Havent heard one peep: Steve Bannon shocked as Trump allowed to shed core GOP principle

President Donald Trump is trampling on a cornerstone of Republican Party policy — and its members are quietly standing aside and watching, according to a New York Times analysis.The willingness to roll over has left even Key Trump allies shocked.“I haven’t heard one peep,” Steve Bannon — considered the architect of Trump’s 2016 victory — told The Times.“In the old days, there’d be a big debate.”Bannon was talking about Trump’s delving into local politics — a major swing away from the traditional GOP concept that the presidency should focus on federal issues and leave local ones to the states.Since his inauguration, Trump threatened to halt congestion pricing in New York City, intervened in the California wildfires — and overruled how local officials were releasing water in the state. He’s dabbled in the funding of schools and medical institutions, overriding state laws, and he’s sued the state of Chicago over its sanctuary laws.“Federalism was certainly the orthodoxy in the Republican Party from the 1960s on,” Ronald Reagan biographer Max Boot told The Times. “If a Democrat were doing this to red states, Republicans would be screaming bloody murder.”“Republicans believe in federalism, of deferring to the states and the government closest to the people,” Karl Rove, an adviser to George W. Bush, told The Times.“Not clear how much he shares that view.”ALSO READ: ‘Driven to self-loathing’: Inside the extremist website believed to ‘groom’ teen attackers“People have come to the conclusion that we have such a crisis in government,” Bannon said. “People are totally focused on that. All the arguments about federalism are taking a back seat right now.”“Why does he want to stop offshore wind in California, if California wants to do it?” said former California Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat.“Why does he want to stop electric vehicles if California wants them? He’s putting his White House view over the view of local governments. It offends the basic American structure of government.”Conservative commentator Bil Kristol said, “I don’t think he has a moment when he thinks about federalism. I think his instinct is, ‘I want to do this, and thus we want to do it to the whole country.’”

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