You heard more about his shots at the media - you always do - but once he got past that, Trump's CPAC speech was a pretty strong affirmation of his commitment to actually do the things people are getting nervous will not get done.
First let's quickly deal with the media part, though. If you listen to the media itself, you would think Trump is trying to eliminate the free press and silence every journalist in America. In fact, his criticisms of them are very consistent and very specific: He hates their use of anonymous sources, which often leads to stories that are totally inaccurate, and he hates the way they use nonsense angles to make him look bad just for the sake of him looking bad. I think the former is his bigger issue, though, and it's one I've been on the media about for years.
I studied journalism in school just like they did, and I've done my share of work as a professional journalist. One thing every journalist is taught (or was taught back then anyway) is that you only let a source be anonymous if there's an extraordinary reason for it. The reasons they give for it now ("for fear of reprisals;" "in order to speak candidly") don't even come close to cutting it. But they do it as commonly as they breathe, and since you never know who their sources are, you simply have to trust the judgment of the journalist who chose to give credence to the source.
Why would you do that? Exactly.
Getting beyond that, though, Trump must surely understand what he's setting himself up for if he doesn't come through on his major campaign promises here, particularly the construction of the wall and ObamaCare repeal-and-replace. And as you can see, he doesn't hedge:
It seems to me there is actually more skepticism among conservatives about repealing and replacing ObamaCare than there is about building the wall. Everyone now seems to assume there will be a wall, a fence . . . something, since Congress seems willing to allocate the money and Trump is already giving the orders for construction to start. You might see the media claim he "walked back" the promise if turns out to be a fence and not a wall, but if it's a fence that will be because the border control says a fence would be more effective, which is really not hard to understand.
On ObamaCare, though, there's been a lot of panic on the right about some of the language that's been used by Republicans ("repair" seems to suggest to them that ObamaCare isn't going anywhere), and a recent poll showing ObamaCare has actually increased in popularity has some conservatives freaking out that the GOP is losing the rhetorical battle - and that a cave is the all-but-certain next step.
If that's what's going to happen, explain to me why you hear no give at all in Trump's statement on the matter. ObamaCare is going to be repealed and replaced. Period.
I actually think there are two other compelling reasons to believe nothing else could be the outcome of all this. One is the process argument: If you want to replace ObamaCare with something that's actually going to work, you need to take your time and do it right. We've already told you about what's happening in House committees toward that end.
The other is the political argument: For all the speculation that Republicans are getting cold feet about the politics of it, I actually think the politics are far worse for them if they wimp out and leave ObamaCare in place, for several reasons:
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If they can't repeal ObamaCare after everything that's happened the past six years, they will never again be able to convince their base they can be trusted to do what they say they're going to do.
A party rarely pays a political price for keeping a campaign promise, no matter how much the media wigs out about it. If the public agreed with the media, they would have elected the Democrats.
If ObamaCare stays in place, you reinforce the Democrats' belief that once an entitlement is created it can never be taken away. If Republicans decide to do that, they might as well fold up the party. There would no longer be any reason for it to exist.
I realize there's the political consultant's warning that if you repeal and replace ObamaCare, you now "own health care," and it's much more advantageous for the other side to own it while you bludgeon them about how badly it's working. But that's the case with anything when you endeavor to govern. You can't seek office by touting your ideas, claiming to believe in them, and then shrink from implementing them because you'll own the results and you might be criticized for them. If that's how you think, get a job at a car wash and let someone else run for office.
That's not how Trump thinks. I don't think that's how Paul Ryan thinks. It might be how Mitch McConnell thinks, but when the momentum is for repeal and replace he's going to get behind it. Trump's words of resolve are encouraging, and they're the far more important part of his speech than whatever he might have said about the media - who are far less important than they think they are.
