Given that Mike Johnson once again had to humble himself to keep his job as Speaker of the House, the Republican party appears weak as Washington prepares to usher in Donald Trump as President. Once again a motley group of Representatives managed to muddy the waters in what should have been a routine event. It was a gratuitous action that could only lift Democratic spirits.

Since Trump is President in days, these antics are a wasted maneuver. When a party wins the White House whatever importance congressional leaders had in opposing Democrats is diminished. Trump smartly backed Johnson realizing that turmoil within the GOP only proves to be a distraction. The “Freedom Caucus” or “deficit hawks” whatever they call themselves would be well advised to keep disagreements to a minimum. Trump simply does not obsess over deficits and he wants the debt ceiling raised. Indeed, he does not want any limit imposed.

However, those who control some parts of the Republicans still regard Trump as a political accident. Although he has won three straight Republican nominations, the old Tea Partiers, with their obsession with the deficit, do not accept that the GOP is different than it was in 2010. Paul Ryan and his ilk no longer set the agenda; MAGA does. And it is interesting that Nikki Haley and her endorsers, Ralph Norman and Chip Roy, criticized Trump’s views on the debt ceiling.

The old Republicans are stuck in a time warp where fiscal conservatives in Congress tried to set a national agenda. Then along came Trump who correctly saw the obstructionist stance of the GOP as self-defeating. The MAGA movement is populist, not reactionary. Accordingly, Trump has pledged not to alter or change Social Security. Like Dwight Eisenhower in 1953, Trump is not willing to roll back the New Deal or most of the Great Society.

Despite some of Trump’s rhetoric, he remains primarily a centrist conservative who believes that consumerism can coexist with a corporate economy. The Tea Partiers are primarily a group that embraces a zero-sum model of economics. Indeed, Trump is in line with Milton Friedman’s description of Ronald Reagan in that “he is a principled man which you want, but not overly principled which you do not want.” Perhaps Trump is not quite that principled but he is pragmatic. Deficit hawks are simply interested in starving the government, not advancing the economy.

Democrats should be reminded that President Lyndon Johnson’s tax cut in 1964 was opposed by conservatives like Barry Goldwater. Ronald Reagan offered a similar cut in 1981 and saw the economy boom. However, if Democrats are patient they may find Trump more convivial to them than the go-slow, veto Republicans. Congressional Democrats should resist an oppose-to-oppose approach to Trump.

Perhaps Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer will approach Trump as Democrats did with Eisenhower. The 1950’s may not have been ideal for liberals but the party did well. With Republican differences, Democrats should try to seize the initiative by agreeing with Trump on populist initiatives.