![The Grand Old Party (GOP) traditional mascot, the elephant. / [Image by Bosc d'Anjou via Flickr, CC BY 2.0]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2017/8/31/660x290/b_502x220x82/the-grand-old-party-gop-traditional-mascot-the-elephant-image-by-bosc-danjou-via-flickr-cc-by-20_1547221.jpg "The Grand Old Party (GOP) traditional mascot, the elephant. / [Image by Bosc d'Anjou via Flickr, CC BY 2.0]")
Prior to Congress returning to Washington from the August recess, the consensus view was been that the President had alienated himself from the Republican Party. This was due to his persistent effort to attack Republicans via Twitter and in public. But the entire month of August showed to be one of the President's worse months ever. Those weeks seem to have contributed to the growing disdain that Republicans have about the President. The result is that he is now more isolated.
Trump's turning point
The President's isolation can be confirmed with the new policy-making system put in place by his new chief of staff Gen.
John Kelly. Kelly has also purged the West Wing of the most extreme elements of the administration who have reportedly now turned their backs on trump. Much of his support weakened after President Trump's comments about the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, when he was seen as being too soft on racist hate groups who instigated violence there, killing three. The final straw might have been the pardoning of Joe Arpaio, a racist former sheriff from Arizona who had been convicted by a federal court. And now politically, the administration seems a whole lot weaker because of it.
Republicans are moving on
Business Insider reported that the Greg Valliere -- who is a political analyst at Horizon Investments -- had sent out a note to his clients saying that there was "growing unity among Republicans" to move on without the President.
President Trump seemed to be taking more initiative with wanting to pressure Congress to do tax reform legislation next and had even threatened to shut down the government if they did not fund his border wall. With the recent devastation from the Hurricane Harvey in Texas, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recovery funding has been thrown into the legislative mix further complicating the month ahead.
GOP, dragged by Trump
Soon after the President made controversial comments on the violence in Charlottesville, news programs reportedly had problems trying to get Republicans to come on the air and talk about the President. This indicated that the political climate was too risky for them to say anything about Trump. It was also another indication that Trump had damaged the ability for Republicans to come together on his side, especially, after firing Reince Priebus.
Priebus was a former chairman of the Republican National Committee before becoming Trump's chief of staff and was seen as the connection to Republicans in Congress. During the President's speech about tax reform this week, many media outlets have offered the view that President Trump has extended an "olive branch" to Republicans to help with tax reform. It's already been reported, however, that House Republicans are being pushed to complete tax reform for the President as they do not have anything to show.
