When President-elect Donald Trump takes over in January 2017, he will enjoy extensive control over Congress since the Republicans have majority seats in both chambers. This gives Trump an enviable control over Washington to push his policies and agendas. However, he should not expect a smooth sailing since the Democrats will be expected to fight him back with the Senate filibuster.
According to Rutgers University’s political science professor, Ross Baker, the Democrats will use the filibuster to frustrate Trump at an unprecedented degree. This is because the filibuster allows them some level of leverage against the Republican majority members. He added that similarly, the Republicans gave Obama a run for his money back in 2009 when the situation was reversed, and the Democrats held majority seats in both Congress chambers.
As if the political situation in Washington wasn’t enough, Donald Trump will now expect resistance in pushing and implementing his agendas from the state of California. This was after the state’s Senate President and Assembly Speaker, Kevin de Leon and Anthony Rendon respectively, released a joint statement from the state’s legislative leaders immediately after Trump won the election. The statement detailed their plan to resist any of Donald Trump’s policies that sought to reverse the nation’s generations of progress.
In the statement, the leaders said that the morning after Trump’s victory, they felt like strangers that too in a foreign land because the pluralistic and democratic views expressed by Americans went against the values held by the populace of California. They added that although Trump won the election, he was not in a position to change the values that Californians held. They reiterated that America was greater than one party or man and that they will not stand by and allow it to be returned to the past. They vowed to resist any effort that sought to shred the state’s social fabric and constitution.
The two leaders said that California would not allow the 2016 election to affect the country’s generations of progress especially now that the USA is at the height of scientific advancement, historical diversity, global responsibility, and economic output. They added that they plan to use the presidential transition period to defend California’s accomplishments and reach out to other local, state, and federal officials in a bid to evaluate how Trump’s presidency will affect federal funding of state programs, federal laws affecting California, and investments that rely on foreign trade.
True to its word, California enjoys the financial might to lead a planned resistance against Donald Trump’s Presidency. The state has the largest economy in the country and is ranked as the sixth-largest economy globally. With this amount of financial might, it has the power to effect actionable change and enjoys a greater degree of independence from Washington compared to any other state.
What’s more, California is the largest contributor to Washington giving its state leaders the leverage they need to resist policies they do not like. This is because they have a bargaining advantage over other states thanks to California’s large economy. The leaders concluded by saying that although California was not an original member of the USA, it is ready and willing to assume the responsibility of keeping the nation’s future.