Tonight when Donald trump goes before the nation with his Budget Speech he may feel some kinship with President Obama. The two men brought very different values to Washington but both proved too extreme for the cantankerous entity known as the Congress.
This time around the Democrats may yell liar at Donald just as GOP Congressman Joe Williams did back in 2009 when President Obama said Obamacare would not serve illegal immigrants. That then-shocking incident may be a revealing sign of the problem Trump may face.
Back to gridlock?
Tonight Trump will stand before American leadership and propose a budget that has as much chance of surviving as any budget Obama ever presented.
Trump wants to give $54 billion to the military and take away that exact amount from everything else, save Social Security and Medicare.
Since those two programs are directly related to our contributions, they are not his to give away. Thus it appears that Trump wants to dismantle the entire government while leaving us with a bloated military. The reaction to the Trump budget is already bringing out a conflict that will doubtless last for his entire administration, however long that proves to be.
Old against young
The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Trump appears determined to take sides in a generational struggle between older, sicker Americans who depend on the entitlement programs, and their younger, poorer counterparts whose livelihoods are shaped by the domestic programs likely to see steep cuts.
"Both Republicans and Democrats are livid over the prospect that Trump would take out entire departments of the government."
Paul Ryan is fixated on debt and deficit which are two different things. But he has consistently argued that to deal responsibly with future generations we must adjust our Social Security and Medicare spending.
This option is anathema to Trump and most everyone else. We remain on the horns of a dilemma.
President Trump to Outline Budget Priorities in First Speech to Congress https://t.co/qwAl2XCaNG pic.twitter.com/AsX1F6VS8f
— TRUMP MOVEMENT (@TRUMPMOVEMENTUS) February 28, 2017
No grand bargain in sight
There is no grand bargain on the table and Trump's deal-making skills are hard to locate. The takeaway tonight may be whatever happened on the floor of Congress in response to whatever emerged from the mouth of the president.