A president for all Americans
American voters gave Donald Trump an overwhelming mandate to enact his agenda over the next four years. The Democratic Party will do what they can to obstruct his progress, but that doesn’t mean Trump shouldn’t try to promote unity and national healing by embracing Democratic policies. As it turns out, some of their ideas are quite good. Here are nine examples:
Eliminate the filibuster
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) called for ending the filibuster during her failed primary campaign in 2020. The idea has been popular among left-wing Democrats ever since. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.), chair of the Progressive Caucus, has been a vocal supporter of abolishing the 60-vote threshold for passing legislation in the U.S. Senate. On Monday, however, the congresswoman said she no longer supports getting rid of the filibuster now that Republicans are in charge. Never mind the hypocrisy. It’s still a good idea!
Expand the Supreme Court
Senator Ed Markey, a liberal Democrat from Massachusetts, introduced legislation earlier this year that would add four seats to the U.S. Supreme Court and allow the sitting president to fill those seats. Hank Johnson, the Democratic congressman from Georgia best known for worrying the island of Guam would “tip over and capsize” due to overpopulation, cosponsored the bill. Vice President Kamala Harris has also signaled her support for “some kind of reform” regarding the Supreme Court. Trump should seriously consider endorsing Markey’s legislation, which many Democrats have argued would help restore the American public’s faith in the judicial branch.
Secure the border/Finish the wall
“We have to have a secure border,” Kamala Harris said last month during a CNN town hall. When host Anderson Cooper followed up and asked Harris about her support for immigration legislation that allocated $650 million to complete Donald Trump’s border wall, Harris said she was “not afraid of good ideas.” Most Americans agreed with Harris’s hawkish stance on illegal immigration, but for obvious reasons they had more faith in Trump to actually get results. We assume Democrats will be eager to work with Republicans to enact the strong border security measures voters so desperately crave.
Cut taxes for small business
“I’m going to bring down, cut taxes for small businesses,” Harris said during the CNN town hall. She also complained that, under the Biden-Harris administration, small businesses were “being mired in terms of a bureaucracy around—they have to fill out and do their taxes in a way that actually holds them back.” Trump could promote unity and bipartisanship by working with Democrats to ease the financial burden on America’s small businesses. It’s time to end the suffering they endured under President Joe Biden.
Put a Republican in the cabinet
“I plan on having a Republican in my cabinet,” Kamala Harris said last month during an appearance on The View. This was the only concrete example Kamala Harris ever provided when asked what she would do differently as president compared to Joe Biden. Fortunately, Trump is already getting results. This week he announced his intention to nominate a number of qualified Republicans to serve in his cabinet, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Rep. Mike Waltz, and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.
Put a Democrat in the cabinet
Trump should also embrace Harris’s idea of including a member of the opposite party in his cabinet. There aren’t a lot of qualified candidates, but we think Kyrsten Sinema, the outgoing U.S. senator from Arizona, would make a stellar addition to the second Trump administration. In addition to being one of the only attractive female Democrats to ever serve in Congress, Sinema has also demonstrated a remarkable talent for owning the libs. We’d much rather listen to (and look at) her these next four years than Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Prosecute election deniers/political opponents
Democrats spent the last four years weaponizing the justice system to punish so-called election deniers and other political opponents. As of this writing, Democratic senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania still hasn’t conceded defeat to GOP challenger Dave McCormick. The Associated Press and other election experts have already called the race, but Kamala Harris and Democratic lawyer Marc Elias are raising money to challenge the results in court. Trump is obviously too gracious and humble to seek retribution against his enemies, but the Democrats started it.
Protect women’s sports
Seth Moulton, the Democratic congressman from Massachusetts, criticized members of his party this week for insisting it’s bigoted to oppose letting transgender women who were born male to play women’s sports. “I have two little girls,” he said. “I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.” Moulton is right, obviously, and the vast majority of Americans agree that transgender female athletes should not compete against women and girls. Trump has an opportunity to work with reasonable Democrats to make women’s sports safe again.
Abolish the Department of Education
Trump has already promised to “eliminate” the U.S. Department of Education, a relatively new agency established by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 at the behest of the country’s largest teachers union. Getting rid of the department is an idea rooted in liberal thought. The Washington Post, among others, expressed concern at the time with Carter’s decision to prop up a new federal department that would inevitably advance the interests of unionized “teachers and school administrators” at the expense of “schoolchildren and their parents.” Liberal journalist Matt Yglesias has urged Democrats to radically alter their approach to governance to ensure that public services are “run in the interests of their users, not their workforce.” That will never happen, so let’s get on with it already.
