Local Voices: The Republicans Can’t Govern

The Republicans don’t seem to know how to govern! The past few years, they have not had to govern, all they had to do was obstruct anything the Democrats proposed. At that time the Congress approval rating by the American people was 17 percent. Now that the Republicans are in the majority and in the driver’s seat they should have no problems governing the country.

The first major piece of legislation they tried to pass since the election of Donald Trump, was the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) which failed! That was a shocker because they have been trying, and failing, for seven years to appeal and replace ACA. They have been campaigning on and telling their constituents the reason they had not passed the ACA was because of the Democrats. Now that Republicans are in the majority in both houses of Congress and still failed, what are they going to tell their supporters now?

Other than political meanness, why do they need to appeal and replace the ACA? Why not work with the Democrats in a bi-partisan way and fix any problems with the ACA? House Speaker Paul Ryan doesn’t want to work with the Democrats to fix the legislation. He wants his repeal and replacement act to be passed by Republicans only. He could not get enough support from the Republicans to bring the bill to the floor so he blamed the Republican Freedom Caucus for not supporting his plan. To save face, Trump had Ryan to pull the bill before it was voted on in the House of Representatives. Trump blames both the Republican Freedom Caucus and the Democrats for not supporting the bill. What a sad commentary when the Republicans run the White House, the Senate and the Congress and can’t govern well enough to get one of their own bills passed!

The breakdowns as I see them were, first, Ryan’s attempts to repeal the ACA should be dropped because American citizens oppose that action. Secondly, Ryan should work with his party and the Democrats to fix the bill. Working as a non-partisan body will likely benefit the American users.

The Republicans are so focused on supporting Donald Trump, until they are blind to his errors or they are overlooking Trump’s narcissism. In his narcissistic behavior Trump is so busy putting up smoke screens to divert attention from the Russian interference with the elections until he cannot concentrate on running the country. Each week, or in some cases, each day, Trump throws out a smoke bomb to divert and delay the investigation committee’s efforts to fully investigate the Russian scandal.

One of the most outrageous diversions was the lie about President Barak Obama wire-tapping Trump Towers. The latest is that Susan Rice unlawfully spied on members of his staff. What’s next? I hope he is not using the bombing of Syria as a diversion tactic. I wouldn’t put it past him, but if that’s in his mind, God bless us!

It’s a pity that the Republicans, in their efforts to support Trump and maintain party control, overlook his sickness. They are so anxious to applaud him and say that he is looking presidential whenever he does something that seem positive to them. For example, they were quick to show their approval of the bombing of Syria, but failed to question whether his bombing was a well thought out strategy, and what’s his next move would be.

When will the Republicans realize and admit that Trump has an unhealthy mind and they must take some unhealthy actions? I hope it’s before the country falls too far in peril!

Shedrick Byrd is a frequent contributor to the New Journal and Guide and former Director of Human Resources for the Naval Supply Center, Norfolk and the Norfolk Naval Shipyard