Yesterday’s messy display of bickering between President Trump, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and presumptive incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., didn’t inspire much hope in the public for the next two years. But as Senate Majority Leader pushes forward with the Trump-backed First Step Act, the passage of criminal justice reform could paint a blueprint for how a bipartisan government, even one as divided as the radicalized Democratic Party and our populist president, could progress.
It wouldn’t be glamorous, Trump’s base could get annoyed, and neither party would gain groundbreaking partisan victories. But using the next two years to tackle obvious, publicly popular but not politically strategic issues could be the best use of everyone’s time. This is a fantastic, improbable proposition, but it could theoretically happen.
Consider where the horseshoe of the populist Left and Right tend to bend toward each other. The First Step Act is only a literal first step. A coalition of Democrats — especially rising stars like Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., who have everything to gain and nothing to lose — and the libertarian but more Trump-friendly wing of the Republican Party could pursue broader criminal sentencing reforms.
Then as seen with the overlap between Bernie Sanders-backed bills and measures from the Department of Health and Human Services, legislative pushes for price transparency in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries could be massively successful. With Democrats back in the House, a wholesale repeal of Obamacare seems impossible, but a bipartisan coalition could enact policies to massively reduce the list prices of procedures and pharmaceuticals.
The laundry list of political issues that aren’t expressly partisan but widely popular isn’t enormous, but it exists. The overwhelming majority of Americans support decriminalizing marijuana. With Jeff Sessions out of the Justice Department, Trump could get it done. Two-thirds of Americans are favorable toward nuclear energy, perhaps the single most cost-effective technology we can adopt to stop climate change. The states are struggling to save nuclear power, but a bipartisan federal coalition could revive it.
It’s not likely that this would happen. If yesterday was any indication, both parties are going to spend the next two years attacking each other for maximum political gain to posture themselves for the 2020 elections. But if Pelosi is wise enough to realize that Trump is a unique Republican president, perhaps she can capitalize on the moment and get something done.
