Democrats' risky new Trump strategy: Pry him away from his own party, and win back his voters [View all]

[DonViejo]

Congressional Democrats aim to force Trump into a choice: Republican policy, or the voters who elected him

MATTHEW SHEFFIELD

Aware of the fact that Donald Trump’s Electoral College victory was made possible by at least a modest number of Democratic-leaning voters crossing party lines, congressional Democrats appear to be pursuing an intriguing strategy: They’re trying to force the president to choose between the people who elected him and the political party he nominally leads.

Trump is the highest-ranking Republican in Washington. But the new president’s lack of interest in the details of policy-making mean that he’s outsourcing a lot of it to the congressional GOP. That’s dangerous for Trump’s public approval ratings, because conservative elites generally favor economic policies that are likely to be unpopular with the blue-collar workers who got him elected.

In his inaugural address, as in his speech at the Republican National Convention last summer, Trump put on a mantle of populism, claiming that “the forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.”

Throughout his campaign and during his transition period as president-elect, Trump also spoke of his desire to replace the Affordable Care Act with “something terrific” that would include “insurance for everybody.” In an interview with ABC News after he took office, Trump said that “millions of people will be happy” with his replacement for Obamacare.

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http://www.salon.com/2017/01/27/democrats-risky-new-trump-strategy-pry-him-away-from-his-own-party-and-win-back-his-voters/