The question of the week is: What will the Washington, D.C. political landscape look like next year?
There are a few things we know for certain.
The Democrats will go after President Donald Trump and try to impeach him. They will develop a game plan that they hope will give them an advantage in the 2020 elections.
The Republicans will certainly be looking at their 2020 goals but they will have to be cautious in handling the President and defending him against the Dems.
It looks to be an interesting year.
Henry Olsen of the Ethics and Public Policy Center recently went on record saying, “Both parties are broken and battered and not trusted by most Americans.”
He believes the past election period is proof in the pudding.
John Fund, writing for NEWSMAX, emphasized Olsen’s points saying, “Democrats swept once Republican-leaning suburbs to take back the House while Republicans defeated several blue senators and held key governorships in states filled with blue collar workers that had once been the back bone of the Democratic Party.”
The public needs to be fearful of a head-to-head battle between the parties, which would result in very little governing and a whole lot of mouthing and cost to taxpayers as if we haven’t had enough in the past two to four years!
In his article Fund says, “They (Nancy Pelosi and President Trump) both know the country was exhausted with Washington’s food fights, and whoever is seen as throwing the first pie could lose face.”
Meanwhile, if we don’t hold our congressional delegations’ feet to the fire, the real issues may very well get pushed aside.
Those very real issues include Afghanistan, Syria, tariffs, immigration, China, North Korea, other international security threats, the continuation of improving our military infrastructure, healthcare, the national debt and taxes.
With all of that pending, some Washington insiders are projecting a number of potential Democratic targets for 2019.
In addition to pinning their hopes on a Trump impeachment, we may see the Dems call for investigations into pardons issued by the President, why the President fired Jeff Sessions, allegations of misconduct surrounding several Trump appointees, and the firing of James Comey.
They may well be putting a lot of their eggs into the Mueller investigation but that fallout is simply speculation at this point.
Geoff Garin, an American pollster who served as a strategist for Hillary R. Clinton’s 2008 campaign, told the New Yorker that the Democrats need to be cautious with their subpoena power. He suggested they “…find a balance between proper oversight and over-zealous showboating.”
There are concerns that the Dems will jump off of the cliff now that they own the House of Representatives and may shoot themselves in both feet prior to the 2020 election, giving Trump even more sympathy and support.
While the Democrats came out of the last election stronger than the Republicans had hoped for, political followers continue to remind them that the “blue wave” they planned to gain never materialized.
Meanwhile, the Dems and the left side of Congress continue their work on their blueprint for action and the Republicans are still trying to unite the party.
Border wall funding is on the conservatives’ list and should be. Our immigration system is broken and needs repairing. It needs to uphold the rule of law, secure our borders and seek immigrants on merit.
The SNAP requirements listed in the House passed Farm Bill need to go to the Senate and be passed into law. Polls show as many as 92 percent of Americans think physically well adults who receive cash, housing allowances, food and medical care should be required to work.
Prison reform is high on the Republicans’ list and it certainly needs to be addressed. We have never been able to conquer our high recidivism rate here in America.
The Republicans would like to find closure in the Hillary Clinton email scandal, the Benghazi snafu, as well as the involvement of the FBI with the so-called “deep state.”
Without a doubt, there is much to be done as U.S citizens pay our congressional members a nice salary, along with other perks, to get the work done.
It’s time for the people of America to see our elected officials in Washington conduct themselves in a professional manner. One writer basically said the American people would like to see a “Class Act” in Washington for a change.
That’s not too much to ask for from our president and from members of Congress.
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Jimmy Terrell is retired from a career in law enforcement and is a Winder city councilman. He can be reached at ejterrell65@gmail.com.
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