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Trump Is Losing His Influence
The article is one week old but, has some interesting observations IMO. -- Don-------------------
The president can no longer count on his partys support. That suggests dangerous times ahead.
By Jonathan Bernstein
November 30, 2018, 6:30 AM EST
Ive been warning that this would be a dangerous period for President Donald Trump. With the midterms over, and no reason to think that Trump still has some kind of unusual hold on voters, Republicans would suddenly find themselves with far weaker incentives to go along with him.
This is the normal political cycle. Whats different for Trump is that while most presidents use the tools of office to build their influence, Trumps professional reputation and his popularity among rank-and-file voters and therefore his personal sway with legislators remain unusually weak. That makes an unfavorable moment in the electoral cycle especially hazardous. And just like that, we saw two episodes in the Senate this week demonstrating how little clout Trump now has.
First, on Wednesday, 14 Republicans joined a united Democratic Party to advance a bill overturning the presidents policy in Yemen. Thats extraordinary: Same-party members of Congress, especially those with orthodox positions, are almost always deferential to the president on matters of war and peace. Trump didnt just lose outliers such as Rand Paul or relative moderates such as Susan Collins. He lost 14 and there arent 14 Republican senators who have iconoclastic views on foreign policy.
Then, on Thursday, a district court nomination had to be yanked from the Senate floor just before the vote because South Carolina Republican Tim Scott decided to oppose it, and because Arizona Republican Jeff Flake is voting against all of Trumps judicial nominations until a measure to protect special counsel Robert Mueller can get a vote. Flake is also on the judiciary committee, which just had to cancel a hearing on other nominees; without Flake, they didnt have the votes.
Perhaps this revolt wont extend to the multiple scandals swirling around Trump. (And this was a pretty bad week for him on that front: See my Bloomberg Opinion colleagues Noah Feldman and Timothy L. O'Brien (twice) on Trumps legal problems; Ken White on Michael Cohens plea; the Lawfare group on Cohen and the Trump Organization; and Bob Bauer and Ryan Goodman on Jerome Corsi and thats just from Thursday.)
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https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-11-30/trump-is-losing-his-influence
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Trump Is Losing His Influence (Original Post)
DonViejo
Dec 2018
OP
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)1. Lordy, I hope so.
marble falls
(57,010 posts)2. Good post, DV!
secondwind
(16,903 posts)3. Well put, bravo! Loved this!
duforsure
(11,884 posts)4. He's openly trying to obstruct justice
By demanding Congress call them to testify, because the DOJ wouldn't, and to use to threaten them with to create charges . Also its all distractions away from his troubles that's now bearing down hard on him and all involved.