What a travesty when the elected leader of our country shows no leadership. Instead, his every action is determined by whether or how it will impact the support he receives from his core constituency.
Now to be fair, every president keeps his base very much in mind when considering actions to take. It would be unreasonable to expect otherwise; the president is a politician.
But I can think of no previous president who made all decisions in a way designed to throw red meat to his base and appease them. Every president has had some issues he believed strongly in that were not supported by his base, or events happened that required taking action that his base disapproved. That is the mark of a leader. Once elected you act in the best interests of the country, you are the leader of all Americans, not just your core base of support.
Recently, it appeared that perhaps Trump was distancing himself somewhat from his base when he met with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi and made a few deals. Or when he supported a bi-partisan approach to shoring up Obamacare.
But this was not a change of heart. He did this not because it was in the best interests of the country, but because he desperately needed some legislative wins. And so, except for the debt ceiling deal, he has reneged on the others as it became clear he was endangering the support from his Tea Party/alt-right base.
This administration can therefore be described as the tyranny of the minority. The Tea Party and alt-right are a minority whether one looks at those voting, all eligible voters, or the entire population. As a result, perhaps 20-25% of the country is at this point directing its destiny. Our democracy has never been without its problems, but never has it been so failed.
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