I have an important message for President Trump and the GOP Congress. Study the lesson of the Nevada GOP.
When people think of Nevada, they think of Las Vegas aka “Sin City.” They think of neon, glitzy casinos, gambling, strip clubs, Elvis and Liberace.
What they don’t think of is politics…or more specifically, Obamacare.
Yet Nevada holds the lesson for President Trump and the GOP Congress for how to handle Obamacare.
Nevada is a place for bigger-than-life-personality, gunslingers and riverboat gamblers, not boring, wishy-washy moderates who stand for tinkering around the edges. In Las Vegas, you’ve “got to go big and bold, or go home.”
Trump needs to heed the lessons learned in Nevada only two years ago. The Nevada GOP went small. The Nevada GOP went moderate. The Nevada GOP went “Democrat-lite.” The result was disaster. I’m worried the same thing is happening to President Trump and the GOP Congress.
Trump needs to be Trump-like, not Democrat-lite.
Because Obamacare is a vampire. A werewolf. You don’t compromise with a vicious killer like that. You either kill it, or it kills you.
See the news from the Atlanta Fed of the projected 1.3% GDP in the first quarter? It’s getting worse. Outside of Wall Street and Washington DC, no one has any money. It’s a vast wasteland. Obamacare has sucked the life out of the U.S. economy. It has sucked consumers dry.
Saving $100 per month on low gas prices doesn’t matter much when you lose an extra $1000 per month on your health insurance bills. That’s the story of Obamacare and the U.S. economy.
That’s why there can be no comprising. The twin disasters of Obamacare taxes and the Obamacare price increases are murdering the middle class. They both have to go N-O-W. Or the economy will continue to decline, or collapse.
The lesson here is…don’t compromise, or “moderate.” Don’t play around the edges. Either you go the “Full Monty” or you’ll lose. You can’t be partly pregnant. As soon as Republicans try to be Democrat-lite, they lose. You can’t tinker around the edges of Obamacare. Either you kill it (as you promised) or you will lose. Period.
That’s the lesson of Nevada.
In 2014 Nevada Republicans campaigned on the foundation of smaller government and lower taxes. That message produced the greatest GOP result in Nevada history. The GOP controlled every lever of Nevada government- Governor, Lt. Governor, Treasurer, Controller, Secretary of State, State Senate and State Assembly.
Then our Republican Governor and GOP legislature handed us the largest tax increase in history. Yes, I said increase. The tax-hiking Republicans even said it was “for the kids” – just like Democrats always do. But it’s never “for the kids.” It’s for teachers unions and government employee pensions. The kids never get a thing.
The result of raising taxes? Disaster. The same GOP that swept every office and every level of government in 2014, lost everything in 2016- even U.S. Senate and Congressional seats that looked safe. In two years the GOP went from the thrill of landslide victory, to the agony of landslide defeat. “Heckuva job Brownie.”
Oh, by the way, virtually every single Nevada Republican politician who voted for tax increases was defeated.
Reagan won in two landslides by being an unapologetic conservative. But wishy-washy moderates like Ford, Dole, McCain, and Romney lost.
Trump won the presidency, while sticking to his guns, and supposedly offending almost every group in the world. But he didn’t listen to the media or liberals. He didn’t water down what he believed in. He didn’t play it safe. He went the Full Monty. He was a gunslinger and riverboat gambler.
So my advice to President Trump regarding Obamacare is simple: Be Trump-like, not Democrat-lite.
Don’t listen to lobbyists, consultants, pollsters, liberals, the media, or establishment Republicans. None of them knows anything, or they’d be president, not you. Be sure you serve as president exactly as you campaigned. Be bold. Take charge. Continue to be that gunslinger and riverboat gambler. This is no time to go “moderate.” This is no time to play it safe. Don’t settle for “small ball.”
Go big and bold, or go home.
Don’t worry about what Democrat voters say—they didn’t vote for you and never will. You can never make them happy. Worry about 30 million small businessmen and women. Almost all of them voted for you. Obamacare has devastated their businesses. Worry about middle-class voters in Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. They elected you. They desperately need your help. Obamacare has wrecked their lives.
Do what you promised- kill Obamacare. That’s what got you elected. Gut it. Rip it to shreds. Stab it in the heart with a wooden stake like a vampire.
But if you choose to play it safe and water it down, you will lose the greatest opportunity in history for Republicans to dominate national politics and change Washington DC forever. Don’t play it safe. Don’t moderate. Be bold. Go for it.
Or you’ll wind up neutered like the Nevada GOP.
