The old cunning fox did it again: he suddenly sided with Democrats “Chuck and Nancy” and infuriated his own Republican party. The Democrats think they have scored a major win. The only one who has won is Trump. He once again divided his enemies and will rule for some more time. Trump needs time for (i) creating disruption, chaos and destruction, (ii) erasing the Obama legacy, and (iii) letting the Trump businesses profit from his Presidency.
Trump made a cunning and smart move by favouring a 3 month plan to fund the US government, raising the US debt ceiling, and providing emergency relief to the victims of hurricane Harvey. Trump can play the good cop and Republicans are the bad cop. A 3 month plan is also a guarantee for continuing the Trump-Bannon Revolution of disruption, chaos and destruction. In this chaos, Trump works hard on “delegitimizing Barack Obama” and erasing the Obama legacy.
The Republican party wanted to raise the US debt ceiling for a much longer period and even after the midterm elections of 6 November 2018. Trump is eager in keeping this contentious issue on the table as leverage in his ongoing negotiations. The Democrats would normally have opted for a longer lifting of the debt ceiling but could not resist playing political games with the Republicans. Trump finally drove a wedge between the recent bipartisan efforts in US Congress.
Trump’s latest Machiavellian move is probably payback for the bipartisan legislative efforts of Democrats and Republican in restricting Trump’s executive power (eg, my blog). Trump cannot afford a bipartisan Congress. He must divide and rule to win time for executing his agenda. As the saying goes: “The rules of fair play do not apply in love and war” (source).
The daily political turmoil in USA hides one successful Trump effort: deregulation. Trump’s massive deregulation efforts serve all 3 parts of his agenda: (i) creating disruption, chaos and destruction, (ii) erasing the Obama legacy, and (iii) letting the Trump businesses profit from his Presidency. Most of Trump’s deregulation efforts are clouded in secrecy (eg, Barron’s, NYT).
This deregulation also affects the Trump Cabinet, as top jobs in Trump’s Administration are mostly vacant (eg, NYT, WP). The NYT blames Trump for being “exceptionally slow in nominating people to serve in leadership positions below the secretary level”. However, this conclusion conflicts with a recent NYT / ProPublica investigation on the effectiveness of the Trump deregulation teams (eg, NYT, ProP, MPR). It also conflicts with the swift appointments of political aides at every Cabinet agency (eg, WP).
The Democrats and Republicans should realise that they have a common and inside enemy. Until then, Trump will switch political sides whenever convenient to him. The almost 50/50 deadlock allows for this opportunistic approach. The Democrats have handed Trump a further extension of his Presidency and another round of disruption, chaos and destruction. The old cunning fox is far from senile although he prefers his many opponents to believe he is.
Fox the Fox – Precious Little Diamond (1984) – artists, lyrics, video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2
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