Muted backlash to Trump's bipartisanship signals warning for GOP
By Michael Scherer September 10 at 6:32 PM
Republicans who dared to cut deals with Democrats have long had to fear retribution from conservative activists like Rick Manning, president of Americans for Limited Government. He had railed against a 2015 debt-ceiling compromise as “absurd,” and as recently as March called for President Trump to use the vote to “create real reforms” to cut spending.
But when Trump shocked the nation last week, handing Democrats a major victory by accepting their terms for a clean three-month suspension of the borrowing limit, Manning says he felt no ill will for the president. Instead, he blamed House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for forcing Trump to work with Democrats.
“He gave them the opportunity to legislate and they failed, so of course he’s got to knock over the table,” Manning said. “He said now you have to compete for my signature and in competing you have got to give me what I want. So, yeah, he changed the game.”
The game has certainly changed. The old rules of GOP politics held that any Republican who stepped out of line to seek compromise with Democrats risked immediate attack for ideological heresy, or worse, squishiness and weakness. But Trump’s call for a “much stronger coming together” with Democrats last week earned him little direct public criticism from Republican lawmakers or activists, who are wary of his power among the base. Instead, party leaders across Washington turned the focus of their ire on the continued dysfunction among Republicans.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/muted-backlash-to-trumps-bipartisanship-signals-warning-for-gop/2017/09/10/e19b553a-94cf-11e7-aace-04b862b2b3f3_story.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
VERY interesting! And encouraging.
Obviously we've entered an era when we need to starting smiling at Republicans again. 
This is no time to encourage Republicans to huddle together for protection against insults from the left.
