Thread by @Cobretata

Trump is a conventional Republican in one important respect: he has a habit of taking enormous heat for provocative policy positions, like immigration, but then failing to deliver enough results to move the political center of gravity to the right, frustrating supporters.

This is one of the things that has long annoyed critics of the GOP Establishment, to a fever pitch during the Tea Party era. It would be a mistake to ignore it when it comes from Trump. It was always a valid criticism.

The GOP has a tendency to hoard political capital until it rots instead of risking it to gain solid game-changing results. A commonly-mocked expression of this tendency is their anti-battle cry, "This is not the hill to die on."

It's NEVER the hill to die on because Republicans seem to have an institutional aversion to doing anything that would shift the American political center of gravity or move the Overton window of possibility. They pull back from taking such actions almost every time.

Some of them view game-changing policies as social engineering and refuse to engage in it on principle, while Democrats are absolutely mad for social engineering - almost EVERY Dem policy is designed to reshape the electorate and lay the groundwork for future crusades.

Some Republicans are motivated largely by terror of the media, so they scamper away from bold positions when the heavy rhetorical artillery starts landing. Dems float trial balloons and begin pushing political culture toward accepting them; Repubs run away when the balloons pop.

Some Republicans merely follow the Democrat lead, acting as advisers to the Democrats rather than bold leaders. They react to Democrat policies, accept Democrat goals, or work for influential constituencies that want what the Dems want for different reasons (as with immigration.)

Whatever the reason, Republicans have an institutional tendency to take the head for staking out positions without following up. They get labeled as extremists when they're actually timid. Time and again, they end up bleeding from political wounds without gaining any ground.

This leaves Republicans without anything approaching the Democrats' aura of crusading righteousness. The Dems overdo it, and wise voters long ago learned to be deeply suspicious of politicians who claim to be paladins, but the GOP rarely acts as if its cause is righteous at all.

Look, for example, at how the GOP quickly turns on its bold adventurers and accepts DNC Media framing of them as disasters whose gambits are sure to drive away voters, even when that is demonstrably not the case, while Dems treat theirs as noble heroes overcome by GOP villainy.

One exception to all of this is tax relief, which really is a transformative policy that can change the electorate in a positive way over time - that's one reason Democrats fight it like vampires railing against the sunrise.

What we've got so far is a good start, but there is not yet much sign that it will be followed up with even more profound and transformative pro-growth policies. The election campaign will be a chance to lay that on the table, but it really should have happened sooner.

We're just behind where we should be on transforming the American economy and electorate to maintain top global position, correct the social pathologies created by left-wing policies, and avert fiscal disaster. We need to move faster and make gains the Dems can't easily reverse.

On too many other things, Trump has invested rhetoric without getting the results, marked off hills without actually taking them, as Republicans always do. It's partly the party's fault, but the outcome matters a lot more than how the blame is divvied up.

I hate to be blunt, but anyone who thinks immigration is under control - I'm talking about what's really happening, right now, not poll numbers or media warfare - is kidding themselves. The results do not nearly justify the political capital spent on the issue.

You might say voting for Trump and the GOP is vastly preferable to letting Democrats erase the border and switch on high-powered taxpayer-funded migration magnets, and that is quite reasonable, but the center of gravity isn't moving, not yet.

Trump and the GOP leadership need to pick a few really significant things and follow through with gusto. Get some solid, unambiguous results that change the game - that change the electoral landscape - or at least make the Dems pay a steep price for getting in the way.

Pro-growth policies are a step in the right direction and a success to build on. Get a few more of those things done. Pick some fights and make it clear you intend to win them. Convince the voters you're going to do what you campaign on in 2020. Get the wobbly types on board.

But stop doing what Republicans so often do: stop trying to win debates and rack up points with media referees who play for the other team, but then back away from actually implementing policies that will change the game for a generation to come. /end

Addendum 1: Trump and the GOP leadership have been really good on judges at all levels. That's going to pay dividends down the line, but it's still easy for Dems to shop around and get the judges they need in a pinch. The game changes big time if Trump gets another Supreme pick.

Addendum 2: If Trump gets what he wants out of the trade war, it will profoundly reshape American politics through the next generation. It's an example of taking risks to make big gains, but the game isn't over yet.