This Week on: ‘(US) House Makeover’

By JOHN YOUNG

The Republican Party just spent $10 million on one congressional election in Pennsylvania and reaped nothing but agony. Calculators out: What it spent amounted to $100 per vote cast for the loser (Donald Trump).

You might claim the loser in Pennsylvania’s congressional District 18 was Rick Saccone, who lost to Democrat Conor Lamb. That’s true technically, but Trump is the Biggest Loser in a district he carried by 20 points in 2016.

Not only did he campaign in the district with a rally in which he hardly mentioned Saccone, Mike Pence did, too. So did Donald Jr.

Not only did the president stake his reputation to a Saccone victory, he also bet the nation’s economy.

Observers were at a loss as to why Trump suddenly announced steel and aluminum tariffs, though GOP free-traders recoiled and Trump chief economic adviser Gary Cohn resigned.

How to explain? Simple. Trump’s presidency is on the line, and this big test was in steel country.

And so the makeover of the US House begins. The makeover of the Senate has already commenced with Democrats claiming the vacant seat in Alabama.

The Democrats have been on a winning streak – Virginia, New Jersey, Washington state, Alabama, Pennsylvania — and they have this joke of a president to thank.

If “joke” sounds disrespectful, know that the matter goes both ways. When someone disrespects his office like Trump has, “joke” is being too kind.

Consider what Trump did the other day when, as he told a private audience, he admitted he didn’t know what he was talking about when he chastised Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the trade deficit he said Canada inflicts on us.

Actually, the United States has a trade surplus with Canada. Supposedly Trump, novice on every other thing, was supposedly Mr. Experience on trade.

This is the 21st century mark of being “so smart.” Trump thinks he can say anything he wants and his followers will follow.

Then again, what happened to that overwhelming support Trump enjoyed in Pennsylvania?

The Trump voters who’ve turned on him thought they’d found the answer for what ails us in him. It turned out it was just a crank call.

Before last week, Democrats needed to win back 24 seats to take control of the House. Make that 23.

A raft of Republican retirements in the House, and with the tenuous fates of Republicans in districts that went to Hillary Clinton, make that a very attainable goal.

This is a pretty big deal regarding the future of this president. Aside from the spending bills and other legislation that emanate in the House, impeachment does as well.

The firing of FBI second-in-command Andrew McCabe, and Trump’s sophomoric end-zone dance about it, is one wrinkle in the obstruction-a-thon that continues over collusion with Russia.

Speaking of the House: The House Intelligence Committee last week announced that, as the president says, there’s “no collusion.” The subpoenaing of business records from the Trump Organization pertaining to business deals in Russia indicates Robert Mueller is at least one person withholding judgment on that claim.

Team Trump has said repeatedly that Mueller’s probe has reached an end. At this rate, Democrats could control the House before Mueller shuts down his operations.

Back to that Pennsylvania House race. The seat was vacated when the incumbent Republican, religious-right champion Rep. Tim Murphy, resigned after admitting to having an affair. What’s worse, Murphy, a member of the House Pro-Life Caucus, was alleged to have suggested that his paramour have an abortion.

Such upstanding men, this breed of leaders. Let’s ask Stormy Daniels what she thinks of that.

John Young is a longtime Texas newspaperman who now lives in Fort Collins, Colo. Email jyoungcolumn@gmail.com. See johnyoungcolumn.com.

From The Progressive Populist, April 15, 2018

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