川普希望借稅改勝利擴大戰果

2018 promises to be a year of challenge and opportunity for President Donald Trump, both domestically and overseas. Trump hopes to build on his victory on tax cuts late last year. But the president and his Republican allies in Congress will likely face strong political headwinds this year leading up to the November midterm congressional elections.

Even as he looks ahead to his second year in office, Trump likes to remind everyone about victory last month on a tax bill. “It is going to be tough to beat the year we just left because what we had last year was something very special, especially to cap it off with the tremendous tax cuts and tax reform,” Trump recently told reporters.

Trump's White House got off to a rocky start this year with publication of the controversial book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” by Michael Wolff. The book's highly critical assessment of the president set off a political firestorm and raised questions about his fitness for office, especially among Democrats.

Trump and his aides slammed the book as mostly fiction. “There are numerous mistakes, but I am not going to waste my time or the country's time going page by page talking about a book that is complete fantasy,” said press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders during one exchange with reporters at the White House.

Republican congressional leaders including House Speaker Paul Ryan would prefer to talk policy, not personality, especially in the wake of the tax cut win. "There are people who are just coming up to us and saying, ‘this is working, I'm getting bigger paychecks, I got a bonus,' or ‘I'm expanding my small business and I'm going to hire more people.' So that is exciting.”

Analysts say the furor over the book has once again sharpened the political divide over the president. “What I think the book will do is fit into pre-existing notions for some people that the president is mentally unstable or is having challenges with decline,” said Brookings Institution scholar John Hudak. “But for the president's supporters this book is going to be seen as a fabrication and as something not to be taken seriously.”

A poll this week found President Trump's approval rating at 36 percent while 59 percent disapprove of his presidency. The survey also found voters prefer Democrats to take over control of the Congress next year by a margin of 52 to 35 percent.

The New York Times noted this week that when a president's approval is under 50 percent, the president's party has an average loss of 40 House seats in the midterm. Democrats need a net gain of 24 House seats to retake control of that chamber, and two seats to take the majority in the Senate.2018年對川普總統來說將是在國內外既有挑戰也有機會的一年。川普希望在去年年底取得的稅改勝利基礎上更進一步。但是川普總統和他在國會的共和黨盟友在2018年11月國會中期選舉前肯定會面臨更大的政治阻力。

川普總統在展望他的第二年執政時，喜歡提醒所有人上個月稅改法案的勝利。他最近對記者說：“將會很難比過去的一年做得更好，因爲去年是十分特殊的一年，特別是年底龐大的減稅和稅收改革。”

川普總統的白宮新年伊始就受到沃爾夫撰寫出版的《火與怒：川普白宮內幕》的衝擊。這本書對川普總統提出尖銳的批評，引起一場政治風暴，並引起一些人、特別是民主黨人質疑川普是否合適做總統。

川普和他的助手抨擊這本書基本是杜撰。白宮新聞祕書桑德斯在白宮對記者說：“有若干錯誤，但是我不會浪費我自己以及國家的時間逐頁討論一本完全是臆想的書。“

包括衆議院議長瑞安在內的國會共和黨領導人更願意談論政策，而不是個人性格，尤其是在取得了減稅的勝利之後。他說：”很多人找到我們，跟我們說：‘這個管用，我得到更多工資，還拿了獎金。'還有人說：‘我要擴大我的小公司，招募更多的員工。'這非常令人振奮。”

分析人士說，這本書引起的激烈爭議再一次突出了圍繞川普總統的政治對立。布魯金斯學會的學者胡達克說：“我認爲，這本書迎合了一些人原有的想法，認爲總統的頭腦不穩定，或者缺乏化解事端的能力。但是對總統的支持者來說，這本書將被視爲杜撰，完全不值一提。”

最新的一個民調顯示，川普總統的支持率爲36%，59%的受訪者認爲他不稱職。調查還顯示，認爲民主黨明年控制國會的人爲52%，認爲這不會發生的人佔35%。

紐約時報這個星期說，當一位總統的支持率低於50%時，在國會中期選舉中平均丟失40個衆議院席位。民主黨需要多贏24個衆議院席位和兩個參議院席位就可以在兩院佔多數。