Can the GOP serve two masters?
by Tom Sullivan
The Sermon on the Mount is at the core of Christ's teachings. Love your enemies. Give to the needy (quietly). Judge not lest ye be judged. Turn the other cheek, etc.
And another: You cannot serve both God and money (Matthew 6:24). Christ prefaces that by instructing followers not to obsess with laying up riches on earth, but to focus instead on heavenly things. "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
The occasion for today's sermon is news Republican lawmakers may move to block the president's threatened tariffs on Mexico. Trump believes the Mexican government needs the proper inducement before they will do more to stem the flow of migrants through its territory to the southern U.S. border. To do that himself, the sitting president will need to invoke a second national emergency. This gives him authority to use trade "to deal with an unusual and extraordinary threat with respect to which a national emergency has been declared."
Congress may override such a move by passing a resolution of disapproval or by clawing back tariff authority from the president. Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.) has introduced such a claw-back bill. Either effort would be "the GOP’s most dramatic act of defiance since Trump took office," the Washington Post reports:
Republican lawmakers aren’t eager to be drawn into a conflict with the president. But some feel they might have to take action following a growing consensus within the GOP that these new tariffs would amount to tax increases on American businesses and consumers — something that would represent a profound breach of party orthodoxy. Trump has said he would put in place 5 percent tariffs on all Mexican goods as of June 10, rising by another 5 percent a month until October, unless Mexico stops all illegal migration into the United States.Fawning over foreign strongmen, encouraging white supremacists, separating migrant families, overseeing children dying in federal custody, obstructing federal investigations, and insulting U.S. allies Republicans on the Hill will tolerate. If there was going to be a break between Trumpers and Trump, you knew it would be over money. It's where their hearts are.
Republicans rarely have opposed the president in public in a way that would threaten one of his key agenda items. And the growing opposition by the GOP to the new tariffs marks a potential testing point between the president and his party. To date, Republicans have generally acquiesced as Trump has turned their traditionally pro-free-trade party upside down and imbued it with protectionist tendencies.Whether or not Trump will follow through on his threat remains to be seen. He has threatened countless lawsuits he never filed, Michael Kruse observes. He uses "lawsuits as cudgels and prods and publicity stunts." That pattern continues in his presidency with tariffs. Lawsuits are still his M.O.:
“It’s just another tool in his war chest,” said Jack O’Donnell, the former president of the Trump Plaza casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. “He uses it to wear people out, whether it’s financially or emotionally.”He's all sticks. No carrots. Carrots are for stone cold losers.
“There are going to be concerns expressed about whether this is the right way to get Mexico’s attention on the border security issue,” said Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) in an interview. “It’s going to not be viewed favorably in my state, for sure.”Unlike white supremacy, obstruction of justice, and dead children, Mexican tariffs put a lot of money at stake. We shall see how many Republicans find they cannot serve both Trump and money.