Deficit and debt. For Republicans this has been a staple for close management and reduction and a symbol of government excess. During Obama's time all policies were blocked mainly using this as an excuse. I understand that, and even empathize. When out of control debt can make you a basket case and only being the owner of the dollar has made that less likely. Government deficit gets turned directly into debt. It should not be eliminated any time soon but we should make sure it is steered in a way that keeps it manageable
In the last year the deficit has increased 27% i.e. over a fourth, for my US friends that only learn fractions. Next year the difference between speeding and income will increase the same again roughly and exceed $1 Trillion.
So, what happened to the Holy Grail of GOP fiscal responsibility? Trump..... "I am the king of debt, nobody knows more about debt than I do". His supporters forget that his debt was often wiped out by one of his numerous bankruptcies, leaving others with the bulk of the pain. I hope bankruptcy is not the game plan here but it sure looks like it might be.
The other staple of Republican's ideals was "no unfunded increases in spending". Let's leave aside the hundreds of unfunded billions Bush spent on the Iraqi war that is part of this legacy for the moment. A lot of this deficit increase is due to the unfunded tax-cuts last year. It is not due to bloated "entitlement" programs as these keep getting trimmed so we can take from the poor to give to the rich - BTW I hate the pejorative way that word gets used as GOP voters hate entitlements until you say you are going to remove their social security retirement income or retirement medicaid etc. This is a manufactured crisis to make spending LOOK out of control.
So, my point, as is oft the case, is if you claim to be a Republican, exactly what do you believe in now? Undermining law and order such as the FBI? Budget controls such as runaway deficit spending and unfunded bills?
It seems that all that is left to believe in for Republicans is separating children and babies from their parents, driving a white supremacist agenda, giving money to the hyper-wealthy, ensuring a sufficiently high number of mass shootings to distract the media and increasing pollution. Which one do you value most?