BloggeRhythms

One day after Democrats were deliriously happy, believing the Obamacare repeal and replace attempts by their rivals had been defeated, those same Democrats now know the battle’s far from over.     

Aside from the continuation of health care tax revision, John Hayward covered seven other matters @breitbart.com that serve to illustrate that Republicans in general, and the new POTUS in particular, are currently doing extremely well.

Mr. Hayward’s opens by writing: “Politics is one of those sports where the team playing defense doesn’t get to score many points. Democrats are working hard to keep President Trump on defense, using an even more aggressive version of the same playbook they run against every Republican president. They think the collapse of Speaker Paul Ryan’s Obamacare repeal legislation last week gave them a new first down. Here are seven signs the Trump agenda has regained a great deal of momentum in just one day.”

First listed was Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ crackdown on sanctuary cities and his strong criticism of those refusing refuse to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He warned that “billions in federal funding could be jeopardized by continued refusal to comply with the law.”

Saying sanctuary cities are “making our nation less safe by putting dangerous criminals back on the streets,” the AG cited overwhelming support from the American people for turning illegal alien criminals over to ICE. He also “noted that many of the aliens shielded by sanctuary cities are guilty of extremely serious offenses, including rape and murder.” 

While Chicago and L.A. mayors defend sanctuary policies, Hayward writes that as Sessions noted, “they have 80-percent-plus support from the American people on the issue.” 

In Mr. Hayward’s opinion, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s claim that he has some kind of constitutional right to federal taxpayer dollars, even as he defies American voters by protecting illegal alien criminals from deportation, will benefit Republicans enormously as Emanuel becomes the face of Democrat city governance. 

Next: “Reining in madcap environmentalism and bureaucratic bloat is another issue where the Trump administration enjoys tremendous popular support. The president’s forthcoming executive order to roll back Obama-era climate change orders and promote energy independence will likely be another play made from a position of great strength. (It is important to note that at the time of this writing, the exact contents of Trump’s order were not known.)” 

Quite advantageous to the Trump administration is “pointing out how shoddy, self-serving, and doctored the data behind climate change initiatives has been. For example, it’s a killer point that the EPA knew its own expensive regulations would have no measurable effect on global temperatures. That kind of anecdote has a long shelf life. The administration can run a play like that over and over again, picking up a few yards every time.”   

Mr. Hayward then picked up on Trump’s critics accusing him of trying to change the subject by asking congressional investigators to look into connections between the Clinton machine and Russia. However, “whatever the ultimate outcome may be, it is unquestionably an example of the Trump team running an offensive play when it’s supposed to be permanently on defense.”

Highly praised is Trump’s reversal of past practice where critics called Republicans the “Stupid Party” often complaining about how easily they were put on defense. But now, “going back to the earliest moments of his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump has refused to assume a permanent defensive crouch, on nearly any issue. Many of the confident pundit predictions that his campaign was doomed, at various critical junctures, were born from the conventional wisdom that Trump would pay a heavy price for refusing to become defensive and apologetic. The conventional wisdom proved to be incorrect.” 

The importance of the change to aggressive tactics by Trump is of significant importance because while this particular play is still in progress and “it’s hard to say where the ball will end up. It doesn’t hurt to spotlight how Democrat opinion of Russia turned on a dime after the 2016 election. Also, the curious notion that Hillary Clinton is absolved of all offenses under some mythical “old news” clause of political law because she lost the election should be shredded, especially since we would currently be hearing loud demands to absolve her of all offenses if she had won the election.” 

Another item on the plus side is Ford’s announcement of three new plants in Michigan. “The next two elections will be very heavily influenced by how well the economy is doing. Good economic news will give Trump and congressional Republicans political capital to spend on other issues. 

Recalling Bill Clinton’s quote “It’s the Economy, Stupid,”  it will “be very difficult for Democrats to downplay good news from the automotive industry, given how much they made of President Obama “saving the industry.” A constant drumbeat of job creation stories from various industries has driven consumer confidence to a 16-year-high, according to a new report.

“Much of Trump’s agenda – including immigration, regulatory reform, and tax reform – is linked to his often-stated vision of a stronger American economy producing more jobs. Every part of that agenda becomes more difficult for Democrats to oppose if the economy is, in fact, stronger and producing more jobs.” 

Mr. Hayward then suggested that the “Trump Agenda may even be playing stronger offense than the Trump White House at the moment. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) has filed a one-line bill that would repeal the Affordable Care Act in its entirety.

While Brooks intended to “burn away the fog” and “show American voters who really wants to repeal Obamacare, and who merely acted that way during election time,” the “simplicity of his bill was a slap in the face to Speaker Paul Ryan’s convoluted, ineffective, wildly unpopular, and politically tone deaf Ryancare bill that would have hurt Trump’s base more than anyone.” 

And then came a more subtle, but more than likely accurate indication of Democrat worries, when Mr. Hayward referred to “Chuck Schumer’s public meltdown.” 

According to Mr. Hayward: “If Obamacare repeal was a debacle that left much of the GOP looking defensive, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s embarrassing tirade against a Trump supporter at a Manhattan restaurant on Sunday is a sign that Democrats’ grip on the ball is none too tight. Schumer certainly didn’t act like he was brimming with confidence after an ostensibly catastrophic week for congressional Republicans and the White House.” 

And then, Mr. Hayward’s concluding paragraph presented a critically important point regarding voter perceptions, particularly among Independents who will continue to help the POTUS’s future efforts. 

“Average voters don’t follow the minutiae of Washington scandal wars the way pundits do. It’s an article of conventional political wisdom that Republicans went too far criticizing presidents Clinton and Obama at various junctures, alienating some persuadable middle voters. The same thing can happen with Trump, no matter how hard Democrats try to paint him as a uniquely divisive and objectionable president. Presidents have a great deal of power to go back on offense after setbacks, as we’re seeing right now.” 

In summation, the article itself certainly made the point that Trump has ridden out some potentially disastrous circumstances recently, at the same time leaving his rivals far short of what could have been attained by them politically. However, aside from Trump's return to stride, 4773 comments from readers followed the article with varying degrees of agreement on specifics as what needs to be done in the future. Most importantly, within that group the overwhelming majority appear to be fully supportive of Trump, while suspicious of Ryan and other Congressional Republicans who seem far too self-serving by their actions to date. 

All of which continues to keep Trump and his agenda above the fray of conventional politics, something he’s promised all along in his goal of draining “the swamp,” and certainly seems to be working quite well for him presently. 

That's it for today folks. 

Adios