Democrats risky new Trump strategy: Pry him away from his own party and win back his voters

[applegrove]

Democrats’ risky new Trump strategy: Pry him away from his own party and win back his voters

by Matthew Sheffield at Salon

http://www.salon.com/2017/01/27/democrats-risky-new-trump-strategy-pry-him-away-from-his-own-party-and-win-back-his-voters/

"SNIP............

Faced with Trump’s triangulation efforts on spending and populism, senior congressional Democrats unveiled on Tuesday a $1 trillion infrastructure spending plan of their own. Unlike Trump’s current rather vague proposal, it relies on direct federal spending instead of tax credits. Senate Democrats backing it claim it would create 15 million jobs over the next 10 years.

By creating their own stimulus package that is even larger than the one that Trump is currently aiming for, senior Democrats, led by Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, are hoping to drive a wedge between the budget hawks who dominate the Republican Congress and the disgruntled Democratic voters who rejected Hillary Clinton as an out-of-touch globalist.

An anonymous senior Senate staffer spelled out the strategy explicitly to Atlantic writer Michelle Cottle:

“We are presenting a choice to the president,” said the senior Senate aide. If he pursues issues that align with Democratic priorities, “he will find Democrats eager to work with him.” This will, however, require Trump to “buck the Republicans in Congress,” stressed the aide. Democrats’ selective cooperation is not aimed at “finding middle ground” with GOP members, the aide clarified, but about Trump’s “upending decades of Republican orthodoxy” and “going around congressional Republicans” on particular issues. The goal: deny the majority legislative wins while positioning Democrats as the party that can work with Trump to get stuff done.




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[leftstreet]

1. Finally. Obama's 'shovel ready' jobs program n/t