentence, so hesitation to provide full-throated support is warranted.
I think Trump’s one track mind will lead to the “My way or the highway” approach. He’ll inevitably burn quite a few bridges and do a lot of damage to the GOP before he scales himself back.
Funny thing is, as much as this election felt like the downfall of the left, the next 4 years feel like a hellava test for the right. God help the GOP if they fail this test.
What about this thought. I want Trump and the GOP to have AT LEAST 8 years or more of control.
That way; we will have had back-to-back administrations that would have (right or wrong/for better or worse) incited the passions of the American Electorate like none in modern history.
We could then look back; compare and contrast; and let History be the final judge of what will be a pivotal 16 year span of American History.
As someone with a passion for History (especially for our Republic and its Presidents); this is exciting.
I don’t mind the GOP having the reigns for 8 years. That being said the thought of Trump serving 2 terms scares the shit out of me. With all of the available information that we have on the man, I’m seriously struggling to be optimistic.
Also for clarity on my thoughts, if Trump has “proposed” something on the campaign trail and given zero specifics, I firmly place it in the “shit” category. If he had specifics he would have bragged about them, and if he doesn’t have specifics it means he proposed something before doing any research. I’m only evaluating him on what he’s DONE atm.
I think it was Prebuis who said that Trump was more of a “Big Picture” kind of person.
That may sound good…but that “Big Picture” better 1) have some careful thought behind it and 2) you have competent people in place to work out all the details and to consider all the ramifications.
While there is no indication that Trump did either prior with some of his early Executive Orders…he’s only been in office a short time.
I am taking a “wait-and-see/Give them time” posture.
Same here (although it’s not like we have a choice). Imo “Big Picture” type people are fine assuming they also have the ability to think little picture. Trump is yet to show this is the case, so my grade for Trump’s accomplishments thus far isn’t very good.
Also I’m fully aware that politicians, by default, usually end up being hypocrites. I really really wish we hadn’t evolved to the new Trump level of hypocrisy by acknowledging the problems with politicians, then shitting the bed anyway. It’s like hypocrisyception.
