It has been said by some commentators that our nation’s Capitol has been more partisan since Donald Trump arrived on the political scene.
They have a point, but there were factors that set this in motion long before Donald J. Trump decided to run for office.
If you think back to the Tea (Taxed Enough Already) Party movement that began in the aftermath of the 2008-2009 financial crisis, it was obvious that there was a large segment of the population that believed the government was no longer effectively looking out for their interests.
At that time, Barack Obama was president and Democrats controlled both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.
The Tea Party movement appeared to settle down after Republicans recaptured the House in the 2010 election cycle; however, the sentiments that ignited the movement continued to burn, largely due to ineffective Republican leadership.
By the time Trump announced that he would run for president in 2015, many voters felt disenfranchised.
Although they agreed with many of the principles of the GOP, they viewed the elected leaders of the party as people who lacked vision and a willingness to fight for what they professed to believe in.
On top of this, there was a belief that Republicans could not soon win another presidential election, given the demographics of the country and the voting trends of that time.
It seemed to many as if our nation was destined to a future with open borders, high taxes, media lies, and the whims of Democratic Party politicians.
Donald J. Trump changed all of that.
Unlike other Republicans who crawled to TV cameras to apologize whenever the media criticized them for anything, Trump took bold positions on issues (such as closing the border) and fought back when the media attacked him for these positions.
He publicly labeled their attacks "fake news."
President Trump also worked hard to win over working-class voters that Republicans had long ago written off. To everyone’s surprise, he was elected by winning states that had been solidly Democratic for decades!
During his first term, many Republicans appeared to fight Trump’s efforts to drain the swamp, particularly those in leadership such as then Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.
In short, there was often a spirit of bi-partisanship between Republicans and Democrats in slowing down, if not opposing, the president’s agenda.
Despite a largely successful first term (aside from the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic), Trump eventually lost his re-election bid.
In the intervening years, he went on to weather a number of court cases and two attempts on his life before being roundly re-elected in 2024.
There does seem to be more partisanship in D.C. so far in his second term, but in my opinion, this is not driven by President Trump.
One big difference in this term versus the President’s first term is that Republicans are sticking together to pass the president’s agenda under Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Leader John Thune, R-S.D.
The Democrats are now alone in their Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS).
They're leaderless, angry, and a party that has only one agenda — being the opposition to anything related to Donald Trump.
By definition, such a stance makes them highly partisan and sets them up for failure.
This is not solely my opinion either.
It also happens to be the opinion of some notable people on the left.
One example of this is former Chicago Mayor and Chief of Staff to President Bill Clinton, Rahm Emanuel, who recently said, "If you want the country to give you the keys to the car, somebody's got to be articulating an agenda that’s fighting for America, not just fighting [President] Trump."
Despite the unhinged anger and unreasonableness of many Democrats, the good news is that there have been glimpses of Congressional Democrats willing to act in a bi-partisan manner for the good of the country.
For example, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and a handful of other Democratic senators voted with Republicans to put the country first by supporting a spending bill earlier this year that avoided a government shutdown. (Chuck Schumer was right to avoid a government shutdown)
More recently, a few Democratic senators, led by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., joined Republicans in an effort to pass five bi-partisan law enforcement bills.
Unfortunately, as of the time of this writing they have been unsuccessful in passing the bills due to a filibuster on the Senate floor by Democratic Senator Cory Booker, D-N.J. who threw a temper tantrum directed at members of his own party. (Senate Democrat Blocks Five Bipartisan L... | United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary)
Sens. Schumer and Cortez Masto are to be commended for putting the interests of the American people over the interests of party politics in the examples above.
Republicans must do the same when they are faced with the choice of putting the country over party.
It is my hope that we will have many more examples of bipartisanship moving forward.
Joe from Texas is a family man with children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. He's experienced tremendous success and lived the American Dream. His beliefs are both straightforward and deeply held. He believes in God, his family, and the United States of America. For more information, please visit www.JoeFromTexas.com. Read Joe Penland's Reports — More Here.
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