Trump's fickleness frightens his base -- and could doom tax reform - By Jennifer Rubin
Trump doesn't know or care what's in a deal.
By Jennifer Rubin September 14 at 9:19 AM
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Schumer and Pelosi achieved one of two things, maybe both. They may have secured a deal for dreamers without anything that Democrats find all that objectionable. Trump is so anxious for a deal that he’ll no doubt sign anything put in front of him that spares him the task of following through on the assurances that his anti-immigrant supporters thought they had. And Schumer and Pelosi have shown Trump’s base for the second time within the span of a week how thoroughly unreliable Trump is.
Trump has demonstrated over and over that he cares nothing about the substance of any deal. He wants praise from whoever is in front of him at the moment and praise from the media, which despite his bashing, he desperately needs to tout his wonderfulness. Unfortunately, that does not work in politics. where the substance matters tremendously to politicians and their supporters. Trump has never been a “Republican” and indeed has never been shy about turning on a dime (e.g. on abortion) if he thought it would benefit him. As a result of his frantic, utterly unprincipled search for a deal, he has essentially convinced both sides that they cannot take him at his word.
That, ironically, makes dealmaking on controversial issues impossible. Do Democrats believe him when he says he wants no tax cuts for the rich? Or do Republicans believe his emissaries, who bring proposals that most certainly benefit the rich — a lot? Republicans who pass a typical supply-side bill risk getting smacked by the president (as they were when he declared their health-care plan “mean”). Under such circumstances, it’s hard to imagine Republicans unifying around a specific plan with the assurance that the president will stand behind it.
All of this goes back to the fatal error and morally bereft calculation that House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and other Republicans made. Sure, Trump is a narcissist, a know-nothing, a racist — but he’ll sign our bills! Actually, he won’t. Character always matters, and in this case, Republicans are paying the price for their Faustian bargain.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/09/14/trumps-fickleness-frightens-his-base-and-could-doom-tax-reform/?utm_term=.ef4102da2dde
