With special election wins in several states since the last Presidential election, Democrats are becoming more confident in a “blue wave” sweeping across the country in the mid-term elections later this year. They are feverishly working computer models that show the possibilities of winning back a majority of not just the Senate but even the House. You can bet that every one of those Democratic candidates will be running on a platform of “we have to stop Donald Trump”. But what happens if Democrats do win back majorities, and President Trump works with them to pass their legislation?
Hard-core liberals might laugh off the idea, thinking that Trump is some ideologue that will never support Democratic measures. But the President is nothing more than an opportunist. Let’s not forget, until he ran for President in a fractured Republican party, Donald Trump supported plenty of Democrats–not just in public comments but in cold, hard campaign cash. He backed Hillary Clinton–until it became politically advantageous to attack her. And when push comes to shove, do you really think he is going to stand on principle when it comes to anything political?
And when that happens, what will Democrats do? For six years under President Obama, Republicans could pass whatever bills and resolutions they wanted, knowing full well that nearly all of them would be vetoed. It allowed them to go back to the voters and say “President Obama blocked this that and the other thing–and that is why we need a Republican President to get stuff done”. If Democrats passed a comprehensive immigration bill in 2019 and President Trump signed it, how many incumbents would go back to the voters in 2020 and say “I worked with President Trump to pass comprehensive immigration reform”? How would they react when the President came to their district or state for his own campaign and said “I was glad to work with Congresswoman Whatshername–she’s great, really great, a great woman”.
The ultimate would be if Trump–sensing it was his only hope for winning re-election–announced sometime in 2019 that he would seek another term, but this time running as a Democrat. He is already skilled at attacking Republicans. His supporters don’t really consider themselves members of the “establishment GOP”–so voting in the other column this time around would mean nothing to them. So Trump switching parties wouldn’t really be that difficult. Plus, he’s already shown the ability to win a nomination with zero support from party power brokers.
Maybe Republicans should be rooting for that “Democratic tsunami” in November. Then they can get to work on their 2020 campaign slogan: “He’s Your President Now”.
