Right On: Trump, a party of 1

October 25, 2017 Utah Channel 3

OPINION — Never has a president spent so much time publicly alienating members of Congress from his own party. Never has a president spent so much time publicly humiliating members of his own cabinet.

This is the antithesis of team building. How does he expect to get anything accomplished?

Trump is a populist epitomized by his campaign promise to “drain the swamp.” His outsider’s message resonated with erstwhile Obama voters who blamed both immigrants and international trade for declining factory jobs and stagnant wages.

His promises to roll back excessive regulation, nominate conservative judges, and repeal and replace Obamacare appealed to mainstream Republicans.

As a traditional conservative, I acknowledge that Trump is making good on two of these promises.

First, the Trump administration is overturning a variety of Obama-era, over-the-top regulations. Many of these regulations were based on tortured interpretations of obscure provisions in the law. And when existing legislation didn’t provide regulatory cover, the Obama administration invented a rationale out of whole cloth.

Second, Trump is making significant progress in restoring the judiciary to its constitutional role. Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation to the Supreme Court was the showpiece, but dozens of nominees to the federal bench have either been approved or are waiting for Democratic stall tactics to run out of gas.

But to accomplish the rest of his agenda, Trump needs the very people he’s mistreating on an almost daily basis.

Republicans have a slim 52-48 Senate majority. Facing a unified Democratic “resistance,” Trump puts every key vote in jeopardy by picking public fights with Senate Republicans. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker and others have all come under fire.

Further, Trump’s mercurial inconsistency drives both his supporters and his opponents crazy.

Trump called Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer to find common ground on health care but then torpedoed any prospect by announcing rollbacks of Obamacare mandates.

He expressed support for a bipartisan proposal to appropriate funds to offset the losses insurance companies face when issuing Obamacare policies. The next day he changed his mind, making additional demands.

He discussed legislation to protect the so-called “dreamers” with Democrats Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi who thought they had a deal. The following day, Trump denied it and now insists on funding his border wall and increasing enforcement as part of any deal.

Trump continues to consult Steve Bannon, whose announced goal is to blow up the existing Republican Senate leadership by running far-right challengers in next year’s primaries. If Bannon is only modestly successful pushing forward unelectable candidates, Trump will be dealing with Senate majority leader Schumer in 2019. And this when eight Democratic senators are up for reelection in states Trump carried by comfortable margins.

Trump’s approach to the presidency is self-defeating. He is failing to provide a consistent, coherent vision for the country and failing to rally those who would support elements of that vision.

Die-hard Trump fans love his incessant tweets, but he often makes outrageous claims that are easily shown to be false. Like the shepherd boy who cried wolf, why does he continue to damage his credibility?

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Peggy Noonan sees the possibility of Trump following Sarah Palin’s trajectory. Noonan says Palin “lost her place through antic statements, intellectual thinness and general strangeness. The same may well happen — or be happening — with Donald Trump.”

As a traditional conservative, I did not vote for Trump or Hillary Clinton but I was pleased with Trump’s surprise victory if only to avoid four more years of the Democrats’ relentless leftward march.

I hoped that the weight of the presidency would restrain Trump’s impulsiveness and focus him on the weighty matters facing the country. It has not.

The time has come to express my disappointment. I fear we will have three more years of Trump exchanging angry tweets with Republicans, television celebrities and football players. This is not how a president leads.

A vision for the country’s future can’t be communicated in 140 characters.

Even more, I fear Democratic majorities in Congress as a result of Trump’s idiosyncrasies at a time when Republicans should have every opportunity to flourish. Trump supporters who do not recognize this possibility have their heads in the sand.

After alienating both the Republican and Democratic parties, Trump is becoming an isolated party of one.

I hope I’m wrong.

Howard Sierer is an opinion columnist for St. George News. The opinions stated in this article are his own and may not be representative of St. George News.

Email: hsierer@stgeorgeutah.com

Twitter: @STGnews