Whether it’s politics or everyday life, nothing is as bad or as good as it seems, goes the old saying. Some days are harder than others to buy into this notion, but here goes.
On the surface, Republicans have everything to cheer about, and Democrats are standing hopelessly flat-footed after last month’s election. Starting Jan. 20, a Republican trifecta in the White House and both chambers of Congress will chart the course for 350 million Americans for at least the next two years — a course that hopefully rights the ship but doesn’t wreck the car.
Credit: Geoff Duncan
Credit: Geoff Duncan
Yet a deeper dive reveals a more balanced situation for both major political parties.
On the positive side of the ledger, Republicans are poised to renew the 2017 tax cuts that represented the marquee legislative accomplishment of the first Trump term. Even with one of the narrowest historical margins in the lower chamber (Republicans have 220 seats, Democrats 215), tax cuts should be enough of a unifier to keep all factions of the GOP under the same tent.
Without action, almost everyone in America faces higher taxes at the end of 2025. For Republicans, nothing says America better than apple pie and tax cuts.
From there, the outlook gets murkier. Take the Department of Government Efficiency, to be led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. With a national debt topping $36 trillion, it’s difficult to argue that the federal government isn’t bloated and needs significant pruning on multiple branches, pun intended.
But can two men without any constitutional authority take the steps to change the unsustainable trajectory of our nation’s debt crisis, all without touching the so-called “third rails” of politics — Medicare and Social Security — that make up more than half the federal budget? If Musk can start by finding a fraction of the $2 trillion he has vowed to cut, it would represent progress.
For Democrats, the positives come in different shapes and sizes than Republicans. As they chart a new course, levelheaded Democrats finally have a substantive reason to push back on their party’s deep systemic dive to the left. Case and point: the Harris campaign’s inability to respond to the ad about her support for taxpayer-funded surgery for transgender prisoners swung the race dramatically in President-elect Donald Trump’s favor, according to analysis from a pro-Harris super PAC.
My personal sense after a monthslong journey on the Democratic campaign trail for Vice President Kamala Harris is that most voters within arm’s reach of the middle want their elected leaders to strike a balance between respecting an issue and overcompensating for it. The far-left tail has been wagging the Democratic dog for a while now, and it finally caught up to them.
Another awkward positive for Democrats comes by a willingness to quickly admit a mistake, like the southern border, and make the necessary adjustments. For more than three years, President Joe Biden did little to acknowledge — let alone address — the border crisis. By June 2024, when he finally signed an executive order shutting down asylum requests, it was too late for his party’s political prospects.
The left wing grumbled and even threatened to sue — “A ban on asylum is illegal just as it was when Trump unsuccessfully tried it” warned the ACLU — but the data don’t lie. By the fall, migrant border crossings had declined by 77 percent.
A similar approach could be taken on inflation and Afghanistan, two other policy areas where the Biden administration erred and the American public shuddered.
Though the negative headlines around Democrats read more like a missing person’s report involving a rudderless ship without a motor, they will eventually find a direction and a leader. The finger-pointing should eventually lead to a healthy tug-of-war inside the party, which should create a healthy counterweight to Trump’s party.
With the good always comes the equalizing effects of the bad.
Despite the small margin of victory, Donald Trump made a euphoric laundry list of promises on the campaign trail — promises that will come due in time. It doesn’t take extra brandy in your eggnog to realize inflation won’t “vanish completely,” Russia and Ukraine won’t reach an “immediate ceasefire” and mass deportations will not stabilize our broken immigration system.
The stunning fall of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime adds another complex chapter to a to-do list that lengthens by the day — especially given the praise given to the now-deposed despot by Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s choice to be the next director of national intelligence.
It’s hard to argue with the scoreboard, which has Republicans up by a few touchdowns early. Don’t be surprised if in two years from now, when political gravity reasserts itself, the game looks a lot closer.
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