The Trump administration has proposed cutting federal spending by more than $3.6 trillion over the next decade, in order to get bloated government spending under control and balance the budget.
Now note the framing on the May 23 headline from the Washington Post story on the budget proposal: “Even some Republicans balk at Trump’s plan for steep spending cuts.”
That headline is a classic example of the “divide and conquer” tactic media outlets deploy repeatedly against Republicans — because it keeps working. Republicans should recognize this strategy for what it is, stop taking the bait and start working with the president to get things done.
The Washington Post isn’t the only one playing this game. A selected recent sampling:
· Republicans may be reaching their breaking point with Trump (Politico)
· GOP senators criticize Trump’s overtures to controversial leaders (ABC News)
· GOP anger at Trump is building (The Hill)
· This poll shows Donald Trump is a BIG problem for Republicans (CNN, in a story focused on a single poll in Virginia, a state Hillary Clinton won in 2016)
It turns out Trump’s biggest political problem may not be the Democratic Party and its media allies (and let’s admit that the difference between the two is small). His bigger problem may be getting his agenda enacted with the help of Congressional Republicans — because they are falling for the “divide and conquer” strategy aimed at tearing down the president and making it impossible for him to govern. With friends like this, who needs enemies?
When Trump announced his presidential run, I doubted him. Yet, despite his flaws, Trump earned my respect in 2016 for his ability to withstand the most vicious attacks, his unwillingness to buckle under pressure and his underappreciated ability to deliver when it counted most, on Election Day, by talking directly to voters who (quite rightfully) felt abandoned by the coastal elites in the nation’s political, financial, cultural and media centers.
Since Trump’s win, the Democratic Party and media have attempted to “delegitimize” his presidency by weaving conspiracy theories, apocalyptic scaremongering and hysterical denunciation into a vicious and dishonest attack narrative. What’s disheartening is to see Republican officeholders flinching in the face of the stampede.
Congressional Republicans would do well to keep in mind the new administration’s achievements thus far. These include the appointment of a strong conservative on the Supreme Court; a dramatic reduction in illegal immigration thanks to tighter enforcement; a frontal assault on the unchecked growth of federal regulations; and an incipient reset of troubled relations with allies in the Middle East, among other wins.
Those are real accomplishments, made in the face of staunch opposition. And GOP officeholders should remember: You would have gotten none of these things under a Hillary Clinton administration. Yet rather than find ways to build upon these achievements, the Republicans, cowed by the relentlessly hostile media coverage of the president, look poised to slink away.
Perhaps they think “distancing” themselves from the president will earn them points with the media gatekeepers. Forget it. The fact is that the establishment media isn’t going to be your friend when it counts. Agenda-setting news organizations like The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and so on might as well be wholly owned subsidiaries of the Democratic National Committee, as the Beltway groupthink that dominated the 2016 campaign coverage revealed.
And it’s worth emphasizing that while we hear frequently about Trump’s supposedly “low” approval ratings, he still remains more popular than any members of the congressional leadership from either party. That telling fact is oddly overlooked in the headlines.
Republicans should take a cue from the Democrats of the Obama era, who bent over backward to avoid criticizing the president. It was a remarkable display of party loyalty.
OK, so they lost plenty of congressional seats along the way. But Democrats also got a hell of a lot of what they wanted during the Obama years, including a long-desired federal takeover of the healthcare system, a slate of culture war victories, and a ramping up of government authority in virtually every area of American life.
It doesn’t mean Republicans have to defend everything Trump says or does — that’s sucker bait. But they’ll find that working with Trump to get things done will pay greater dividends than joining with his (and their) liberal opponents to tear him down.
Whether that succeeds or fails, it’s better than the current course many Republicans seem determined to pursue, attempting to set themselves aside from the president as if that will win the approval of The New York Times and The Washington Post. That approach is bound to fail, because when the next elections roll around, they’ll hang Trump around your neck regardless – all that will matter then is the scarlet letter “R” next to your name.
The establishment media, by stoking and highlighting any sign of party division, want nothing more than for Republicans to play along with their divide-and-conquer game. Don’t fall for it.
Republicans may lose seats in Congress in 2018 or perhaps even control of one or both chambers; it’s a common historical pattern for the out-party to gain in midterm years. But if Republicans continue acting as they are now, conspiring with Democrats and media elites to tear down the commander in chief, those losses will be guaranteed. And they will be richly deserved.
Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellUSA) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. A retired U.S. Army infantry Captain, he served in Afghanistan with the 10th Mountain Division. He is CEO of Branding Freedom, co-founder of the American Warrior Initiative, and author of the critically-acclaimed, national bestseller “Outlaw Platoon: Heroes, Renegades, Infidels, and the Brotherhood of War in Afghanistan.”
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