More Election Day Fallout—The White House pushed back Wednesday on the conventional assessment that the Democratic wave election in Virginia and elsewhere reflected poorly on Donald Trump: The president’s party always faces “headwinds” in elections in the first year; Virginia was trending Democratic anyway; what’s got Republican voters frustrated is inaction from the GOP Congress.
But the Wall Street Journal editorial page, which has been friendly toward Trump (if cautiously so), called Tuesday’s thumping of the Republican party an “anti-Trump wave.” Here’s an excerpt from their Thursday editorial:
The Journal is holding out hope that tax reform can help salvage the GOP’s prospects for next year’s midterm elections by giving Trump a victory and giving Republican voters something to get excited about. It’s a refrain I heard from Washington Republicans not in the White House starting on Tuesday night as the shock of the election results were coming in. This means they’ve got to get tax reform through.
But as Matthew Continetti at the Washington Free Beacon argued on MSNBC Wednesday, that “won’t cut it with the Trump coalition.”
“If you want the Trump voters to show up next year, you have to give them something that Trump is delivering on. You need to show the wall is being built,” Continetti said. He added that the proposed tax reform could end up raising taxes on the suburban voters that seem to have fled the GOP in places like Virginia.
Such is the dilemma Republicans find themselves in. The X-factor is, as it always seems to be these days in Washington, Trump himself. Reversing the downward trend in his approval rating means getting legislation and initiatives passed and implemented, being responsive to his base’s concerns, and resisting the parts of conventional Republican domestic policy that remain unpopular with swing voters. The first step, however, is admitting his party has a problem—one that most everyone else on Trump’s side of the aisle can see as plain as day.
Vice President Mike Pence visited Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Wednesday to meet with local law enforcement and the grieving community following Sunday’s shooting at a church that left 26 dead and dozens wounded. Pence delivered remarks at a vigil held Wednesday evening at a local high school, where he said he came on behalf of President Trump, who is in the middle of a 12-day trip in Asia.
“Words fail when saints and heroes fall,” said Pence. “We gather tonight to offer our deepest condolences, and I offer the condolences of the American people to all of those affected by the horrific attack that took place just three days ago. To all the members of this local community, to the faith leaders who are with us here tonight, thank you for your outpouring of support for your fellow Texans. Your testimony of Christian love is inspiring the nation.”
Pence continued: “President Trump wanted us to come to Texas tonight to tell all of you, we are with you. The American people are with you. And as the president said Sunday, halfway around the world, ‘We will never leave your side.’”
Mueller Watch—Via CNN: “Former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn has expressed concern about the potential legal exposure of his son, Michael Flynn Jr., who, like his father, is under scrutiny by special counsel Robert Mueller . . . Flynn’s concern could factor into decisions about how to respond to Mueller’s ongoing investigation.”
Meanwhile, as my colleague Andrew Egger points out, the federal judge hearing the government’s case against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has issued a gag order:
Mark It Down—“I don’t blame China. Who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country for benefit of their citizens? I give China great credit.” —President Trump, to business leaders in Beijing on the U.S. trade deficit, November 9, 2017
President Trump on Thursday morning called for broad changes to U.S.-China trade policy, castigating previous administrations for an “out of control trade deficit” with China in a bilateral meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping.
In a remarkable speech in Beijing, Trump alternated between starkly condemning Chinese policies he said were unfair to America and praising Xi’s government for being able to pull such a swindle off.
“Trade between China and the United States has not been, over the last many years, a very fair one for us. As we all know, America has a huge annual trade deficit with China, a number beyond anything that anybody would understand,” Trump said. “Right now, unfortunately, it is a very one-sided and unfair one.”
Trump also condemned specific Chinese economic offenses, including their demand that companies divulge their technologies to Beijing in order to access the enormous Chinese market and their permissiveness toward the theft of American intellectual property.
“But I don’t blame China,” Trump said. “After all, who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country for the benefit of its citizens? I give China great credit.”
“I do blame past administrations,” he continued, “for allowing this out-of-control trade deficit to take place and to grow. We have to fix this, because it just doesn’t work for our great American companies, and it doesn’t work for our great American workers.”
Trump offered a similar mix of criticism and praise regarding “the North Korean nuclear menace,” acidly noting that “China can fix this problem easily and quickly” before expressing confidence that Xi was up to the task.
“I know one thing about your president, if he works on it hard, it will happen,” Trump said. “No doubt about it.”
As congressional Republicans try to pass tax reform in the final weeks of the year, they’ve hoped that President Trump would provide the right voice to bring their message to the American people. But Trump still doesn’t seem to know what the bill would do.
This was evident Tuesday evening, when Trump called 12 Senate Democrats with a simple sales pitch: This bill is good for the middle class, because it’s terrible news for rich guys like him.
“My accountant called me and said, ‘You’re going to get killed in this bill,’” the president reportedly said in a phone call from South Korea. “The deal is so bad for rich people, I had to throw in the estate tax just to give them something.”
But Trump’s claims are dubious. Two independent analyses of the House GOP bill show the bulk of the proposed cuts would go to corporations and the wealthy, who pay a large share of the nation’s taxes. That’s in line with the Republican argument for cutting taxes across the board to spur economic growth. But it’s miles away from what Trump is asking Democratic senators to believe about the bill.
Capitol Hill Republicans have been more clear about the bill’s contents and benefits.
“I fundamentally believe when we deliver on comprehensive tax reform and tax relief, especially for middle-income families,” House speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday, “when people see their paychecks going up and see faster economic growth, better jobs being created, I think that’s going to bear fruit politically, but most importantly it’s going to help people.”
If Republicans are going to pass tax reform, they’ll have to do it by convincing the American people that cutting taxes for all Americans will help make all Americans prosper. A president who says this bill soaks the rich could frustrate those efforts.
News You Can Use—From CBS News: “911 caller reports woman screaming “Help!” Deputies arrive to find noisy pet parrot.”
Song of the Day—“Gloria” by Them
