It used to be that the Republican Party was for free trade and for getting rid of our big big deficits. And economy in government.
When Bill Clinton was President, we had a surplus, not a deficit, but then Bush Two got us into a war in Iraq by lying to us (seems to be a Republican trait) and, all of a sudden, we fought a bloody war that we’re still paying for, and will be paying for, for a long time.
Under the Trump Doctrine (It’s My Way or I’ll Primary You) the GOP is no longer interested in free trade and getting rid of or at least reducing our national debt, because Donald Trump has essentially eliminated those issues from the GOP platform, leaving many traditional Republicans crying in the wilderness.
No wonder fifteen Republican Congressmembers are not seeking re-election.
Trump’s only significant legislative accomplishment (other than some improvements in our criminal justice system at the federal level) has been his tax cut legislation, which increased the portfolios of his wealthy friends and severely augmented our national debt.
His trade war against China has disturbed many farrmers and lots of members of his own Party.
Trump has too many deficits to mention, but our job here at AP is to detail as many of his personal and political deficits as we can, with the help of our vast corps of associate solitary reporters.
The Times’ Michelle Cottle nailed it: “Trump Has Tamed the G.O.P. (At Least for Now)": https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/13/opinion/donald-trump-2020.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share).
Meanwhile, Democrats have a huge conflict between their progressive wing (unfairly labelled Socialist by the Republican strategists, but Bernie’s no help to the Democrats in that regard) and their moderate wing, exemplified by Colorado’s former Governor, John Hickenlooper, who noticeably distances himself from the various forms of "Medicare for All” in his run for the US Senate, for which he was anointed by Schumer and Company’s Democratic Senate Campaign Committee.
Enter former South Carolina governor and former Congressman Mark Sanford, the Appalachian Trail guy, who, as a victim of his own delusions, thinks he can beat two other contenders and Trump in the GOP primary. Of the three (the others are former Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh, a Tea Party activist, and former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld), Sanford is the best known as well as the most notorious.
So we sent our chief international correspondent, associate solitary reporter Larry Theis, to interview RNC Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel, to ask her how she plans to help Trump develop his isolationist foreign policy, especially since he has no foreign policy.
“Larry, it’s really simple. Mr. Trump doesn’t believe in foreign aid unless it helps the Trump Organization and strengthens his close personal friends Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu.”
“Did you notice, Larry, that Mr. Trump, always eager to help Netanyahu, is talking about a mutual defense pact with Bibi, right before the Israelis are likely to vote him out of office? He has no idea how tiny a country Israel is, though they do have nukes."
“During his 2016 campaign, his Trump Organization was actively involved in huge business deals in Russia, and he admires Putin because of his totalitarian way of doing things.”
“As for Iran, true enough, he does want to talk to Rouhani, because Mr Trump is not only charismatic, but he’s charming, or at least he thinks so, but we know that Melania doesn’t."
“On January 21, 2021, he’s going to launch an invasion of Venezuela, because he doesn’t give a damn about trivial stuff like deficits.”
“Then, he’ll invade Cuba and use the thousands of soldiers at Gitmo to terrorize the Commies, and he’ll visit the Bahamas to he can receive the adulation of all Bahamians who had enough money to buy plane tickets to reach our shores.”
Stupified, ASR Theis went to the nearest church and prayed.