Months Too Late: Trump Announces His “Contract With the American Voter”

This is the type of thing that should have been announced near the time of the Republican convention, if not his speech at the RNC. At this point, it looks desparate

(UK Daily Mail) Donald Trump planted a flag on hallowed ground Saturday morning by laying out near the Gettysburg National Battlefield what he would do in his first 100 days as President of the United States.

Touting ‘the kind of change that only arrives once in a lifetime,’ Trump told an audience of about 300 invited guests that he will ‘drain the swamp’ in Washington, replacing the current government ‘with a new government of, by and for the people.’

The symbolism factor was high, with a campaign aide telling reporters Friday night that the Civil War battle in Gettysburg memorialized by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 ‘was the moment when the war turned.’

The problem here, besides being super late in the game, possibly too darned late, OK, assuredly too late, is that, as the Washington Post put it, Lincoln spoke of unity, while Trump spoke of a rigged system. He still hasn’t specifically asked for the votes of Conservatives.

He summed up the substance of his campaign in a ‘Contract With The American Voter’ – a point-by-point set of initiatives that track with the themes he has focused on for 16 months.

Take the name “Trump” out of it, and it mostly reads very well for the Republican voter, things that he proposes to start on day one in office. On government and corruption

• FIRST, propose a Constitutional Amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress;
• SECOND, a hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce federal workforce through attrition (exempting military, public safety, and public health);
• THIRD, a requirement that for every new federal regulation, two existing regulations must be eliminated;
• FOURTH, a 5 year-ban on White House and Congressional officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service;
• FIFTH, a lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government;
• SIXTH, a complete ban on foreign lobbyists raising money for American elections.

Some are perhaps a bit lofty, but, hey, why not? For the American worker

• FIRST, I will announce my intention to renegotiate NAFTA or withdraw from the deal under Article 2205
• SECOND, I will announce our withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership
• THIRD, I will direct my Secretary of the Treasury to label China a currency manipulator
• FOURTH, I will direct the Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Trade Representative to identify all foreign trading abuses that unfairly impact American workers and direct them to use every tool under American and international law to end those abuses immediately
• FIFTH, I will lift the restrictions on the production of $50 trillion dollars’ worth of job-producing American energy reserves, including shale, oil, natural gas and clean coal.
• SIXTH, lift the Obama-Clinton roadblocks and allow vital energy infrastructure projects, like the Keystone Pipeline, to move forward
• SEVENTH, cancel billions in payments to U.N. climate change programs and use the money to fix America’s water and environmental infrastructure

For the most part, this is big ball, that rather avoids the “bread and butter” issues that American citizens really care about. It’s aimed more at the people who really follow politics. Don’t forget, TPP is loathed equally by lots of Republicans and Democrats.

• FIRST, cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama
• SECOND, begin the process of selecting a replacement for Justice Scalia from one of the 20 judges on my list, who will uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States
• THIRD, cancel all federal funding to Sanctuary Cities
• FOURTH, begin removing the more than 2 million criminal illegal immigrants from the country and cancel visas to foreign countries that won’t take them back
• FIFTH, suspend immigration from terror-prone regions where vetting cannot safely occur. All vetting of people coming into our country will be considered extreme vetting.

Number one is something he should have been extremely vocal about months and months ago. Too little, too late.

He then jumps into 10 things for the first 100 days (it’s up to you to read the accompanying text)

1. Middle Class Tax Relief And Simplification Act.
2. End The Offshoring Act
3. American Energy & Infrastructure Act.
4. School Choice And Education Opportunity Act
5. Repeal and Replace Obamacare Act
6. Affordable Childcare and Eldercare Act.
7. End Illegal Immigration Act
8. Restoring Community Safety Act
9. Restoring National Security Act
10. Clean up Corruption in Washington Act

This is his pledge.

Not too be too much of a negative nelly, but, again, it’s too darned late. Instead of whining about the media as much as he did, complaining about a rigged system, talking about this and that and the other, he should have been focused on the things in his Contract. He could have easily earned the votes of Republicans, while increasing his trust factor. Even with this, I don’t really trust that he would do what he says in this Contract. Instead of spending more time fighting with Republicans, he could have enticed them with this Contract. #NeverTrump might have mostly faded away. There would have been enthusiasm for policy, rather than personality.

Too darned late in the game.

Crossed at Right Wing News.