Posted on 07/30/2018 8:16:48 AM PDT by Kaslin
Taylor offered some thoughts about the President’s threatened government shutdown last night, but since we’re catching up from the weekend I wanted to take a second pass at it. In case you missed it, President Trump jumped back into both the immigration reform and budget debates on Twitter yesterday with what some viewed as perhaps a bit too bellicose claim in terms of how far he would be willing to go to secure the border.
I would be willing to “shut down” government if the Democrats do not give us the votes for Border Security, which includes the Wall! Must get rid of Lottery, Catch & Release etc. and finally go to system of Immigration based on MERIT! We need great people coming into our Country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2018
This came during a week where the media was probably hoping for some new material to go after the White House with, particularly when Trump’s approval ratings continued to creep upward or at least remain stable despite their best efforts. Needless to say, the specter of a government shutdown landed in the MSM’s lap like Christmas come early. Cue the Washington Post.
Trump’s shutdown warning — which he has made before — escalates the stakes ahead of a Sept. 30 government funding deadline, raising the possibility of a political showdown before the Nov. 6 midterm elections that Republican congressional leaders had hoped to avoid. A funding fight also could prove a distraction from Republican efforts in the Senate to confirm Trump Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh by Oct. 1.
Trump faced immediate words of caution from top Republicans, including Rep. Steve Stivers (Ohio), who leads the National Republican Congressional Committee, which coordinates campaign efforts for GOP House candidates.
“I don’t think we’re going to shut down the government. You know, I think we’re going to make sure we keep the government open, but we’re going to get better policies on immigration,” Stivers said on ABC News’s “This Week.”
If the President was detecting any blowback from the GOP it didn’t show up in his Twitter feed since he was pushing the same message again this morning.
We must have Border Security, get rid of Chain, Lottery, Catch & Release Sanctuary Cities – go to Merit based Immigration. Protect ICE and Law Enforcement and, of course, keep building, but much faster, THE WALL!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2018
As usual, this is one of the President’s more popular messages that fires up the base, so that part of it is nothing new. The shutdown language, however, has GOP leaders looking ahead to the midterms acting nervous, and for good reason.
This is a perfect story for the MSM. We all know how this game works when it comes to the media. If the Democrats control the White House and at least part of Congress and there’s a shutdown, the press blames the “tyranny of the minority” for blocking a spending bill, hanging the blame on the Republicans. But if the GOP is fully in charge as they are now, the minority isn’t such a “tyranny” anymore and they still blame the Republicans. And if they can push the idea of internal GOP discord as congressional Republicans edge away from the President over the shutdown talk, all the better for them.
But for those independents and swing voters willing to examine the facts, that sort of dishonest approach can be undermined by reminding them how the press operates. That task becomes nearly impossible, however, when the Republican president is out there willingly offering to take the blame for a potential shutdown. Trump does the New York Times’ work for them in that case and all they have to do is keep reprinting his tweets as “proof.”
The Democrats, for their part, certainly don’t want to be blamed for a shutdown since it didn’t work out all that well for them last time. But they also desperately don’t want to risk having people talking about the economy, the unemployment rate or the extra money in voters’ paychecks and pockets. They would dearly love to be able to pivot back to something else (like immigration) in the runup to November and if they can get the President to take the blame for a shutdown right before the midterms, all the better for them.
We should be able to get reasonable concession on border wall funding and other immigration and security issues in the upcoming budget deal. There’s really no point in rolling out the red carpet for Chuck Schumer’s next fifty appearances on the Sunday shows by ginning up talk of a shutdown when we didn’t seem to be in danger of having one. It’s time to look at the big picture, and for the next few months that involves preventing a blue wave in the midterms.
How to lose a shutdown showdown: RINOs.
The Republicans need to pass these things that they don’t have enough votes to pass or else Trump will shut down the government which will result in still more Democrats going into congress making those things even less likely to happen. STRATEGY!
Will the RINOs in Congress cave again?
If so, Trump needs to make this a “National Security Issue” and fund it with the Army Corps of Engineers (Military Budget Money).
When Obama said that Congress needs to send him a bill that “he could sign”, no one in the media said he threatened a shutdown.
The democrats hold the House and the Senate and have since 2016.
No one bothered to tell the American People about the stealth election.
They say “fires up the base” as if it was a bad thing.
We LIKE IT when he does what we hired him to do.
I think Trump is being accused here, of being ignorant about negotiations, and basically losing the whole deal right out of the gate, while the Democrats gleefully eat his lunch.
Somehow, I think the President will manage this situation a little better than that.
Thanks for the summary of conventional wisdom. Now, please detail how often President Trump has been bound by conventional wisdom.
The Rs in congress cannot conceive of using the electorate’s passion on this subject against the dems because they have no passion for it themselves. The President does things differently.
I have come to the conclusion that no matter how bad it looks, President Trump’s got this.
If the GOP had a majority they could pass what Trump wants and avoid a shutdown.
He said he would not sign another craptacular Crimenibus bill.
We will not get back to regular order or get legislation favorable to the citizens and the rule of law until we replace the Bush League Republicans with patriots.
There are less than 50 in the House and a handful in the Senate worth keeping.
Hey, we on the right can “resist” too, the left doesn’t own that!
The Rs in congress cannot conceive of using the electorate’s passion on this subject against the dems because they agree with the dems. / slight edit.
Yes, and all this is because much less giving up on amnesty, they’re doubling down (again!) and even trying to loosen what regulation we currently enforce!
You’re a master of thinking inside the box.
I think it would be great if there were a way to:
1. Make so that after the shutdown funding is not restored to make up for what wasn’t spent during the shutdown. Federal workers simply lose their income during that period.
2. Create a more expansive base of “emergency” operations that continue during the shutdown. Cut off any deep state funding and focus on what really matters.
This would provide total control for shrinking the government. There would be no reason for Trump to accommodate any of their demands.
The President, a Republican will shutdown the government.
Ryan and McConnell (pretend Republicans) know they will be blamed for shutting down the government (they'd rather be called racist, than be blamed for shutting down the government).
Ryan and McConnell tipped their hand when they thumbed their noses at Trump announcing they're not funding the wall before the mid-terms.
The President just painted them into a corner because he too knows the Democrats won't be blamed and Ryan and McConnell know the President doesn't care who gets blamed.
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