"The election is not even a week old, and already we are seeing some retreats on hard core campaign promises. Why? Reality. Advisers. Getting somethings that Congress will buy into enough to pass legislation."
Welcome to the middle President Elect Trump. No, I don't mean "Middle America" - I mean governing from the middle. It happens all the time. Campaigners are out on the trail promising "two chickens in every pot". Then they get elected. Reality sets in. Advisers advise. When the press start to ask about when the two chickens in every pot will happen, the answer comes back, "Well maybe one chicken is all we need. And maybe just a frying pan instead of a pot".
I remember what good old "Slick Willie" promised during his first campaign. Since the middle class had been overlooked for so long, he was going to raise the taxes on the rich and give the middle class a huge tax break. Bill Clinton gets elected. Reality set it. His advisers advise. The numbers did not add up. The next thing we hear from Clinton was, "I tried as hard as I ever tried. But the economy was so messed up, there will be no tax break for the middle class. In fact, maybe even a tax increase. But I really tried!"
The election is not even a week old, and already we are seeing some retreats on hard core campaign promises. Why? Reality. Advisers. Getting some things that Congress will buy into just enough to pass legislation. First, we saw it with the health care bill fix. Trump now wants to keep the kids on their parents policy until age 26, and also keep the pre-existing conditions rule.
Now it is immigration. He only wants to go after the "2 to 3 million who are criminal". The others we can "address" once the wall is built. Why? Because the others are "really good people". Like Clinton, he is starting to "triangulate".
My guess is the next thing to be modified is trade. We have so much as made a threat of a trade war with China. The Chinese are telling us to bring it on. Now this could all just be bluster and posturing. But Trump is a smart business guy. I know he could think of a better way to level our playing field with the Chinese then an all out trade war.
However, I will say this. It is about dang time one of our politicians made a stink about our trade deficit. It has been going on and getting worse for decades. Trump can help fix that - but he needs to do it the right way.
Am I critical that Trump is modifying some of his positions? Not a bit. Am I bothered that he might be governing from the middle instead of more on the right side? Again, not a bit. The name of the game is to get stuff done without giving up principles. Stuff that needs to get done without letting the government so tied up in knots that nothing gets done.
I am going to be very interested (and fascinated) to see how Donald Trump wears the job of President. No salary, no major vacations, office in downtown NYC when not in Washington - things are going to be a whole lot different than before. Historians are licking their chops as they have already had a small taste to how interesting Trump's presidency will be.
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