In this discussion, Mark Thornon examines how Donald Trump’s new deal with the Democrats on teh debt ceiling will help him bring the GOP into line on issues like tax reform.
As Thornton notes, the debt-ceiling deal only extends the status quo, so is not a really a big win for the Democrats. It is, however, a win for Trump because it illustrates to the GOP leadership in Congress that Trump does not need them as much as the GOP thinks he does.
This will, Thornton says, force the GOP to move forward on tax reform, which the GOP in Congress has been ignoring up until now. The details, however, don’t matter that much to Trump. Thornton explains how tax reform works in Congress — special interest groups descend on Congress, handing out campaign contributions, to ensure the latest tax reforms benefit their groups. Trump, on the other hand, just wants a general lessening of the tax burden. Trump has made it clear that if the GOP is not willing to help him, Trump is willing to hand more political defeats to the GOP by working with the dems.
Ultimately, Trump may even learn to take a page from the Bill Clinton playbook and learn to pivot politically, just as Clinton did after two years of political defeats in the early 1990s.
