Politico is reporting that some Republicans who would normally never go for an Obama-like stimulus plan are now entertaining the idea of a Trump infrastructure plan. Why, because they are hypocrites? No, according to Politico they are afraid of Trump:
POLITICO – To understand the spell Trump has cast on the Republican Party, just listen to the members of the House Republican Conference these days: The same gang that made slashing spending their singular cause in Congress are now entertaining — and in many cases embracing — the president-elect’s pitch to pump billions into the economy in the form of a massive infrastructure package.
The irony, expressed privately by lawmakers and leadership aides, is glaring. Privately, House Republicans complain that Trump’s infrastructure plan reeks of Obama’s stimulus package (though some argue that Trump, unlike Obama, is likely to rely on public-private partnerships, not just federal dollars, and is likely to be paid for). They say his tariff proposal is ridiculous and using the White House to force companies to stay in the U.S. is inappropriate.
Many are afraid to publicly oppose Trump because of his fondness for retribution and use of Twitter to publicly shame his critics. So now, they’re left crossing their fingers that his rhetoric doesn’t translate into actual policy proposals next year.
“Sometimes it’s the pioneers that end up with arrows in their backs,” said Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.). “Sometimes, for preservation sake in a political sense, people don’t want to pioneer in teeing off on a newly elected, and at this point popular, presidential nominee.”
This is indeed irony. What we wanted was for a Republican Congress to rein Trump in and keep him on the straight and narrow when it comes to spending and trade (and other things he decides to go liberal on). But now we’re hearing that they are considering Trump’s liberalism because they are afraid of him?
The next four years are not going to go well if Congress doesn’t get some balls.
Truly, this is another argument for term limits. If Republicans were limited to say, two terms in Congress, they’d be less concerned about their political careers and more concerned about the welfare of the country – even with a president who wouldn’t think twice about using the bully pulpit to attack those who speak out against him and gin up his cultish populist movement against them.
If this fear of Trump continues it’s going to be a very long four years…