A rather predictable yet innovative political move
Trump Turns the Corner with Bipartisanship
By Christopher Ruddy
The president’s recent moves across the political aisle – including his deal Wednesday night on DACA with Congressional Democrats – will prove to be a major, positive turning point for his presidency.
Wednesday night the president hosted Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer at the White House for dinner.
Liberals – and even some conservatives – expressed shock by Trump’s outreach.
But Trump’s move was quite predictable.
During his campaign for president, the billionaire businessman promised to “do deals” and openly bragged about how the friendships he had with leading Democrats could make that promise possible.
Why was Trump’s meeting with Nancy and Chuck, and their subsequent deal, so surprising?
Obama.
For eight years he didn’t want to demonstrate presidential leadership and do the normal things presidents usually do – such as inviting members of the opposite party over to the White House.
Heck, Obama didn’t even make a habit of inviting fellow Democrats.
And after ramming through Obamacare and his stimulus bill without Republican support, Obama created the very gridlock Trump is now seeking to break open.
President Trump has been in office for just over eight months. Sure, they have been turbulent. Controversial. Even polarizing.
But again, not surprising for those who know the president. Here’s why:
Trump had been on the campaign for almost a year-and-a-half. It was a bitter and nasty battle.
When it ended with Trump’s Electoral College victory, liberal groups and the press didn’t give the president-elect a moment to breathe.
On election night, protests erupted outside of Trump Tower.
And soon after, media organs like MSNBC and CNN went into high gear with a steady stream of anti-Trump “experts” – some suggesting he should be impeached before he took office.
They then claimed he colluded with the Russians.
With that not working, they accused the president of being “crazy.”
Trump likes to see himself as a street fighter. “Punch me and I’ll crush you.” Well, he had been in “crush” mode for a while.
Over time, Trump has become more comfortable in office and dealing with his critics.
And the “take-no-prisoners” approach toward critics advocated by some aides never got the president the results he wants.
That’s the other thing about the president: Trump is a results-driven pragmatist, a businessman always looking at the bottom line.
By September, with no major legislative wins and a Gallup approval number bouncing at a record low of 34 percent, he has returned to the old Trump: congenial, inspiring, unifying, compromising and a man of good sense.
He made a deal with the Democrats on the debt, he said he would seek a better deal for Dreamers if Congress fails to act, and then he oversaw an almost flawless federal response to Harvey and Irma, two of the worst hurricanes in recent memory.
Now, Trump’s Gallup approval rating is already up 10 percent and his plans for a major tax cut are on greased rails.
Clearly, Trump is moving in the right direction.
He knows he needs to keep congressional Republicans onboard, despite the fact he ruffled their feathers.
Trump is still a Republican and much more popular than any Republican member of Congress.
A recent survey of Republican voters taken by Tony Fabrizio, the respected pollster and strategist who developed Trump’s winning Rust Belt strategy, finds the president at 71 percent favorability, trouncing both Ryan at 52 percent and McConnell at 27 percent.
The Fabrizio data shows Trump owns the Republican Party. GOP voters think he’s doing a good job (75 percent) and keeping his promise to fix the economy and grow jobs (66 percent.)
He has a rock-solid base giving him the latitude to do what he is exceptionally suited to do: make deals.
