General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: For those beginning to consider "some sort of compromise" with Trump and [View all]customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)Would you rather see those two years with a functioning Environmental Protection Agency or not?
Trump is like an ape that climbed into a car with the engine running, and he just figured out how to put it in "drive" rather than "park". He hasn't even thought about the enormous power of the veto, and he's just beginning to see what awesome power the Framers gave the chief executive. He wouldn't have dared to use it while the GOP controlled both sides of Congress, but now that the Democratic party has taken back the House, he feels like it's a great weapon to get back at them for dethroning his House majority.
What matters to Trump and the Senate Republicans is how their base feels about them. They really don't care one whit about what was for them, the negative part of the last election. They feel emboldened by the gain of two seats in the Senate, and are prepared to take divided government to a new level of destruction. McConnell knows that Trump is temporary, but that his Senate majority is something he can probably enjoy for the rest of his life, or when he decides to retire, whichever comes first. By Trump taking the "blame" for the shutdown, he has inoculated the GOP Senate from any political fallout that would occur.
Talk from a few GOP'ers in the Senate is cheap. If they'd like to really effectuate change, then they should talk about what they'd do if an impeachment came over from the House. But, they'd incur the wrath of the hard-core Trump voter, and they'd be too scared to hope for a write-in victory like Murkowski got some years ago.
As long as the Trump base sticks with Trump, this thing is going to continue without a compromise being reached. And our side is not going to be able to shame that base into abandoning Trump unless he abandons them. We have a shot at that if there is a compromise that can be used to leverage support away from Trump for "selling out to the Democrats."