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In his first month as President of the United States, Trump has acted swiftly to keep his end of deals he made in the form of campaign promises to his supporters. They’ve included rolling back business regulations, nominating a conservative justice to the Supreme Court and pursuing a travel ban on refugees and other immigrants. These actions have been well-received by a majority of Republican voters.
But they have also left Trump with dismal nationwide approval ratings that hover between 38% and 44%.
This means that Trump now needs conservatives far more than we need him. Understanding this leverage will be critical to our negotiations with him for the rest of his presidency.
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Trump has deployed his deal-making skills in our direction from the beginning. His pitch was simple: “Vote for me and I’ll appoint conservative justices to the Supreme Court.” Most conservative voters were willing to hold their noses and agree to this, in spite of his many concerning qualities.
But as we would with any other important deal in life, we must now assess what we’re actually giving up against what we’re receiving. Because what we’re compromising, in this case, may be worth far more than what we’re getting in return.
For example, Trump promised national security through increased military spending, but then opened the door to Russia’s assault on our democracy and that of our most important allies in Europe.
He promoted a departure from political correctness in the name of free speech, but then put us in league with white nationalists, who oppose equality, as he undermines our free press, and even truth itself, by labeling them “fake news.”
He said he would “drain the swamp” in Washington by limiting the role of lobbyists, but then gave key White House roles to family members and refused to divest himself of his foreign assets, which may put him in violation of the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause.
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Each of these trades is designed to give us a policy win we want in exchange for our turning a blind eye to Trump’s amassing of power at the expense of our republic’s essential ideals, norms, and institutions, which are enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution.
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We’d also do well to take a page from his book “The Art of the Deal.” While discussing real estate opportunities, Trump advised, “What you should never do is pay too much, even if that means walking away from a very good site.”
For conservatives, protecting the republic requires our walking away from supporting Trump when the price to too high. As important as they are, defense spending increases, regulation rollbacks and tax reform are not a good enough trade for Trump’s alignment with Russia, attacks on our free press and other branches of government, and conflicts of interest associated with his foreign business interests.
Continuing to back him while ignoring his attempts to weaken our democracy jeopardizes our liberty and will have long-term, negative political consequences for Republicans.
For the country, and for ourselves, it’s time for us to say “no deal” and demand better of our president.
- Discussion
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My Latest: Conservatives, stop caving to Trump on liberty. https://t.co/uswvQ3paNU
— Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) February 28, 2017
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