This isn’t 2009, and Trump isn’t Obama. Obama presented no serious challenges to his own party, nor did he embrace many issues that drew the fervor of his supporters. Republicans therefore had few incentives to work with him.
Trump, by contrast, defies many orthodoxies of the G.O.P., and his supporters are passionate about his core issues. Resistance therefore comes with different trade-offs. Will Rust Belt Democrats really benefit from standing in Trump’s way on trying to revisit trade deals or protect domestic manufacturing? Will Chuck Schumer reject infrastructure spending that could benefit upstate New York? Democrats must also factor in the pros and cons of helping to bury the Bush-era Republican Party. Many of Trump’s supporters would rather see Trump and Bernie Sanders teaming up to humiliate Mitch McConnell than see Trump and Mitch McConnell teaming up to humiliate Bernie Sanders.
Trump is unpredictable, of course, and this week could see a swing back toward establishment picks and the donor class. But he seems to believe his base will be crucial in pressuring lawmakers in the coming months, and he’s clearly working to hold on to their support, at least for now. Politics is a new game for Trump, and it’s hard to know if his mastery of power in business will smoothly transfer over to his new job. He certainly knows how to keep making himself look ridiculous—as when he launched an attack last week on this publication over a review of the Trump Grill—but he also knows how to lead a movement. It’s an odd combination of traits. And it will probably keep working for him, as long as his supporters accept it.
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