business investment, and better quality of jobs, then the melodramatic alarmism on cable news about the coming Trump tyranny won’t make much difference to people who just want the country to be in better shape. Time is running short. Before long, Congress will be on recess, the fiscal year will end, we will be in the midst of the holidays – and then the political focus will shift to the midterms. That means Trump needs to use those deal-making skills he has honed over decades and get something big done soon. Keep in mind, if the Democrats win the House, there is a very good chance they will impeach President Trump. They won’t succeed in removing him from office as long as the Senate is in GOP hands, but a successful impeachment proceeding would still be politically toxic. If the Democrats manage to make Trump a one-termer, then the swamp will persist. Hillary-ism, whether through Elizabeth Warren or some other Democrat statist, won’t have been so much deterred as it was delayed. Those are the stakes. The pathway for Trump is littered with obstacles, most of all the special counsel, but with a little more discipline and Trump’s pugnacious resilience,
Department of Justice to bear. It happened to Lewis “Scooter” Libby during George W.’s tenure. It can certainly happen again. And if it does, the Democrats and their media allies will be howling for the maximum punishment while claiming that even the most mundane infraction is evidence of “Russia Collusion” hiding somewhere, somehow. In truth, it will be petty retribution for Hillary’s loss dressed up as justice. But as long as it harms Trump, the media will egg it on and a coalition of cowardly Republicans will run for cover. There is, however, another way this can all go... President Trump was never going to have even a smidgen of goodwill from the Democrats, and the media’s shrieking hatred for him has been at a maximum decibel since he announced during the primary. He is an unorthodox political brawler – elected not to dance around and get along, but to throw punches. While his administration has already taken its fair share of punishment, it is still standing, still pushing on, and can still, ultimately, win. But it’ll be a Beltway brawl every step of the way. Trump and the GOP-led Congress must get either tax or health care reform through this year. Both would be great, but despite the Trumpian bravado, that seems unlikely. Policy success for Trump will be the best political antidote against the special counsel and other Russia Collusion investigations (five at last count). If the American people see a jump in GDP growth, rising wages,
he can still get the job done. It’s going to be quite a fight.
62 | June 2017
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker