I must start this article by saying, I am in shock. And I am so very tired.
I truly felt that Hillary Clinton would be the next President of the United States, and I supported her like I supported no other candidate before her. I know there are others out there that felt the same way. Just remember, as I’ve stated before: although it is a powerful position, the presidency is just one person. The power will always lie with the people. So what can we expect from a Trump presidency, with a Republican Congress?
At the time of this writing, it appears to me that President Trump may have a difficult time getting his agenda turned into law. Even though Republicans captured both houses in the Congressional elections, there is enough of a split in the Senate to make any laws passed very contentious.
In Tennessee, Republicans nearly swept the state in elections. Of the nine Representatives to Congress, seven are Republicans, two are Democrats. There was no Senate election this year. Tennesseans also overwhelmingly cast their votes for Donald Trump, who received 61 percent of the popular vote in the state.
Republicans have been very unwilling to work with a Democratic president (see President Obama’s entire tenure), and Democrats are now likely to return the favor when it comes to working with the Republican’s next president. What we need is bi-partisan compromise on bills that can get things done for the American people.
Set aside, for now, the major differences of the parties. I believe that with such a small Congressional margin, any laws at all will be a miracle.
What President Trump should work on is reaching across party lines to work on laws and policy that would be of interest to Democrats in Congress. Bills concerning jobs, commerce and infrastructure should be relatively simple building blocks on which he can construct a bi-partisan consensus.
