Paul Waldman in The Plum Line argues that there’s only one way to end the government shutdown, and that’s for the Democrats and the Republicans to do the impossible – ignore the Executive:
So the only answer may be for everyone, Democrats and Republicans alike, to ignore President Trump. Act as though he doesn’t exist and this has nothing to do with him.
By which I mean that members of Congress should shut their ears to Trump’s tweets and threats and fulminations, pass something that House Democrats and Senate Republicans can live with, and then dare Trump to veto it. Because I doubt he has the guts.
There’s two problems with Waldman’s proposal.
First, the Republicans already had that opportunity. The House and Senate had already substantially agreed on a bill to end the shutdown, but the Republicans in the House retreated when faced with an enraged Trump. The flip side of being a member of The Party of Trump is that you have to be his lap dog, or you won’t stand a chance of winning an election for dog-catcher, much less a substantive elective position, in any district controlled by the Trumpists – and, so far as the Republicans go, that’s most of them. The President is a vindictive, petty man, unleavened with wisdom or even cunning, and what that means for the hopefuls in the Republicans Party is that they can no longer exercise good judgment on certain topics popular with the Trump base, such as immigration reform. It is true they can defy him on more obscure topics, such as most areas of foreign relations – but most members lack relevant expertise.
Second, it doesn’t matter if Trump has the guts to veto the legislation, because he’s not the one making such decisions. It’s Fox News making those decisions. All they have to do is appeal to Trump’s inherent sense of victimization and remind him that he’s betraying his base, and he’ll veto the bill, and then he’ll storm and threaten and pound his fist.
And the Republicans will melt, because they don’t dare exercise good judgment.
When I heard Fox News was manipulating the President into rejecting the shutdown bill, I had some hopes the Republicans would show themselves to be mature adults, finally, now that many of them are leaving Congress, but this was a fool’s hope, thankyouverymuch. I don’t know if Trump is going to blink or if the Dems will cave, but the best Dem strategy may be to sit tight, investigate Trump when they come into control of the House, and let Trump stew and take responsibility for his shutdown.
And perhaps the Democrats can take advantage of the situation by labeling this adventure as the #TrumpShutdown. And the wall? Resurrecting an old but deadly Republican curse, label it the #TrumpBoondoggle.
Because that’s what it is.
