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Well-written and insightful. But I think it overlooks one important fact: > The question is when Republican congresspeople are going to realize that Trump is a

Well-written and insightful. But I think it overlooks one important fact: > The question is when Republican congresspeople are going to realize that Trump is a millstone around their necks in many respects The GOP has been pursuing this ideological war for at least 16 years, but probably going back to Gingrich or longer. Trump didn't come out of nowhere; the GOP spend all that time laying the groundwork. He's not a millstone, he's just another step along the same path for them.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
redler 10y ago
He may eventually be a millstone, but right now he's a vehicle. They're on the mechanical bull. The focus of many congressional Republicans is narrow. This is owing primarily to the specificity of their remit from heavily gerrymandered districts, and the undisguised requirements of the small but extremely wealthy cohort that directly and indirectly funds their presence in office. Trump himself is a non-ideological wildcard with no coherent governance or policy desires. Had the cards fallen only slightly differently, he could have won the Presidency as a loose-canon Democrat and spent the last few days initiating policies completely opposite those we've seen so far. He would enjoy the squirming of frustrated Republicans under the heel of his boot just as much as he's now enjoying the garment rending on the Democratic side. But things worked out as they did, and he found his emotional affinity and path to power with the Republican base. They became the vehicle for the satisfaction of his peculiar needs, and now that he's in power, he can binge on victory scenarios queued up for him by his GOP courtiers. Does anyone really think Donald Trump has some deep ideological need to implement the "Global Gag Order", something he very likely never heard of before running? As long as the GOP can stay on the bull, they'll keep squeezing off shots at their personal targets and not worrying about the rest unless something goes terribly, horribly wrong. They can check longstanding empty boxes, and Trump won't care, since the dance itself satisfies him.
- hackuser 10y ago
  I generally agree, except ... > Had the cards fallen only slightly differently, he could have won the Presidency as a loose-canon Democrat I agree that he is non-ideological. IMHO he does have some political ideas that meet his business needs, for example being strongly pro-big business, anti-tax, and anti-regulation. I'm not sure how he would square that with the Dems, but he I agree that he doesn't care about GOP ideology. My point in the GP was that the GOP has been following this course since 2000, 1994, or longer; they started a populist fire that now burns way out of control. The Democrats have not; there is no way they would support him simply for competency and rationality reasons, much less policy. > Does anyone really think Donald Trump has some deep ideological need to implement the "Global Gag Order", something he very likely never heard of before running? Certainly he has a strong reaction to people criticizing or disagreeing with him; he wouldn't tolerate that from within the executive branch.
  - redler 10y ago
    > there is no way they would support him simply for competency and rationality reasons It's disappointing, to say the least, that this turns out to be untrue for the Republicans. The staid, rational, methodical, conservative Republicans are gone. The nihilists and paperclip maximizers have moved in. >> the "Global Gag Order" > Certainly he has a strong reaction to people criticizing or disagreeing with him; he wouldn't tolerate that from within the executive branch. Definitely, and it's his biggest exposed lever. But while "global gag order" colloquially describes what he's doing right now (silencing workers, ordering facts, data, inconvenient policy "disappeared"), "Global Gag Order" is actually a specific thing: a policy that projects the GOP's abortion stance onto the rest of the world's NGOs by conditioning the receipt of $9.5 Billion in aid on policy alignment. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/01/trump_s_global_gag_rule_is_even_worse_than_it_seemed.html http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/201... Trump was a longtime pro-choice New York Democrat with no religious or moral framework. There's no way he cares about this; nor does he care enough to not sign it, as it doesn't affect him. He's indifferent, a blank page on which his outer circle of attendants, each the honed tip of the sharpest ideological spears, can write policy that Trump will sign with a "whatever" and a dour glare. Even more dangerous, once signed, he integrates these policies as his own -- because he now has skin in the game. If his name is on a policy, he'll relentlessly hammer it home. Writ large, this means the Trumpist policy stance will be a bag of the loudest and most radical initiatives -- for him, a set of weak opinions strongly held. Virulently held, as we see from his redoubling on the voter fraud conspiracy theory and crowd size hobbyhorse.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

redler 10y ago

He may eventually be a millstone, but right now he's a vehicle. They're on the mechanical bull. The focus of many congressional Republicans is narrow. This is owing primarily to the specificity of their remit from heavily gerrymandered districts, and the undisguised requirements of the small but extremely wealthy cohort that directly and indirectly funds their presence in office. Trump himself is a non-ideological wildcard with no coherent governance or policy desires. Had the cards fallen only slightly differently, he could have won the Presidency as a loose-canon Democrat and spent the last few days initiating policies completely opposite those we've seen so far. He would enjoy the squirming of frustrated Republicans under the heel of his boot just as much as he's now enjoying the garment rending on the Democratic side. But things worked out as they did, and he found his emotional affinity and path to power with the Republican base. They became the vehicle for the satisfaction of his peculiar needs, and now that he's in power, he can binge on victory scenarios queued up for him by his GOP courtiers. Does anyone really think Donald Trump has some deep ideological need to implement the "Global Gag Order", something he very likely never heard of before running? As long as the GOP can stay on the bull, they'll keep squeezing off shots at their personal targets and not worrying about the rest unless something goes terribly, horribly wrong. They can check longstanding empty boxes, and Trump won't care, since the dance itself satisfies him.

hackuser 10y ago
I generally agree, except ... > Had the cards fallen only slightly differently, he could have won the Presidency as a loose-canon Democrat I agree that he is non-ideological. IMHO he does have some political ideas that meet his business needs, for example being strongly pro-big business, anti-tax, and anti-regulation. I'm not sure how he would square that with the Dems, but he I agree that he doesn't care about GOP ideology. My point in the GP was that the GOP has been following this course since 2000, 1994, or longer; they started a populist fire that now burns way out of control. The Democrats have not; there is no way they would support him simply for competency and rationality reasons, much less policy. > Does anyone really think Donald Trump has some deep ideological need to implement the "Global Gag Order", something he very likely never heard of before running? Certainly he has a strong reaction to people criticizing or disagreeing with him; he wouldn't tolerate that from within the executive branch.
- redler 10y ago
  > there is no way they would support him simply for competency and rationality reasons It's disappointing, to say the least, that this turns out to be untrue for the Republicans. The staid, rational, methodical, conservative Republicans are gone. The nihilists and paperclip maximizers have moved in. >> the "Global Gag Order" > Certainly he has a strong reaction to people criticizing or disagreeing with him; he wouldn't tolerate that from within the executive branch. Definitely, and it's his biggest exposed lever. But while "global gag order" colloquially describes what he's doing right now (silencing workers, ordering facts, data, inconvenient policy "disappeared"), "Global Gag Order" is actually a specific thing: a policy that projects the GOP's abortion stance onto the rest of the world's NGOs by conditioning the receipt of $9.5 Billion in aid on policy alignment. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/01/trump_s_global_gag_rule_is_even_worse_than_it_seemed.html http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/201... Trump was a longtime pro-choice New York Democrat with no religious or moral framework. There's no way he cares about this; nor does he care enough to not sign it, as it doesn't affect him. He's indifferent, a blank page on which his outer circle of attendants, each the honed tip of the sharpest ideological spears, can write policy that Trump will sign with a "whatever" and a dour glare. Even more dangerous, once signed, he integrates these policies as his own -- because he now has skin in the game. If his name is on a policy, he'll relentlessly hammer it home. Writ large, this means the Trumpist policy stance will be a bag of the loudest and most radical initiatives -- for him, a set of weak opinions strongly held. Virulently held, as we see from his redoubling on the voter fraud conspiracy theory and crowd size hobbyhorse.