\u201cPolitics is the art of the possible, the attainable \u2013 the art of the next best\u201d \u2013 Otto Von Bismarck<\/em><\/p>\n\n\nThere\u2019s a deal to be made, a Christmas political \u201cmiracle.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s an agreement that can be reached between the President and the Congressional Democrats, a deal made necessary because there can’t be an \u201cinside trade\u201d within the Republicans. So Trump should bargain, but instead he demeaned \u201cChuck and Nancy\u201d (imagine if they called him Donny.)<\/p>\n\n\n
Yesterday we had the spectacle of the President and Vice President (if you could wake him up) putting on a demonstration, rather than a negotiation.\u00a0\u00a0The in-coming Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and the Minority Leader of the Senate, Chuck Schumer, were brought in for a public \u201chumiliation.\u201d\u00a0They were ambushed; anticipating an actual meeting where they could make a \u201cdeal,\u201d they were instead brought in for public abuse by the President.<\/p>\n\n\n
They gave as good as they got, maybe better.\u00a0\u00a0President Trump promised that a government shutdown would be \u201con him,\u201d taking responsibility for the possibility of failing to pay millions of employees and closing government services at Christmas.\u00a0\u00a0In our recent political history, no one has \u201cwon\u201d a shutdown.\u00a0\u00a0But a government shutdown at Christmas wasn\u2019t his goal for that meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
President Trump is not foolish.\u00a0\u00a0Looming over his immediate future are indictments from the Special Counsel Robert Mueller, perhaps including his own family members.\u00a0\u00a0He knows that the specter of impeachment is also on the horizon (and promises a revolt of it occurs.)\u00a0\u00a0His current goal is not to solve government problems, but to solidify his base, to keep the 30-40% of Americans who see him as doing a \u201cgood job\u201d in his corner.<\/p>\n\n\n
And he hit all the right buttons in yesterday\u2019s \u201cmeeting.\u201d According to him, \u00a0he is for protecting America, the Democrats aren\u2019t.\u00a0\u00a0He is for keeping drugs, terrorists and criminals out of the United States, the Democrats must want them in.\u00a0\u00a0And he is able to argue with the Jewish minority leader from New York City and the woman House leader from San Francisco.\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t think he misses the optics of that; there are a significant number of his supporters that buy all of those stereotypes of hate.<\/p>\n
Nancy Pelosi shrugged off Michele Obama’s “they go low, we go high” advice. Pelosi compared Trump’s failed wall to his “manhood” (as Colbert said, he can’t erect either one.) She can dish it out if she needs to. <\/p>\n\n\n
It\u2019s all about $3.4 billion, the difference between the $1.6 billion in the current legislation on the table and the $5 billion Trump want\u2019s for his wall.\u00a0\u00a0And while $3.4 billion is significant, there are quite a few things the Democrats would take for that amount.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Republicans still have majorities in both the House and the Senate, Paul Ryan is still Speaker, so why not just make a deal among the Republicans and tell the Democrats to \u201ckiss off?\u201d Because there isn\u2019t a majority of Republicans who are willing to spend the $3.4 billion either.\u00a0They are \u201call of a sudden\u201d shocked with the incredibly huge deficit, almost a trillion this year.\u00a0\u00a0The fact that they created this debt with their own tax cut last year, and that the promised 5% economic growth to cover the lost revenue didn\u2019t happen, well, that doesn\u2019t seem to matter.\u00a0\u00a0Now they just have to cut, cut, cut spending.<\/p>\n\n\n
So President Trump was right, he needs Democrats to join with him to solve the problem.\u00a0\u00a0The Republican \u201cFreedom Caucus\u201d in the House will dramatically oppose the spending, and Senators Paul and Cruz will grandstand in the Senate.\u00a0\u00a0It will take the Democrats to get the work done.<\/p>\n\n\n
No one really knows how the game is played
The art of the trade
How the sausage gets made
We just assume that it happens
But no one else is in
The room where it happens<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n(lyrics from \u201cIn the Room Where it Happens \u2013 Hamilton)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\nSo, IF the President can get over his need to excite his base, and IF he isn\u2019t so committed to changing the subject from the Mueller Investigation that he WANTS to shut down the government, there is a deal to be made.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
The last time the President, Senator Schumer and Congressman Pelosi met on in the White House, they reached a deal.\u00a0\u00a0The issue was DACA, the Dreamers, over 800,000 Americans who were raised here, but because of their parents\u2019 actions, are not citizens.\u00a0\u00a0They reached a deal giving those Dreamers a status, and a chance to be Americans.\u00a0\u00a0And then White House Advisor Stephen Miller and Chief of Staff Kelly made the President \u201ctake it back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
It’s been over a year since that meeting; a year where nothing has been done to advance the Dreamers\u2019 cause.\u00a0\u00a0Put it on the table, let the leaders of the Congress and the President engage in the \u201c\u2026art of the trade\u201d and make some sausage.\u00a0\u00a0If it costs an extra $3.4 billion for a Wall we don’t need \u2013 and keeps the government from closing down, it\u2019s worth the cost.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
No one else needs to be \u201c\u2026in the room where it happens.\u201d\u00a0No one needs to take \u201cthe blame;\u201d there would be credit enough for all.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0President Trump put his name to a book, \u201cThe Art of the Deal.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Show some \u201cart\u201d Mr. President:\u00a0\u00a0make a deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Make A Deal \u201cPolitics is the art of the possible, the attainable \u2013 the art of the next best\u201d \u2013 Otto Von Bismarck There\u2019s a deal to be made, a Christmas political \u201cmiracle.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s an agreement that can be reached between the President and the Congressional Democrats, a deal made necessary because there can’t be an … Continue reading “Make a Deal”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMake a Deal : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/12\/12\/make-a-deal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Make a Deal : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Make A Deal \u201cPolitics is the art of the possible, the attainable \u2013 the art of the next best\u201d \u2013 Otto Von Bismarck There\u2019s a deal to be made, a Christmas political \u201cmiracle.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s an agreement that can be reached between the President and the Congressional Democrats, a deal made necessary because there can’t be an … Continue reading "Make a Deal"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/12\/12\/make-a-deal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Our America - 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