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But of course none of those things are going to happen, because Congress doesn't want them and the President doesn't pass laws. Congress also doesn't want a mor
by markbnj 10y ago
But of course none of those things are going to happen, because Congress doesn't want them and the President doesn't pass laws. Congress also doesn't want a moratorium on federal hires, tariffs to shore up American manufacturers, etc. That's the thing about populist demagogues: they may tick all the hot button issues for an angry and dissatisfied demographic, but they can't really get anything done because they have no governing coalition. This is especially true when the election results in no real mandate in terms of majority support. The last thing I would mention, and it's important to understand when looking at the U.S. political system, is that we all claim to be unhappy with government, and especially Congress, and we're all big supporters of ideas like term limits, except when it comes to our own representative, who we send back pretty much year after year as long as the pork continues to flow our way. The problem, in short, is not the "elites" in Washington; it's us.
- GiorgioG 10y ago> But of course none of those things are going to happen Well, everyone said Trump could never become the GOP nominee. Then everyone said he could never become President. I hope people keep saying that he can't do these things.
- stephancoral 10y agoTrump literally CANNOT make Congress do anything. It's up to them to limit their power. And it's not like Trump has a popular mandate to use to his advantage. Mitch McConnell himself said infrastructure and term limits were absolutely not a priority of this congress. This is completely out of Trump's little hands. But go ahead, keep living in your made up dream world where Trump can wave his scepter and make all those nice little promises he made come true.
- cmdrfred 10y agoWhen you use the word literally where no one would be confused that you are speaking figuratively and resort to name calling it weakens your argument.
- markbnj 10y agoI think it's much easier to get elected than to move the whole government in the directions you've promised to move it during the campaign. This has been demonstrated over and over again. Power is quite distributed in the U.S. political system and the presidency is pretty ephemeral when viewed from the perspective of congresspeople who in some cases have held office for decades. The president has a good deal of executive power, but his or her political power emanates from the skilled use of the bully pulpit. One of the few populists who was successfully able to battle his own party's interests was Teddy Roosevelt when he went after the big trusts. Perhaps Trump will be as successful, but one thing Roosevelt had going for him was his skills as a politician. It remains to be seen whether Trump has these skills.