Democrats badly underestimated Trump

[riversedge]

Trump would be nothing if Republicans had a spine.




Democrats badly underestimated Trump
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/28/opinions/democrats-badly-underestimated-trump-zelizer/



Julian E. Zelizer-Profile-Image

By Julian Zelizer, CNN Political Analyst

Updated 6:29 PM ET, Thu June 28, 2018

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More of a destroyer than a builder


Trump is also demonstrating that the power of the President to tear things down is immense, especially if that President is not particularly interested in putting something different in its place. Interestingly enough, the real estate developer President has not turned out to be much of a builder. He prefers to take things apart and then walk away from the rubble without looking back.



Just imagine if Obama had done it....
Just imagine if Obama had done it....



Short of obtaining repeal and replace, he has severely weakened the Affordable Care Act by taking smaller steps like ending the individual mandate. He pulled out of TPP, pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord and pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal. He has issued executive orders rolling back Obama-era regulations to curb climate change and constrain Wall Street.
While Congress and the courts have significant power when it comes to checking legislative initiatives from the Oval Office, a president who is intent on dismantling policies -- such as stripping away regulations or withdrawing from international agreements -- can get a lot done if he or she is determined. A president who wants to use the bully pulpit to undercut the public confidence in institutions, such as the news media or law enforcement, can do great harm if they don't care about the long-term consequences.


As the dog days of summer begin, Democrats should be more concerned than ever before about the consequences of a Trump presidency. The possibility for President Trump to seriously transform American policy keeps growing and the potential for a two-term presidency can no longer be dismissed. This unstable, shallow television star is starting to demonstrate that he has some very real political muscle to keep pushing forward.

The stakes of the 2018 midterm elections should be clear. If the national party does not figure out how to put forth an effective campaign that generates high turnout and excites the passions of their electorate, and if they don't engage in the upcoming Supreme Court confirmation fight in a way that slows down the process and uses the President's pick to awaken voters to the stakes of this struggle, President Trump could be looking at two more years of united government, with a GOP that will see him as an influential kingmaker, and the Congress will be more willing to start handing him legislative victories on the path to 2020.

[Girard442]

1. Any change will have to come from the local level.

If the national Dems haven't come up with a compelling messsage by now, it ain't never gonna happen. They're stuck yearning for the good old days of reaching across the aisle to craft bipartisan legislation. Those days are gone forever, if they existed at all.

[still_one]

2. Democrats underestimated NOTHING. However, those self-identified progressives who refused to vote

for the Democratic nominee...……………………………………..

[AZ8theist]

4. Exactly

With the help of traitors like Stein and Sarandon they believed some nonsense about the "lesser of two evils".

How's that working out for you now, jerkoffs??

[Hokie]

3. No they overestimated the intelligence of the average voter NT

[AZ8theist]

5. NO ONE EVER underestimated the stupidity of the American voter.

Just go back and look at clips of Dotard rallies during the campaign. Watch the interviews.

Then just watch (if you can stomach it..) his current campaign rallies. Same morons cheering on a lying, imbecilic Nazi fucktard.

These fucking idiots WANT to live in a totalitarian wasteland. Too fucking stupid to see their own destruction coming.

[kentuck]

7. Too bad every Democrat doesn't think like we do...

We would have 100% turnout. We wouldn't have to worry about getting people out to vote and small stuff like that. Unfortunately, the reality appears to be something different.

[Me.]

6. God....Does He Think We Don't Know This?

We saw it on election night, what was coming and have been yelling about it ever since. It's the pundits, analysts, strategists so on and so forth, the whataboutism and both sides are the same have been their forte. So now that they're beginning to get it they're telling US? We know, so open your big yappers and start calling him a corrupt liar who is destroying this country from your elevated perches.

"The stakes of the 2018 midterm elections should be clear"...no kidding brainiac! And as for those who think their passions need to be ignited get a grip and get the hell out there and vote, it's not like you're being asked to climb a mountain.

[JI7]

9. I didn't, if you recognize the bigotry in this country it's not hard to figure out

Add in the Russian attacks on the election, gerrymandering, electoral college.

And a horrible news media.

[standingtall]

10. republicans are not spinless they are worse than that they are complicit

[RandySF]

11. I guess CNN wants us to quit before anyone actually votes