The House of Representatives passed their version of Obamacare Repeal & Replace bill this Thursday. Regardless of how this bill gets modified in the Senate, this was a major accomplishment for President Trump. It was his involvement, his leadership that was instrumental in uniting the different wings of the House Republicans towards a single goal.
Who better to explain what it entailed & where it might lead than the last towering speaker of the House?
- “President Trump tonight knows members if the house dramatically better than he did six weeks ago; he knows individuals, he has talked to them, he has met them in the office, he has been on the phone with them. The result is his mastery of the Congress is just beginning; as this goes down the road, he will do a better & better job because that is his greatest strength; his ability to bring people together; to get them committed to a common vision, to work towards something, whether it is a Trump tower or a legislative design; that is his greatest strength, his personality & his interpersonal skills; if you watched him today with all the people gathered around him, he is comfortable; he has made the transition from being a NY real estate guy to being President of the United States. And I suspect he now knows personally more members of the Congress than Barack Obama knew after 8 years.” [emphasis ours].
Speaker Gingrich has been more correct about Mr. Trump’s evolution into a political candidate and leader than most. Understand Mr. Gingrich worked with a President who was credited by all to have the smartest political mind in America, Bill Clinton. So when Newt Gingrich praises Donald Trump for his political skill, his ability to drive a diverse, ego-driven group of representatives, we listen.
Of course, we are at the other end of the spectrum in knowing anything about Mr. Trump. We have never met him, never spoken to him and never even spoken to anyone who knows him personally. For that matter, we have never met, spoken with or talked to any one who knows Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Tom Brady either. We don’t need to. We have watched them perform in their own competitive spheres and their performance tells us so much.
Same with Donald Trump. We have watched him run his campaign since he came down the escalator in June 2015 to announce his candidacy. We have seen a smart & agile brain with an appealing vision combined with an almost indefatigable energy in meeting with people and bringing them to his side. Read what we wrote on December 12, 2015:
- “So the next time Donald Trump says something that you don’t like, do not react emotionally and call him names. Look at his move from a Gretzky angle and ponder whether that is yet another place where the sentiment will follow Trump and whether that will enhance Brand Trump over Brand Obama. At every step so far, Trump has gained more supporters with even Democrats coming over to his side. That is the sign of a smart, well-planned campaign for the long game and not a series of emotional tirades”.
That was the period when Chuck Todd, host of NBC’s Meet the Press and a fervent Obama-guy, began moving towards intellectual acceptance of Candidate Trump. Listen to his comments on NBC Nightly News on December 10, 2015:
- “undecided number is this poll is 15%, between 15 & 20; … it was a live poll; there may be more people that support Trump’s position but don’t necessarily want to tell somebody over the phone when we do these polls that they are for him; there is one other thing is this poll that is good news for Donald Trump – 77% of Republicans say that they appreciate or like the way he tells it even if at some point he does it inelegantly; lot of people in this party like how Donald Trump is bringing up some issues” [emphasis ours].
Of course, that Chuck Todd changed once Candidate Trump became the de facto nominee of the Republican Party and he changed even more during the general election. Today he is nothing but a somewhat soft spoken attack guy. In doing so, he has jettisoned some of his political acumen not to mention the independence of his soul. He may not be as virulent or dumb as CBS’ John Dickerson or the CNN gang but he has become pretty bad.
What he may not realize & what Dickerson & CNN do not understand is that they are all being very helpful to President Trump.
The best way to understand this is to look back to President Obama. You will notice that the pinnacle of the Obama presidency was Mr. Obama’s inauguration. The world was mesmerized with him and showered him with unprecedented adulation. Even the illiterate poor in India had heard of him and praised him as their savior from poverty. No man can survive this level of adulation and function as a political leader. President Obama certainly did not. Through out his tenure, President Obama behaved like a prophet or oracle on a mountain and lectured the Congress from his mountaintop. As a result, his eight years were a steady & relentless decline from the day of his rapturous inauguration.
What Chuck Todd, CNN & the rest of the left leaning media are doing is keeping President Trump alert, focused and full of game to succeed despite the attacks on him. This is a game he has played his entire life and one he is good at. As Speaker Gingrich said on Thursday, his mastery of the Congress is just beginning.
If President Trump keeps playing the game as he is now, he will get a Health Care bill through the Congress even though it might look quite different. And then he will get tax reform done in the same manner. If he does, would the Democrats want to face a successful, confident President Trump in the November 2018 election?
If not, it might be time for Democrats to stop playing stupid and it may be time for Chuck Todd to regain his political instincts & some portion of his previous journalistic independence.
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