President Trump strikes out solo

DonaldTrump’s decision to go it alone with rapid fire announcements onhealthcare and Iran reflects his boiling frustration with the limits ofpresidential power, analysts say.The US president made a brazen moveon Thursday night to halt payments to insurers under Barack Obama’shealthcare law. Democrats accused him of a “temper tantrum” and spitefulattempt to sabotage legislation he promised but failed to replace. Lessthan 24 hours later, he condemned the government of Iran as hedecertified his predecessor’s nuclear deal, defying his own Cabinet anddisquieting European allies.The one-two punch showed Trump strainingto assail Obama’s legacy but stopping short of terminating either theAffordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, or the Iran nuclear accord.Both are back in the hands of Congress, a source of constantexasperation for the property tycoon turned novice politician, who findshimself isolated and lashing out.“The Congress has been frustratingto him,” John Kelly, the White House chief of staff, told reporters.“Of course, our government is designed to be slow, and it is. His sense,I think, as a man who is outside the Washington arena, a businessman,much more of a man of action, I would say his great frustration is theprocess that he now finds himself (in).“Because, in his view, thesolutions are obvious, whether it’s tax cuts and tax reform, healthcare,infrastructure programmes, strengthening our military. To him, theseall seem like obvious things that need to be done to protect theAmerican people, bring jobs back.”Since taking office 10 months agoas the first US president with no previous political or militaryexperience, Trump has been given a crash course in the workings ofgovernment and the delicate balance of power between the White House,Capitol Hill and the courts. That his writ only runs so far has come as arude awakening. His executive orders can only achieve so much, andfrustrations have sometimes spilled out in impetuous speeches andtweets.Rick Tyler, a political analyst and partner at FoundryStrategies, said: “He is acutely aware of the limits of presidentialpower. It’s not like being the CEO of a company where you just do whatyou want to do.“By using executive orders, Trump is making somethinghappen on healthcare. He’s prevented from changing it himself, but willforce another branch of power to react. It’s the same on Iran.”Havingrepeatedly vented his anger at the Republican-controlled Senate forfailing to repeal and replace Obamacare, despite seven years ofpromises, Trump has now thrown a spanner in the works by ending theso-called cost-sharing subsidies that help people on low incomes. TheWhite House claims the government cannot legally continue to pay thesubsidies because it lacks formal authorisation by Congress.Thepresident explained on Friday: “It’s step by step by step and that was avery big step on Thursday… We’re going to have great healthcare in ourcountry. We’re taking a little different route than we had hoped,because Congress forgot what their pledges were. So we’re going a littledifferent route. But you know what? In the end, it’s going to be justas effective, and maybe it will even be better.”The intervention,however, could backfire. It was condemned by Democrats including theHouse minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, who told reporters: “The presidentsingle-handedly decided to raise America’s health premiums for no reasonother than spite and cruelty.” Senator Chris Murphy tweeted: “Trump’sdecision to stop ACA payments is nuclear grade bananas, a temper tantrumthat sets the entire health system on fire.”Doctors’ groups alsowarned of “dramatic, if not catastrophic, increases in premiums acrossthe country” and millions of Americans losing coverage. Nineteen statesplan to sue.Trump has previously blamed the lack of healthcare fixeson Obama or Congress, but he now he risks being held personallyresponsible for cutting the system off at the knees. Robert Shrum, aDemocratic consultant, said: “The healthcare thing is madness in bothpolicy and politics. He’s wilful, he’s angry, he’s clearly lashing out.He was better off leaving healthcare to Lamar Alexander and PattyMurray”, the senators working on a bipartisan deal.Trump’s claimthat Iran has not lived up to the spirit of the nuclear deal and histhreat to terminate it also put him at odds with his Secretary of State,Rex Tillerson, and his Defence Secretary, Jim Mattis.Evan McMullin,a former CIA operative and independent presidential candidate, wrotevia e-mail: “I think the president’s actions on healthcare and Iran arethe latest examples of his standing political strategy, which is tothrow red meat to his base in order to maintain his base, as evidence ofhis unfitness and inability to govern mounts.“If anything, his useof this tactic seems to be accelerating as it becomes increasinglyclear, even to some of his closest friends and political allies, that heis failing.”This acceleration coincides with reports of a darkeningin Trump’s mood. A report in Vanity Fair magazine, citing two sources,claimed he had vented to his longtime security chief, Keith Schiller: “Ihate everyone in the White House! There are a few exceptions, but Ihate them!”The journalist Gabriel Sherman also wrote that severalpeople close to the president told him that Trump was unstable, “losing astep” and unravelling. Such concerns appear to be reaching a criticalmass. NBC News reported that Tillerson had referred to Trump as a moron.The president insisted the story was false, but challenged Tillerson toan IQ contest.Then Senator Bob Corker became one of the fewRepublicans on Capitol Hill to openly denounce Trump, though it iswidely suspected that he speaks for many colleagues. During a Twitterclash last Sunday, Corker wrote: “It’s a shame the White House hasbecome an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shiftthis morning.”In an interview with the New York Times, the senatorfrom Tennessee said: “I know for a fact that every single day at theWhite House, it’s a situation of trying to contain him … He doesn’trealise that we could be heading towards World War III with the kind ofcomments that he’s making.”He also told the Washington Post onFriday that Trump had rendered Tillerson’s powerless with remarks abouthis attempts to talk to North Korea.Thomas Barrack Jr, a billionairewho was the top fundraiser for Trump’s election campaign, said he hasbeen shocked and stunned by some of the president’s incendiary rhetoricand tweets.“He thinks he has to be loyal to his base,” Barrack toldthe Washington Post. “I keep on saying, ‘But who is your base? You don’thave a natural base. Your base now is the world and America, so youhave all these constituencies; show them who you really are.’ In myopinion, he’s better than this.”If anyone can get through to Trump, it may be Barrack, one of his oldest friends. RichGalen, a Republican strategist, said: “That got everybody’s attentionbecause he’s buddy and spoke at the Republican convention. So thereseems to be some change. That’s part of what’s feeding it.”McMullinagreed that Trump seemed rattled by the recent criticisms fromTillerson, Corker and Barrack. “He probably understands their remarksrepresent a new stage of acceptance setting in across the country, evenamong his supporters, that he is unfit and incapable.“That, I think,is inspiring his accelerated efforts to throw red meat to his base toshore up their support. I expect that to continue, if not intensify, andto result in increasing political challenges for the GOP as 2017 and2018 elections approach and in years to come.” — Guardian News and Media