Thanks to the release of the “Green New Deal,” President Trump will be able to sign on to the latest plan to fund the government without his border wall funding at a much lower political cost.
As I argued at the start of the December-January government shutdown, Trump needed the border wall fight to prove to the Republican base that he was willing to go to war to deliver on his promise. More than most politicians, Trump’s success has been tied to the loyal following of his passionate supporters, and any re-election strategy hinges on them being fired up. Failure to achieve his promise of building a border wall, let alone one that Mexico pays for, will no doubt be a major embarrassment for Trump going into 2020 and hurt him with an important part of his base.
That said, it’s important to remember that there were two sides to Trump’s win in 2016. One of it was the passionate support for his base, and the other was Republican fear of a Hillary Clinton presidency. It was fears about Clinton that helped bring many conservatives who had opposed Trump during the primary over to his side by the time the general election arrived. In fact, exit polls showed that Trump won 15 percent of voters who had an unfavorable opinion of him.
And this is why the “Green New Deal” has helped smooth the path to a border wall deal. The plan is a radical proposal that would easily costs tens of trillions of dollars and would seek to transform the U.S. economy into a socialist utopia within a decade. Six of the Democrats have already signed on to a resolution outlining its goals. No matter how disappointed some conservatives may be with any funding deal that does not include a border wall, Trump has got to be thinking that having the massive target of the “Green New Deal” will ensure that he’ll have no problem firing up his base in 2020. It’s no surprise, then, that at a Monday night rally, Trump relished the chance to attack the “Green New Deal.”
Though immigration hawk circles may fume over Trump backing down on border wall funding, few voters who would otherwise support Trump are going to stay home in 2020 over a border wall when the alternative is a socialist plan to remake the American energy, food, housing, and healthcare sectors.
People have been wondering for the past few months how Trump may be able to find a way out of the corner he was put in as a result of his border wall promise, which left him torn between his political base and the realities of governing. The “Green New Deal” may have provided one.
