Candidate Trump’s 10 main promises to American voters if he was elected:
1. ‘Build a wall’ — and make Mexico pay for it
2. Temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States
3. ‘Bring manufacturing (jobs) back’
4. Impose tariffs on goods made in China and Mexico
5. Renegotiate or withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement and Trans-Pacific Partnership
6. ‘Full repeal of Obamacare’ and replace it with a market-based alternative
7. Renegotiate the Iran deal
8. Leave Social Security as is
9. Cut taxes
10. ‘Bomb’ and/or ‘take the oil’ from ISIS
Obviously he was elected; obviously he’s been in office barely 100 days and it would be unreasonable at this point to expect completion of all or even a majority of his 10 major promises. Those in italics are promises that he has either tried and failed to fulfill or they have not made an appearance for debate yet. His principle promises for which most voters who voted for him expect him to keep are the “Build a wall,” a temporary ban of refugees from the six countries included in his two Executive Orders (and those were NOT a Muslim ban), full repeal of Obamacare, and cutting taxes. We all know the failure two weeks ago in an attempted repeal/replace of Obamacare and the halt of the execution of the temporary ban in his two Executive Orders on refugee immigration to the U.S. His backers hope these and the balance of these 1o promises are still on his agenda and that they will get accomplished. But they did NOT in his first hundred days.
What has disappointed millions of his followers are the terms of the budget deal agreed to between leaders in the House and Senate over the weekend. The White House in this proposed bill endorsed several of the biggest targets of conservative voters’ rejection of Hillary Clinton in November. They are aghast that President Trump agreed to include their funding in this budget deal. They are: funding for Planned Parenthood, continued funding for the U.S. government to transport, process visas for, and relocate refugees from those six countries from his temporary immigration ban proposed in those two executive orders, NO money at all to begin the wall on the southern border, and no tax cuts. Additionally, included in the budget are huge amounts of money for the National Institute of Health — several billion dollars — when Trump said he was going to shut that department down. Quietly in the 1660 page budget bill was the continued funding of Obamacare through the end of fiscal year 2017.
I was personally shocked early this morning when this news was released nationally. Democrats trumpeted their success and Trump’s failure with this budget deal all day. Conservatives on the most part feel betrayed by the President and GOP leaders in Congress. It seems that the Trump Administration has just dived into “business as usual” in D.C. How could with all the promises made by the President and all those Congress men and women in their election runs in 2016 turn their backs on the promises they made to voters? These promises were the very reason they won their elections. But wait: many in Congress are just as shocked at this as you and I are. Read on.
I spoke with a Republican Congressman first thing this morning who was on his way back to D.C. for a meeting he was told to be back for this afternoon in which Leadership would “discuss” with GOP members what the options were for this budget plan they would finalize today and tomorrow and vote on Wednesday. According to him, there was NO mention about Planned Parenthood funding, NO mention about money for the NIH or refugee resettlement in the U.S. In fact, he said they last week had discussions that their ability to take monetary action in this budget to cut funding for those refugees was the best way to shortcut the liberal judges that had stopped the President’s two executive orders, and that doing so would temporarily ban immigration from those countries which are known to promote terrorists and terrorism. He was horrified at the details I gave him about the budget plan that had been leaked to the press. And he roared when I told him it was 1660 pages long! That told him that House and Senate leadership — Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell — had lied, or at least hidden the truth, by NOT revealing that the Leaders had already crafted at least one draft of the budget deal they were going to give the Democrats even before the weekend.
What blew me away was the endorsement of this plan by the White House! President Trump has again and again (and as late as Saturday in his Pennsylvania rally) bragged about what he was doing about some of these same items that are being funded in this budget.
However, when asked by media and obviously some legislators, the White House has some answers as to the “why:”
(CNN) “We couldn’t be more pleased,” Vice President Mike Pence said Monday on CBS, touting increases in military spending and a “down payment” on border security. “This is a budget deal, a bipartisan win for the American people and the President signed off on the parameters early (Sunday) … I think that’s a good piece of Monday morning news for the American people.”
“We now have an agreement that both sides should support,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday, praising the negotiations as “bipartisan and bicameral every step of the way.”
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer explained, “Remember, this is 2017 funding. This is something that he wouldn’t normally even have had a shot at because it should have been done,” Spicer said. “Because the last Congress didn’t do this under President Obama, we have an opportunity to get some of the President’s priorities infused for the last five months of 2017. That’s a big step forward.”
But wait a minute: Democrats don’t need either House OR the White House. They have Republican leadership in their pockets. Schumer got his way today. Maybe he’s warming up for his White House bid. If he makes a 2020 run, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell can co-chair his campaign. They pretty much are already doing his work.
