The $1.3 trillion omnibus bill shows why the populist revolution has to target Congres

[Right_in_Virginia]

The $1.3 trillion omnibus bill shows why the populist revolution has to target Congress next
Fox News, Mar 24, 2018, Steve Hilton

We hear all the time these days that President Trump is “undermining democratic norms.” Well, how about this for a democratic norm? The policies people vote for in an election should be the ones that get implemented after the election.

Oh wait, that would mean we had an actual, functioning republic, wouldn’t it? But we don’t. We have a Swamp, and this week’s public policy shambles in Washington – resulting in a fiscally incontinent and democratically illegitimate $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill – showed that the Swamp is not being drained but steadily refilled.

<snip>

Democrats may think they scored a big political win by blocking so many of the president’s signature promises. But all they are doing is stoking the populist anger and resentment that they claim to despise.

Ryan, of course, knew only too well how appalled people would be by this giant spending bill and so tried to get his defense in early, claiming that the deadline meant it had to be passed despite its flaws. The budgeting process must be reformed for the future, he said.  No! It’s not the budgeting process that needs to be reformed! It’s the entire government. The truth is that year after year, decade after decade, more and more power has flowed from the hands of people, families, neighborhoods, towns, cities, counties, states ... all in one direction: up to the federal government in Washington.


More: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/03/24/steve-hilton-1-3-trillion-omnibus-bill-shows-why-populist-revolution-has-to-target-congress-next.html

[kevindavis007]

Where was Trump during the whole process? Couldn't he negotiate a better deal?

[edpc]

Where was Trump during the whole process? Couldn't he negotiate a better deal?

His people were part of the process that took place for months. 

Trump’s back-and-forth on the 2,232-page omnibus at the last minute might create the impression that Congress — the Congress controlled by his own party — has blindsided him with this huge bill and its unsatisfying immigration provisions.

In fact, it’s the product of negotiations that have been going on since last summer, when it became obvious that the regular appropriations process would, as has become customary, fail to get the job done. Congress has passed, and Trump has signed, five stopgap spending bills during these negotiations, in which the White House has been involved at every single step. Acting surprised about the omnibus’s content or process now is very weird if not blatantly dishonest.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/03/the-8-zaniest-things-about-trumps-omnibus-veto-threat.html

That said, the premise of the article is not wrong.  The establishment leadership has been a problem for a very long time.  It was a mistake to not engage in serious recruitment efforts to primary people after the failure to repeal Obamacare.