Friday, February 09, 2018

But That's All They Have

I don't think "Trump is a unique threat to the country" was a particularly good message - or at least, not enough of one - but take that away and...what's left?

And yet, today, in the highest circles of Democratic party politics, resistance is waning. “This is normal enough,” many key Democrats seem to be saying. When Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote in advance of Trump’s State of the Union several weeks ago, he focused on finding ways to “work with” the president, such as infrastructure.

Bipartisan rhetoric is nothing new from politicians, but Democrats appear to be slipping towards making substantive policy concessions to Trump. Particularly in the Senate, Democrats have, bit by bit, begun acceding to Trumpian demands. Their attempted shutdown failed after less than three days, as many in the party pushed for a more conciliatory approach.

And I'm not against cutting deals that are actually reasonable deals, but you can cut deals and still go for the throat. Republicans always do.