From both sides of the nation’s party duopoly, this new year brings a fork in a jarring road.
Partisan control of the presidency and Congress is supposed to determine the tilt of foreign and domestic policy. Government postures shift along with White House administrations and congressional majorities. The rhetoric and demographics of Democrats and Republicans differ dramatically.
Yet after four years of Donald Trump and three years of Joe Biden, the governmental impact of those differences has proven to be a lot narrower than one might expect from the never-ending partisan noise.
Elections do change our governance, but only within limits. Some American consensus does survive.
As president, Trump promised to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan. That happened, but during the administration of his successor, Joe Biden. The operational chaos of the departure was controversial -- but our getting out was a matter of consensus.
While in office, Trump signed a deep cut in the corporate tax rate, from 35% to 21%. Despite Democratic efforts to raise it back to 28%, Biden has fallen back to more modest policies to target corporate profits. The rate remains where the GOP left it.
Both administrations expanded the nation’s deficits and debt, and also, the U.S. military budget. Trump criticized his predecessors as too indulgent of NATO and too harsh on Vladimir Putin’s Russia. But his administration never carried out a strategic change of course.
Case in point: In November 2018, Trump’s United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley blasted Russia’s “outlaw actions” at an emergency Security Council, demanding release of Ukrainian ships and crew members who were seized by Russia.
“The United States continues to stand with the people of Ukraine against this Russian aggression,” Haley said. And Trump endorsed those remarks despite repeated hints of alignment with President Vladimir Putin.
For his part, Biden has finally been moving to harden the southern border, where Democrats in power now acknowledge a crisis. The president is waiving dozens of federal laws to allow the construction of more border barriers in South Texas. Immigration advocates have slammed Biden who said in 2020, “There will not be another foot of wall constructed in my administration.”
There have been other matters of consensus all along. Trump in 2016 drew wide interest for supporting a massive infrastructure program that would fix America’s physical plant, from roads to bridges to mass transit and flood control. His evocation of multi-trillion dollar proposals made "infrastructure week" a running gag among Washington wags. But Trump never negotiated a plan when his party was in the congressional majority. Later, Biden got a massive program passed after negotiation, with significant bipartisan support.
Different presidents and different congressional classes confront different economies and crises. Not long ago, the COVID-19 pandemic scrambled conditions and priorities.
We are offered a unique comparison when a current and former president prepare for a rematch. We can see what they accomplished and what they didn’t, whom they hired, and how those appointees performed. A frank look at the record could give us some idea what to expect from either party’s candidates -- even if neither Trump nor Biden make the ballot.
If nothing else, this first week of the year offers a good chance to get ready for a sober assessment of our choices.
Columnist Dan Janison's opinions are his own.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
Trump or Biden, some things don't change
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03.01.2024
From both sides of the nation’s party duopoly, this new year brings a fork in a jarring road.
Partisan control of the presidency and Congress is supposed to determine the tilt of foreign and domestic policy. Government postures shift along with White House administrations and congressional majorities. The rhetoric and demographics of Democrats and Republicans differ dramatically.
Yet after four years of Donald Trump and three years of Joe Biden, the governmental impact of those differences has proven to be a lot narrower than one might expect from the never-ending partisan noise.
Elections do change our governance, but only within limits. Some American consensus does survive.
As president, Trump promised to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan. That happened, but during the administration of his successor, Joe Biden. The operational chaos of the departure was........
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