America’s Political ‘Family Feud’ – “The Sunday Political Brunch” March 9, 2025
Mark Curtis, MINDSETTER™
America’s Political ‘Family Feud’ – “The Sunday Political Brunch” March 9, 2025
“Trump Trumpets Trump” – For one hour and forty minutes, President Trump touted all he believes he’s accomplished in six weeks, including more than one hundred executive orders with more to come. Trump said, “People elected me to do the job, and I’m doing it,” as he listed perceived accomplishments on immigration reform, the economy, and cutting government waste. But he took time to chastise Democrats for not buying in. He said, “This is my fifth such speech to Congress, and once again, I look at the Democrats in front of me, and I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy, or to make them stand and smile, or applaud. Nothing I can do.” He added, “Five times I’ve been up here and it’s very sad. It just shouldn’t be this way.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST
“Dems Response” – I thought the Democrats had an interesting choice in their response following the Trump address. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D) Michigan, a former three-term House member, made their case. Slotkin represents a Detroit suburb that, ironically, both she and Trump won in November. She joined the CIA after being in New York on 9-11 and served three tours in Iraq. Wisely, Slotkin focused her remarks on economic issues, saying, “We need to bring down the price of things we spend the most money on: groceries, housing, health care.” She believes Trump’s going in the wrong direction, saying, “Groceries and home prices are going up, not down. And he hasn’t laid out a credible plan to deal with either of those.” Suburban districts are more “purple” than hard right or left. Both parties know this is where control of Congress lies, and often where the keys to the White House are kept. Picking a moderate, young, new face instead of Sens. Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren was wise, in my analysis.
“USAID Court Case” – In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has blocked President Trump’s efforts to stop delivering foreign aid. The Court, which has 6 Republican appointees and 3 Democrat appointees, had a couple flip. Chief Justice John Roberts (a George W. Bush appointee), and Justice Amy Coney Barrett (a Trump appointee), joined the 3 Democrats in a close vote. There are several federal court cases against Trump steaming their way to the Supreme Court. Might this be a sign of trouble? Watch for rulings soon on birthright citizenship and any budgetary issue where Congress was excluded from Trump’s executive orders. At this point, the courts are the best hope for Democrats. Trump did win one case this week when a federal court upheld his ability as the chief executive, to fire certain executive branch workers.
“Democrats Have a Math Problem” – Democrats may have sat on their hands for nearly the entire Trump address and their dwindling numbers explain why. They are down 53 to 47 in the U.S. Senate, and are down 218 to 213 in the House, with four vacancies. Essentially, the GOP can only lose one vote in the House, so it’s a tightrope. As mentioned, the Republican appointees have a 6-3 advantage on the U.S. Supreme Court, but interesting Constitutional issues, as we’ve seen, can flip that. The GOP also has a 27-23 edge in the state governorships. And Republicans hold 56 percent of all state legislature seats, compared to 44 percent for Democrats. So, for Democrats to boo and hold up anti-trump signs, or even walk out on his speech has to be born of just utter frustration. They have little, if any leverage, on most issues.
“Trans-Sports Vote in Senate” – I am not going to debate transgender rights here, especially who can play on what sports teams. What I am going to do is raise questions about why this has become such a high-level issue for the Democrat party? Through a procedural move, Democrats in the U.S. Senate were able to block a bill that would only let students play on sports teams of their birth gender. Many states have done the same, and President Trump has signed an executive order to that end. My former home of West Virginia passed a trans-sports ban on a 34-1 vote of the State Senate this week, in a state where less than one percent of the population identifies as transgender. Democrats scratch their heads and wonder why the numbers enumerated above are so bad for them on the local, state, and national stage. This is just not a good political issue for them and they know it, but they persist. Democrats are defending 13 Senate seats in 2026, and two of those incumbents have already said they are not running for reelection. Much of their rebuilding needs to focus on issues that affect everyone such as the economy and national security.
“Florida Family Feud” – There is other political chatter this week. I spent 15 years covering news and politics for Florida radio and TV stations, and attended graduate school in the Sunshine State. Along the way, I witnessed a lot of hijinks, but now we have a topper. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) Florida and Trump have been allies at times, and enemies at other times. After a fierce primary, DeSantis fully backed Trump’s return to the White House. With DeSantis termed out in 2026, and planning another White House bid in 2028, he is now endorsing his own wife Casey to succeed him as governor. He was hoping Trump would endorse her, too, but no go. To DeSantis’s shock, Trump has endorsed Rep. Byron Donalds (R) Florida, to be the next governor. DeSantis is said to be furious and you’d be hard-pressed to blame him. Trump is also likely to back VP JD Vance in the 2028 GOP presidential primaries, further dissing DeSantis.
“New York’s ‘All in the Family’” – Not to be outdone by the DeSantis family, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) New York has announced he is running for Mayor of New York City. Cuomo, who resigned as governor after a sex scandal, will take on current Mayor Eric Adams, who’s had a few legal troubles of his own. There are nine declared candidates in the Democrats’ primary, so this could be a wild ride. Cuomo, son of a legendary governor, is part of a political legacy family. It’s no secret that Trump’s Justice Department ordered those criminal charges against Adams be dropped, but what will the impact be? Trump thinks Adams got railroaded by the Biden Justice Department, but the two men differ widely on big issues, especially immigration and sanctuary cities, such as New York. But what’s the old saying, “Politics makes for strange bedfellows!” The ex-New Yorker Trump could be a force in the mayor’s race.
“Education Cuts – Round One” – Trump promised to take on what he considers a bloated higher education system and even proposed the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education. On Friday, he ordered a halt to $400 million in grants and aid to Columbia University in New York, after saying the school failed to protect Jewish students from harassment by Hamas and Palestinian supporters on campus. Here comes another court challenge, I bet!