By Ben Tanosborn
Yes; the old adage of “if it seems too good to be true, it probably is” finally is starting to resonate in the lustful ménage a trois that Donald Trump brought to American politics with his populism courting the unlikely duet of conservatism and deplorable-jingoism. What seemed as a bountiful and exotic relationship to the leadership in the Republican Party is now appearing to be no more than a one night stand, and not the beginning of a long term relationship; reality becoming sobriety to an ephemeral night of GOP political lust. And as the repeal-replace of Obamacare fails in the House in its initial attempt (the bill in the house pulled being short of the necessary majority), it’s beginning to look as if Trump’s inaugural attempt as political deal-maker does bode ill for his egocentricity. Nor does it help to Republican Party unity.
Republicans found themselves on the morning of November 9 holding the one and only winning ticket to the richest lotto in American politics, with the executive and legislative branches of government firmly in their hands, and a judiciary just a confirmation away. All the power required to take America back to her “nostalgic grandeur” was placed overnight in Republican hands; the opportunity to demolish any and all progressive structures built during the past eight decades just a close-horizon away.
But unfortunately for the fulfillment of this orgasmic GOP dream, just four months later Republican leaders are discovering that their chosen architect-designee, Donald J. Trump, is turning out to be no more than a deal-making dud; a wannabe draftsman incapable of reading simple blueprints. And, barely two months after assumption of power, GOP party leadership and President Trump find themselves reenacting the myth of the Tower of Babel, unable to blow up the very symbol of their 7-year unifying battle cry: Obamacare.
Healthcare will not be the only battlefield where Trump might expose his very lack of marshalship. Hopes of the Conservative leadership to undo eight decades of economic and social “upgrades,” before the ominous prospect of a soon-to-be darker electorate, could possibly make this simultaneous triad of Republican power (Presidency, Congress and the Judiciary), the last hurrah before progressivism loudly knocks at the door. And a new Battle of Jericho, trying to bring down the fortified walls of Social Security, Medicare, Roe v. Wade and other lesser progressive conquests, is clearly in the horizon of the Republican demolition derby. But after following this initial political faux pas on healthcare, one may legitimately question the trump-eting outside Jericho as not loud enough to make history using these con Music Man’s instruments.
Perhaps our claim that Donald Trump has morphed from business dealmaker to political weal-faker is not an appropriate portrayal of a metamorphosis. Maybe the Trump character portrayed in “The Art of the Deal” is nothing more than a fictitious figure brought to life by ghostwriter (and credited co-author) Tony Schwartz who three decades after the book’s publication has concluded that lending his writer-skills to this best seller had in fact “put lipstick on a pig.” From that, one could conclude that Trump has not really morphed from dealmaker… and that from day one of his business career he has been a consummate liar and faker: a perfect protagonist of The Music Man who has now, as president, made America his River City, and fools of us all.
This early legislative defeat for the Ryan-Trump odd couple does not augur well for the relationship… and, if anything, it only confirms that this elected president of the US is neither a dealmaker nor a closer but a first class charlatan who could make the fictional Baron Munchausen appear as an infallible truth-teller.
As a matter of business record, Donald Trump never was a successful dealmaker… but a consummate lying weal-faker, master of superlatives, diminutives and outrageous lies.
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