It seems like the Democrats are trying to block Trump (nominees in particular) every which way they can. I can’t help but think this plays right to his base. Trump can blame the Dems for what will likely be his inevitable failures and then he’ll tell the exact same story in 2020. Wouldn’t it be better to give him enough rope to hang himself?
This is a complicated question that doesn’t have a simple answer, but politicians generally have to do what the people who voted for them want or they will lose their next election, which doesn’t really give them the time or flexibility to let the opposition do whatever it wants and hope that their voters will see the long game, or that the opposition’s policies will be so disastrous that other voters will switch sites.
A Democrat who lets the Republicans run the table isn’t going to see a wave of Democrats elected to replace those Republicans in the future. They’re going to see a primary challenge from another Democrat for their own seat with a bunch of ads pointing out that they didn’t even try to oppose the Republicans.
In the case of Trump, it seems even less likely to work. What makes you think what the Democrats do will have any impact on what Trump blames his failures on?
Well, that and we want there to be enough of a country and government left for the next election to even matter. Education funding, arts, planned parenthood, the EPA, social security, medicare, religious liberty, civil rights, etc. can all be destroyed with the stroke of a pen if we “just let him,” and it would take years or decades to recreate them. All of these are under attack at the moment. The risk is too high.
If this was a board game it would be a great idea…but this is real life, and real people will get really hurt if this very real problem is left unchecked.
I don’t think it matters…
Mr. Trump cannot possibly last more than 6 or 12 months before he hangs himself, whether or not the Democrats give him credibility among his fan base by attacking him.
I predict he’ll eventually come up with something so outrageous that he’ll just quit before an impeachment process even gets rolling…
Bullshit. Did you not see the total ignoramus the Republicans unanimously approved to head the Department of Education? If Trump whipped it out and pissed on them in public they might make a comment about the weather.
What constitutes “hanging himself”? The public is going to see what a poor job the Republicans are managing the country and vote them out? Does that happen? We just had 8 years in which they did their best to make sure government didn’t function, and yet despite that the country has been getting better since they last wrecked it, and yet we have an entirely Republican-controlled government. Their destructive, party-over-country, king-of-the-ashes approach to government worked. They were rewarded for it.
So if the democrats let them run amok, are people going to look at the subsequent dysfunction and realize “oh shit, these things the Republicans are doing to the country are bad” in 2 or 4 years and vote against them? Or are they just going to stay in their right wing hate radio/Fox News/Breitbart/presidential tweet bubble and think that things are great, and where they’re not great it’s because the democrats are at fault?
The problem with running the country into the ground so we can say “told you so” is that we’d be living in a country that was run into the ground.
I’ll let you know when it happens. 
I just cannot see that guy lasting. He doesn’t even try to process a thought before tweeting it out…
Gimme an over/under. I’ll say under 12 months, max, before he does whatever it is that puts him out of office. Deal? And I win even if he just walks out on his own in a huffie. 
Someone has to produce the rope, give it to Trump and then get the credit from the people.
BTW I do think that even when failing to stop the nominees it is a very,very important thing to brand virtually all congress Republicans as not just the usual rodents that would jump of the Trump ship once it hits the rocks. But as rodents that are willfully chaining themselves to the ship.
Unanimously? Cite, please.
Yeah, but isn’t it likely this is all just a simulation anyway?
When this thing inevitably goes south, it will be nice to be able to show the voters that they tried to stop it, and the GOP are just as guilty as Trump.
Indeed. Two Republicans voted against DeVos; alas, one more was needed to scuttle her nomination. And, frankly, those two may have voted “no” knowing full well that she had the 50 votes, plus Pence, that she needed.
Did you not know that Trump’s travel ban is his most popular executive order, with 55% of voters expressing approval? If nobody objected to it, do you really think the approval would be lower???
I’ll take that bet. 12 months from now. Amount?
Not for nothing, but Democrats aren’t blocking Trump and really can’t block Trump. The Democrats are more or less powerless now. The Republicans are going to do what they want.
True. They did it to placate their constituencies.
Other polls don’t show that much support, and there is a lot of other questions that the answers point at a public that has a more nuanced view.
One thing I have noted is that depending how the question was asked most of of the time one will get support for the EO because it is in reality a “my cat’s breath smells like cat food” kind. Of course the vast majority of Americans will want to see non vetted people from the banned nations to never be allowed to come here. However, the Morning Consult question did not mention the already vetted green card holders that the EO also snatched in the net.
And yet, most Americans are pointing out that we should accept refugees and already vetted people from those banned Muslim Nations.
From the recent Ipsos polls:
Horrible idea in the OP. Public opinion is swayed by the actions of leaders. Mr. Trump could - in the name of Americanism, Free Enterprise, and Christian Values - do damage that might NEVER be repaired. Retirement plans destroyed and looted. Extinction of major species. Health insurance that will not cover pre-existing conditions. Normalization of abuse of minority groups. Trashing of pollution regulations.
All of those things could be sold to the public in the name of Free Enterprise – particularly if the damage happens in slow motion. And particularly if the political opposition doesn’t really seem that upset about it.
That’s not to mention wars. Those can be very, very popular for several years – especially when your side is “winning.”