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It’s time to be productive

Donald Trump’s “victory” on the “repeal and replace” bill was as expensive as it was meaningless. If ever a faction was bought so cheaply in an ocean of Budweiser Lite while paying a political price so dear — the 217 GOP lawmakers who supported the bill to nowhere probably did a great deal of damage to their futures.

Again, a showy non-bill signing where Trump teased, petted and mocked all at the same time. All the while knowing that when the bill reaches the Senate it will be altered to such an extent it will be unrecognizable. Like Jimmy Carter’s energy legislation it will be symbolic at best and embarrassing at worst. It made good daytime television drama, no subtlety and not much real content.

And so it goes. If Democrats continue to get so many unexpected gifts from Trump they might be compelled to give him a thank-you note. With the budget legislation, Trump, so eager to get some points on the board, gave the Democratic minority most of what it wanted. Planned Parenthood remained and domestic programs preserved. The speaker, Mr. Ryan, eager to show solidarity, debased himself even more than Mr. Priebus, his old Wisconsin ally. If Trump has any more respect for his congressional “friends” it would only show a generosity of spirit that he has not often displayed. He paid them off with a party worthy of one thrown for the staff at Mar-a-Lago.

It gets better, his Religious-Freedom executive order was so substanceless even the American Civil Liberties Union did not bother to contest it. Naturally, the “moral majority” went along — where else can they go. Trump kept their support cheaply. After all, they supported David Vitter as a senator from Louisiana — a man of demonstrated easy virtue.

But let’s not just criticize the conservative wing. Fred Upton was bought by a symbolic embrace of an $8 billion formula which even his supporters cannot explain. Again, it doesn’t matter, if the Democratic base gets worked up over this it only proves, without doubt, they have no sense of humor. Indeed, Trump has proven he has an excellent grasp of mirth — having played the largest practical joke in political history.

What he did domestically, he has doubled down on in foreign policy. His fireworks display — what Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross called cheap after-dinner entertainment — bought him time over the Russia issue. Little Lindsay and McCain were taken off the scent and followed the rockets’ red glare. Meanwhile, Rex Tillerson was patching up the situation with Sergey Lavrov. Turkey, Iran, Syria and the Russian Federation concluded a deal on who goes where in the air. Meanwhile Vladimir Putin and Trump had a “productive” chat. Moreover, Trump gradually wratched down the rhetoric on North Korea. If it was chicanery, it was all to the good. Moreover, Nikki Haley was mute.

The GOP will never figure Trump out; consequently, he is several jumps ahead of the wooden-headed and rigid leadership. Now, if Democrats fail to read him well, they are no better than their Republican rivals. Nancy Pelosi and Charles Schumer seem to realize that their real enemy is in the House of Representatives, not in the White House. It is time to cut the posturing and be productive with the least ideological Republican in the White House since Richard Nixon. Indeed, at least Pelosi and Schumer are keeping their sense of irony and humor.

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