7/27/2017 - Victor Davis Hanson Townhall.com
The American political
system has never quite seen anything like the current opposition to President
Trump and his unusual reaction to it.
We are no longer in the
customary political landscapes. Usually, the out-of-power opposition -- in this
case, the Democratic Party -- offers most of the criticism and all of the
alternative policies in order to win in the next election. Instead, Trump has
an entire circle of diverse critics shooting at him. But they just as often end
up hitting each other -- and themselves.
So far, Trump's most
furious Democratic opponents have not been able to offer alternative visions to
Trump's agenda that might help them win back Congress in the 2018 midterm
elections. Higher taxes, more government regulations, less gas and oil
production, loose immigration policies and the promotion of identity politics
are not really winning issues.
Instead, the aim is
either to remove Trump before his first term is up or to so delegitimize him
that he is rendered powerless.
Yet obsessions with
Trump often lead to boomerang excesses -- mad talk and visuals, from obscene
rants to decapitation art -- that hurt the attackers more than Trump.
Republicans should have
been delighted with control of both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court,
state governorships and the legislatures, and the White House. In principle,
they laud Trump's efforts to appoint strict constructionists to the federal
courts, to increase oil and gas production, to reform Obamacare and the tax
code, and to restore deterrence abroad.
Yet the
Republican-controlled Congress is nearly paralyzed. It simply cannot unite to
deliver on promised major legislation.
Some senators and
representatives find Trump too uncouth to support his otherwise agreeable
proposals, and they fear (or hope) that he may not finish out his term. Some
worry that Trump's low approval rating might hurt their own re-elections. Some
are careerists who value getting along more than fighting for the White House
agenda.
The result is that when
factions of the Republican Congress are not battling each other, they are
feuding with Democrats and often with the Trump White House.
One reason Trump has
been slow to make major appointments is that he cannot trust the establishment
of his own party, many of whom in 2016 signed petitions declaring Trump unfit
for office.
At best, some
anti-Trump intellectuals and pundits still cannot separate Trump's conservative
agenda (which they privately support) from Trump's reality television persona
(which they find boorish and beneath the dignity of the presidency). At worst,
some are so invested in the idea that Trump would or should fail that their
opposition threatens to become an obsessive self-fulfilling prophecy.
The anti-Trump
conservative intellectual establishment also does not quite know where to aim
its fire. At Democrats whose agendas they used to oppose? At Congress for supporting
or not supporting Trump? At the liberal media that courts anti-Trumpers because
it finds their Trump hatred useful for the time being?
The media have given up
on impartial news coverage. Some journalists have announced that Trump is so
beyond the pale that he deserves only unapologetic critical treatment. Research
has shown that network coverage has been overwhelmingly anti-Trump.
At the center of this
directed fire is the flamboyant, sometimes polarizing but usually cunning
Trump. He is not a stationary target, but instead constantly ducking and
weaving with a flurry of executive orders, major White House shakeups and trips
throughout Europe and the Middle East, where he often gives good speeches and
sometimes is warmly greeted.
The result of the circular
firing squad is a crazed shootout where everyone gets hit.
Democrats as of yet
have no obvious presidential candidates or even credible spokespeople to make
the case against Trump. It is one thing to boast about the supposed buffoonery
of Trump but quite another to offer a candidate and an agenda that would
rebuild the so-called blue wall of swing states and reverse the results of
2016.
The media is
increasingly discredited and polls more poorly than Trump.
The Republican-majority
Congress is likewise even less popular than an unpopular Trump. Conservative
voters may remember that Trump beat the unfavorable odds to deliver the White
House to Republicans, while those in Congress blew favorable odds by not
passing legislation when they enjoyed clear majorities in the House and Senate.
So the circular
shooting goes on until someone is left standing -- or all are too wounded to
continue.
Forgotten in the hail
of 360-degree suicide gunfire is the only story that counts: the welfare of the
United States.
If Trump grows the
economy, creates more jobs and national wealth, achieves energy independence
and restores deterrence abroad, all the wild firing will cease. If not, he and
his attackers will finish each other off.
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