‘TrumpCare’ and commemorative plaques - how Democrats are pitching deal-making with the president

Detailed summary

WASHINGTON (AP) — Abdul El-Sayed has proposed “TrumpCare,” a golden insurance card providing universal healthcare, dangling the president’s name on the ambitious Democratic plan.…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Abdul El-Sayed has proposed “TrumpCare,” a golden insurance card providing universal healthcare, dangling the president’s name on the ambitious Democratic plan.

James Talarico has suggested Donald Trump could become a man of history like Lyndon B. Johnson, who was seen as a master of congressional dealmaking.

And even Hakeem Jeffries, in line to become the House speaker in January, has left the door open to working with the other side of the aisle “wherever and whenever possible” to deliver for the American people.

Democrats who swept into power by riding voter backlash to Trump are now pitching ways to collaborate with the president, playing to his vanity and his love of making deals to propel their own agenda.

The offers coming from the Democrats carry both practical and political applications — a strategy to show that the party is serious about the hard work of legislating and also an acknowledgment that Trump’s signature is needed for new laws.

Trump himself has said he doesn’t want to spend the final two years of his presidency simply vetoing bills from the Democrats in control of Congress. It was only a few short years ago, during his first term, that Trump stunned Republicans by cutting deals with the Democratic leaders he called “Chuck and Nancy” — Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Before the next Congress begins in January, Democrats are trying to entice Trump with the prospect of timeless glory to a president fixated on making his mark on Washington.

All he has to do, they say, is work with them to deliver sweeping policies like Medicare for All.

“Donald, this is on the table. Guarantee healthcare for every American, from cradle to grave,” El-Sayed, who won the U.S. Senate race in Michigan after Trump branded him a terrorist sympathizer, wrote on social media.

Opening of the article, excerpted from Toronto Star. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.