Thread by @MattGlassman312

I wrote an op-ed on the legislative agenda-setting techniques Republicans have used to bury Trumpism. A few further points here. 1/

nyti.ms/2DOG0LT

First, McConnell really was impressive in how he handled the shutdown. Beyond framing it as a Trump vs. Dems fight and shielding his members from having to take votes for or against Trump, he arranged that side-by-side vote, rolling Trump as he appeared to be supporting him.

He didn’t need to allow the Dem alternative, he could have gotten a cloture vote on just the Trump plan. But IMO he knew exactly what he was doing. After Trump’s plan was embarrassed, the GOP privately read him the riot act, forced him to back down, and then praised him doing it.

It’s was a pretty darn good way of getting your way without upsetting Trump’s base. They were never going to escape the shutdown without some damage, but IMO they minimized how much of it landed on them quite well.

The basic principle of using agenda-setting to control policy while giving Trump all the public visible praise works really well in the vast majority of cases where Trump doesn’t care about policy. It hits bumps when he either cares (wall), or takes exec action (foreign policy).

Going forward, however, I think Trump is going to be more problematic on the agenda-setting front. The GOP has lost unilateral control over congressional agenda, and Trump doesn’t like backing away from fights.

I think this is likely to reveal Trump’s general legislative weakness, if he tries to veer off into Trumpism-type agenda items as he confronts the Dems. The GOP just isn’t interested in Wall/tariffs/etc.

I think logic of agenda-setting also explains why it’s so difficult for the GOP to take on Trump regarding corruption. It requires purposeful visible action, directly aimed at him. They can’t use negative agenda setting, and they can’t give him the adulation for positive action.

It’s debatable whether Trump’s base cares much about policy. But they certainly care about Trump. So the congressional GOP really has all the incentives aligned to ignore the corruption.