Quote:
Originally Posted by Via Chicago
sorry but youre really naive. this guy has zero interest in expanding public transit. we'll be lucky if we continue to get any federal funds, period.
|
It's not that clear-cut. There are three questions here - what does Trump personally think, what do his shadowy advisors think, and what can he actually accomplish given Congress?
Trump himself doesn't give a flying you-know-what about the dogma of the Republican platform. He will do what works best with his voters to show them that he is a builder president. On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly mentioned that America needs to make more investments in intercity rail. This cuts in the face of Republican dogma; Trump doesn't care. High-speed rail is sexy and marketable in a way that regular buses, light rail, and subways are not, so I expect Trump to throw his support behind it. Likewise, an airport express train as proposed in Chicago and New York (and now LA) definitely falls on the "sexy" side of the ledger, so I don't see why Trump wouldn't support them.
Trump's advisors are a bit of an unknown - I doubt Steve Bannon would support investments in rail or public transit, but I also think transportation policy is small potatoes to him - he's more concerned with foreign relations. However, Jared Kushner seems to be the guy for domestic policy, and he is a pretty savvy New York developer like Trump who no doubt understands the importance of public transportation and intercity rail.
Congressional Republicans are just as hostile to intercity rail and public transit as they have always been, but the fact that Trump is also a Republican means that the leadership in Congress will not show the same obstructionism to Trump that they did to Obama.