The GOP has a heartwarming success story to tell.
What will Democrats do once their entire “Resistance” narrative collapses around them, like a termite-ridden dormitory? Since Donald J. Trump’s upset victory, Democrats have “resisted” him at nearly every turn. Why? Trump, they argue, is an economically illiterate bully controlled by Moscow.
But what if President Trump emerges as an economically adroit statesman, untethered to the Kremlin? He increasingly resembles the latter.
On the economy, comparing what the Democrats defend and what Trump delivers contrasts food stamps and paychecks. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California dismissed the Trump/GOP tax cuts as “crumbs” and “unpatriotic.” They also would be “Armageddon,” Pelosi predicted, versus the Edenic 1.5 percent annual GDP growth, 4.7 percent unemployment, and 43 million people on food stamps during Obama’s final year.
Trump’s economy is stunning. Free-trade turbulence aside, Trump’s tax cuts, regulatory relief, and pro-business tone are working. GDP advanced 2.3 percent in 2017. Unemployment hit 3.9 percent last month, the lowest since 2000. Black and Hispanic joblessness are at or near record depths. And February found just 40 million on food stamps.
April witnessed a “record level of small businesses experiencing profit growth,” the National Federation of Independent Business reported. NFIB President Juanita Duggan said, “The optimism small business owners have about the economy is turning into new job creation, increased wages and benefits, and investment.”
“The U.S. now has a record 6.6 million job openings,” cheered a headline in Tuesday’s Washington Post. “The United States now has a job opening for every unemployed person in the country,” the Post’s Heather Long wrote. “The Labor Department reported Tuesday there were 6.6 million job openings in March, a record high — and enough for the 6.6 million Americans who were actively looking for a job that month.”
Suitably for spring, everything’s coming up roses.
“Overall,” CNN polling director Jennifer Agiesta reported Monday, “57 percent say things are going well in the US today — up from 49 percent saying the same in February — which is the largest proportion to say so since January of 2007.”
“Trump the Bully” is how Politico’s Jack Shafer painted the president, just one week into office.
But “the bully” is achieving the unachievable overseas. Why? Democrat/Obama vs. Trump/GOP diplomacy pits a gummy bear against an anvil.
Consider Obama’s blessed Iran nuclear deal. Ben Rhodes, a deputy national-security adviser under our previous president, dubbed it the second term’s Obamacare, “just to put it in context.”
But this “accomplishment” borders on slapstick.
First, Obama never even required the ayatollahs to sign this “political commitment.” For real.
As then–Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs Julia Friefield conceded in November 2015: “The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is not a treaty or an executive agreement, and is not a signed document.” As such, under international law, it is non-binding.
Most people would demand a signature on a plumbing contract. The terminally naïve Obama failed to get a John al-Hancock on a nuclear non-proliferation accord.
Staggering.
The Korean War suddenly seems nearly over, after an ice-cold, 65-year ceasefire.
This pact should be nicknamed “Trust, but Don’t Verify.” It lets Tehran self-inspect its nuclear-research facilities at Parchin — more or less, Iran’s Los Alamos National Laboratory.
This agreement prohibits international inspectors from scrutinizing Iranian military facilities. (Who would hide weapons in such places?) If inspectors discover a suspicious site, Iran can bar them for 24 to 78 days. What could go wrong?
Worst of all, this “deal” released $115 billion in previously frozen assets to Earth’s No. 1 state sponsor of terrorism. Handing the ayatollahs $10 billion annually, for twelve years, subject to good and improving behavior, would have rewarded their compliance and punished their disobedience. Instead, Obama gave the mullahs their cherry pie before they touched their spinach. This included $1.7 billion in laundered cash — not least $400 million in Swiss francs that Washington jetted to Geneva, where Tehran picked it up and flew it home.
The ayatollahs recognized that Obama was such a threadbare, soaked rag that — before this treasure was disbursed — they could seize ten U.S. Navy sailors from two boats that drifted into Iranian waters, detain them for 15 hours, and still pocket their riches. The mullahs did precisely this in January 2016. Predictably, Obama then flaccidly transmitted those terrorism-fueling billions to Iran.
Conversely, President Trump kept his campaign promise, withdrew from the “deal,” and reimposed sanctions on Tehran. He also encouraged America’s allies in London, Paris, and Berlin to keep pursuing a new, non-laughable agreement with Iran.
On the Korean peninsula, Trump’s high-volume bluster about subjecting “Little Rocket Man” to “fire and fury” spooked some manners into the young dictator. Kim Jong-un’s recent meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, his release Wednesday of three American hostages, and his June 12 Singapore summit with Trump all reflect a Jacuzzi-like relaxation of tensions that, just months ago, approached thermonuclear temperatures. The Korean War suddenly seems nearly over, after an ice-cold, 65-year ceasefire.
Denuclearization is many miles ahead, and everything still could unravel. But matters already have moved into warmer waters un-navigated since the Eisenhower Era.
Regarding “Trump the Bully,” President Moon said in January, “I think President Trump deserves big credit for bringing about the inter-Korean talks. It could be a resulting work of the U.S.-led sanctions and pressure.” Moon declared April 30: “President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize.”
Meanwhile, Democrats have spent the last 17 months on the Russian Front. The FBI probe, launched by the disgraced and demoted Peter Strzok, and Team Mueller’s 51-week-old investigation have distracted Americans from the booming economy and the burgeoning global order. Instead, people have spent weeks discussing Stormy Daniels, Michael Cohen, and Rudy Giuliani. None of them is Russian.
More important, despite their raging anti-Trump animus, the FBI and Mueller have presented zero evidence that Trump or his campaign colluded with the Kremlin to beat Hillary Clinton. Democrats’ “Russia! Russia! Russia!” allegations are, to date, a total bust.
Beyond that, the Democrat/Obama legacy and the Trump/GOP record on Russia differ like a waiter and a bouncer.
Obama’s “Russian Reset” included canceling missile-defense deliveries that President G. W. Bush arranged for Poland and the Czech Republic, approving the Uranium One deal (which gave the Kremlin control of 20 percent of U.S. uranium supplies), and boosting Moscow’s influence in Syria after Bashar al-Assad deployed chemical weapons against his own people, thus trampling Obama’s vaunted “red line.”
Message to suicidal congressional Republicans, especially senators: Step in from the ledge and legislate.
Trump’s toughness on Russia detonates the notion that he is a pro-Kremlin stooge. Trump has tightened sanctions on Moscow, shipped offensive weapons to the Ukraine, and fatally bombed some 200 Russian mercenaries cavorting in Syria.
All of this transpires as Trump’s approval rating rose to 48 percent in May 4’s Reuters/Ipsos poll, matching Rasmussen’s May 10 daily tracking survey. “On the generic congressional ballot,” Reuters concluded, “our current poll shows a +5-point advantage for Democrats, the smallest lead we’ve seen in recent weeks.”
As I have insisted for months, this growing wave of great news should buffet Democrats and buoy Republicans. This should inspire lugubrious Republicans, especially on Capitol Hill, to ditch their inexplicable and potentially self-fulfilling defeatism. As this article confirms, the GOP has a heartwarming story to tell. So, Republicans, go tell it on the mountain!
The GOP should bolster this story by speeding reformist, pro-market, pro–America First bills to President Trump for signature and confirming his nominees by the hundreds. If Republicans do this — as Democrats writhe beneath the rubble of their refuted narrative — the GOP should keep Capitol Hill, perhaps with stronger majorities.
Message to suicidal congressional Republicans, especially senators: Step in from the ledge and legislate.
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