Remember Donald in his glory because he is in for some humiliation. The humiliation will come from people he has savaged in the past. In other words, it will be all in the family. We will see a lot of Lindsay Graham and probably some of Ted Cruz. John McCain will be around too. This is how the country works.
Our imperious chief executive
The President can abolish a whole department or disable it with a 37 percent budget cut. If we are progressive we can get our email solicitors to send out an alarmist appeal for funds, and in the end, Donald will have to be content with whatever Lindsey Graham and his colleagues decide.
It's not exactly democracy but it is a bit of a brake on the imperious Mr. trump. If he is upset by the push and pull of budget setting, he has options. He could visit his blue ribbon car collection and take a spin in his Rolls, or go for a ride in his Indiana Pace Car.
There will be cuts
None of the foregoing should make you sigh with relief. It is just something to be aware of as rubber gets closer to meeting the road. The president and the Senate GOP are in harmonious agreement about cutting regulations. Trump may slash the EPA by $2.6 billion according to the New York Times. The slash might be less but it will still be a slash.
Donald Trump Budget Slashes Funds for E.P.A. and State Department https://t.co/eyKRQGZGEZ
— Stephen C. Rose (@stephencrose) March 15, 2017
The Democrats could play the shutdown card
The GOP and the Democrats may play a mirror game as the budget crisis deepens.
Should Donald Trump proceed with the border wall, which many see as not merely a useless expense but a blot on the face of a nation, the threat of a Democrat-led shutdown will move from possible to probable.
What is this all about?
This is all about the game plan that was hatched by Steve Bannon, a former head of Breitbart who now keeps The President on a straight and narrow path.
It consists of deconstructing America as we know it. It involves a massive growth in the military and a shrinkage of the rest of government. It could, under some circumstances, involve war over issues of oil and anti-Islam sentiment in the alt-right world. When progressives see their best hope being Lindsey Graham, we all may have a problem.
