On backtracking: I believe we all have to be political realists, here just as we have been in our two-decade-long, and ongoing, effort to improve Texas gun laws and carry statutes.
The U.S. is a democratic republic, not a dictatorship. Only in a dictatorship can the person at the top of the chain simply declare that something be done. Even in modern western-nation monarchies this doesn't happen. To expect otherwise is not realistic.
I've seen nothing that tells me reliably that Donald Trump has rescinded or negated anything he said during the campaign. His job now is to formulate strategy and build coalitions that can get things done. I'm thrilled that he got elected with some outlandish-sounding, far-reaching goals on the platform. That gives him room to negotiate. Kinda like negotiating a salary for a new job: if you ask too much, you can negotiate down; if you ask too little, you're already stuck in a corner before you ever start.
This is the 60 Minutes episode that aired a little over 18 hours ago. Ignore the title in the link and of the webpage. Some newsroom stoner evidently decided that marijuana was the most important subject on the agenda.
It contains a full complement of commercials and I can't vouch for whether ot not the complete interview is there; but from the first 10 minutes or so, it seems to be. Wish I'd DVRed the show, but thought it was going to be only a short segment on the Trump election, not a full segment interviewing him.
http://www.cbs.com/shows/60_minutes/vid ... pot-vote-/
If you haven't seen it and believe that Trump has already ditched all his campaign promises, I very much suggest setting aside the 45 minutes to watch it.
If nothing else, I believe it illustrates that we need to careful about semantics and, despite the legion of people who thought he was a joke, that he very likely is the negotiating deal-maker he says he is. That he has so many liberal feathers ruffled is a good thing. He's started that metaphorical job interview off by setting the expectation--and has sold the belief of the expectation--that he demands a $1 million salary. If he gets $900K, he'll win, and the hiring manager on the other side of the table will walk away grateful that he bargained down the asking price.
As one example, the border wall. Trump had everyone envisioning some massive, turreted wall running 50-feet high running unbroken like something out of a science fiction movie from San Diego to the mouth of the Rio Grande. His, again metaphorical, $1 million ask.
If he'd said he would build "a suitably secure barrier, which may differ in places in applied construction, to help close our border with Mexico," would that have had the same impact as the simple word "wall"? Nope. He would have gone in starting too low in the negotiation. If we end up with a secure, enforceable, physical barrier at the border, in the end do we really care if it looks like a 21st century version of Hadrian's Wall? Some parts of the border simply aren't used for illegal crossings; some already have heavily monitored entry checkpoints on both sides; some already have significant physical structures in place that, arguably, only need better monitoring; and some are simply too dangerous or expensive to use as a crossing for illegal aliens. The border is 1,989 miles long, and remember that the vast majority of it in Texas, from the Gulf to El Paso, is demarcated by the Rio Grande river. In some spots, like near Box Canyon, the river itself is likely enough of a barrier.
Too, remember that much of the border--especially in South Texas--runs through privately owned property. Telling a South Texas rancher that some of his land is going to taken by the federal government via writ of eminent domain in order to build a massive, military-reinforced wall complete with access roads, parking lots, and troop barracks
may not sit well with that no-doubt conservative voter. Negotiation with those ranchers and the provision of funds to help beef-up (no pun intended) border security on their lands in a manner that is acceptable to them? A win-win.
One that hits my pocketbook directly--and hard--is Obamacare. I'm still too young for Medicare, have a pre-existing condition, am/was (depending on how you look at it) self-employed. When Obamacare went into law, it became my only option for health insurance. The number of plans available in Texas have halved almost every year since inception. Last year, the nation's premier cancer hospital system, M.D. Anderson, stopped accepting Obamacare plans completely. This year, some of the country's largest health insurance providers have pulled out entirely. Every year since it began, insurers have cancelled existing plans and/or raised premiums on plans that would still be offered.
I was among those with "Affordable Care" sticker shock this month. Blue Cross will continue to offer plans in Texas (good news); my plan will still exist with minor modifications to in-plan physicians and approved pharmacies and a tolerable increase in deductible (also good news); my monthly premium will go up 68% (not so good news). If I keep my Obamacare plan in 2017--which is unlikely--the cost of the monthly premium would cover the
combined costs of my mortgage payment, average electric bill, gas bill, home phone bill, cellphone bill, internet bill, water and sewer bill, trash pick-up bill, home security monitoring service,
and overpriced Comcast cable television.
Well, I exaggerate. The equivalent health insurance plan premium would fall about $15 short of covering everything mentioned.
I've had this same plan since 2014 (the plan I had in 2013 was discontinued by Blue Cross) and, with a starting point of what I paid in 2013, my premium will have gone up--as of 2017--by 278%. And mine you, this no Platinum level plan. Not a dime for any provider, physician, or hospital out of network, and only one major hospital system in Houston is included; I can't touch Methodist, Memorial Hermann or, of course, M.D. Anderson.
Do I really care if Trump demolishes Obamacare? I do very much want that common nomenclature to go away, but otherwise, no, I don't care. Do I want it to be overhauled down to the smallest nuts and bolts so that it can be restructured and be made realistically useful to people who pay their premiums, like me? You bet I do.
Trump set campaign expectations of a full and outright appeal of Obamacare. He's made a lot of people very nervous. He's set his entry into any future negotiations very high. If he gets the healthcare system fixed, I don't care if it's by full repeal, by single or multiple extreme amendments, or if it's come to be known as IvankaCare. Getting it fixed and sustainable should be the endgame.
I'll shut up now with this note: The DOW closed at an all-time record high again today. That's two all-time record closings in the four business days since the election was decided. Clearly the stock market thinks Donald Trump is going to destroy the country. </sarcasm>
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