President Trump's tactical moves are widely publicized by
the media. Now, more than one year after assuming the presidency, enough data
have been accumulated to define Trump's strategy with a certain degree of
accuracy.
What
is his main task? Where is the vector of his primary efforts directed?
Opposition
publications represent Trump's actions as absolute chaos -- constant and
unpredictable reshuffling in the government, increasing external taxes
(tariffs) and reducing domestic taxes, restrictions on immigration, the deliberate
disintegration of ObamaCare, and withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement.
This list is quite extensive. And almost every day the press receives a gift
from Trump, another bone -- he declares something politically incorrect on
Twitter again, or he fires someone, or orders to strike another country with 60
Tomahawk missiles. The biased media has to abandon covering a subject that
seemed relevant yesterday, and switches to a discussion of a more recent
"scandal."
This
is all reminiscent of the actions of a skillful magician who deliberately draws
the attention of the audience to his left hand at a time when his right hand is
making the most imperceptible movement for which the whole trick was conceived.
So
what's the intrigue?
In
fact, Trump's policy is very tricky, and only a few have figured out his game.
After all, Trump did not target immigrants. He did not target international
trade. He did not target women’s rights. He did not target "global climate
change."
Trump
is swinging at the complete destruction of the Democratic Party by
gradually squeezing the Democrats out of the American political arena.
That
is how Trump used to deal with competitors in the construction business, and he
is not about to change his habits. The complete bankruptcy of competitors is
the only real measure of success for him. He knows this very well, having been
in the shoes of the defeated several times.
One
of his strikes is the new tax legislation. Since January 2018, state taxes over
$12,000 per year are not deductible from federal taxes. This move will severely
affect the states with high local taxes -- California, New York, New Jersey. Of
course, these states are bastions of American socialism, and these states will
suffer the most. As a result, Trump's tax reform will deprive the Democratic
Party of significant sources of funding.
Also,
Trump's blow on illegal immigration deprives the Democratic Party of their
contrived illegal voter base. It is possible that this will lead to the
emergence of a new, genuinely democratic Democratic Party at the site of the
present socialist Democratic Party of America.
In
American politics, there is a whole spectrum of the neo-Marxist movements:
communists, socialists, anarcho-communists, Social Democrats, and other
leftists. The Democratic Party of the United States is one of them. At a time
when most Americans are discussing whether a wall will be built on the southern
border of the United States or not, the Leftists are faced with Hamlet’s
problem -- to be or not to be?
It
is because the entire American Leftist ecosystem understands that stopping
illegal immigration is a grave threat. It means the loss of the electorate. It
means extinction. It means political death.
Trump
skillfully switched the leftists' hysterics about the wall on the border with
Mexico in another direction by sending the National Guard to protect the
southern border. A few days later, when the entire opposition had already
forgotten about the wall, Trump forced another reboot on the opposition by
canceling the long-term idiotic immigration practice of "catch and
release." Because the half-life of the news cycle is about 24 hours, the
opposition immediately forgot about the National Guard and began discussing the
question of where Trump will build concentration camps for Hispanics.
They
can be understood. Leftists, of course, realize what the sovereignty of the
country is, but if one chooses between sovereignty and political survival,
Leftists want survival. The return to the census of the citizenship question is
evaluated by the Leftists from the standpoint of survival. Hence the hysterics.
Like
the immigration issue, the American public opinion of implementing external
taxes (tariffs) was divided.
But
the left opposition on the issue of tariffs missed the most important point
again. For Trump, both tariffs and immigration are the matter of, not foreign,
but domestic policy.
As
with immigration, Trump, by initiating tariffs, is preparing for the elections
in November 2018. And Trump uses one of the essential cards -- jobs. After all,
new jobs in the industrial Midwest will significantly weaken the position of
the Democrats and put an end to their insane ideas about the victorious revenge
in 2018 and the impeachment of President Trump.
Put
yourself in Trump's place -- he could leave everything as is and not bother
with all these tariffs, and not create favorable conditions for business in the
Midwest. At the same time, the prices for steel and aluminum in the U.S. market
would remain unchanged, but the Republican majority in the Congress would be in
jeopardy.
As a
result, Trump receives the support of a massive block of voters in the Midwest,
where economic stagnation has been evident for many decades. In this scenario,
the Democrats will become political losers well beyond 2018. The road to the
White House will be closed to them for decades. The states of Ohio,
Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Michigan, and Wisconsin are unlikely to return to
the Democratic camp any time soon.
Finally,
it is necessary to recall one more winning Trump strategy -- the partial repeal
of ObamaCare. As we know now, Obama himself never thought of ObamaCare as a law
governing medical care in America. As a socialist, Obama conceived it as a law
for the redistribution of wealth from one group of American citizens to another
group of citizens. The medical services were chosen merely as a mechanism for
this wealth redistribution. As a result, ObamaCare has two components --
financial (additional taxes) and medical (facade, smoke screen, distracting
maneuver).
Additional
taxes to the federal government is the main component. The lion's share of
these taxes was supposed to be used for subsidies to those Americans who do not
have enough money to buy health insurance.
That
is, by tricking taxpayers, Obama tried to create a special category of
Americans -- an eternal Democratic electorate. Why eternal? Because the
dependence on handouts from the federal government is a condition that cannot
be treated.
It
was this financial component that Republicans managed to repeal. Meanwhile, the
facade of ObamaCare -- its medical part -- remained practically unchanged. Of
course, depriving ObamaCare of financial support would mean its imminent
political death, and with it -- the hopes of the Democrats for the eternal
electorate.
From
the opposition point of view, the White House is in a state of chaos. But from
the standpoint of preparing for elections, Trump's policy is well thought out
and is oriented toward achieving the main strategic objective – a GOP wave this
November.
This
strategic goal of Trump is cleverly concealed by a veil of truths, half-truths,
and sheer disinformation, which the left opposition voluntarily, free of
charge, and with dull enthusiasm helps Trump to distribute.
Time
works against the Leftists. There is every reason to believe that 2018 -- the
year of the bicentenary of the birth of the idol of the modern Democrats Karl
Marx -- will lead to another defeat of the opposition.
Gary Gindler is a conservative Russian-American blogger
at Gary Gindler Chronicles.
