Trump Caved

Day 35 of the Government Shutdown -- Trump announced from the White House Rose Garden that a deal had been reached. Several TV news reporters explained the end of the shutdown by saying "Trump caved."

Trump surrendered to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in astonishing fashion yesterday after insisting for 35 straight days that he would never reopen the government without winning on his central 2016 campaign promise: "a big, beautiful border wall" between the United States and Mexico.

Even in his moment of defeat Trump did not let up on his demands for a southern border wall that he had repeatedly said Mexico would finance. Renewing his threats, the president still insists Congress must give him wall funding or risk another government shutdown in three weeks -- or a declaration of a national emergency that would allow him to circumvent Congress and use the military to build the wall.

Pelosi waited Trump out until he couldn't take the heat anymore. Amid a wave of news stories on furloughed federal workers showing up at food banks or in unemployment lines, airports across the country facing slowdowns, thousands of IRS employees who weren't returning to the job when ordered back without pay -- or, perhaps more so, the public blaming him for the chaos -- Trump wilted Pelosi held firm

Lesson Learned -- Chuck Schumer: "Shutting down the government over a policy difference is self-defeating. It accomplishes nothing but pain and suffering for the country and incurs an enormous political cost to the party shutting it down. We cannot ever hold American workers hostage again."

"Our diversity is our strength," Pelosi told reporters after the agreement was reached. "But our unity is our power. And that is what maybe the president underestimated."

Democrats expressed willingness to negotiate with the president on border security issues they agree on -- such as the need for improved technology -- but said, as they have from the start, that there will be no money for Trump's wall.

I think the caption best represents this whole fiasco: Deal is same one Trump could've had 34 days ago.

Friday evening Trump tweeted:

Government Shutdown

President Trump told Democratic leaders on December 11 he would be "proud" to shut down the government if he doesn't get the $5 billion in border wall funding he's demanding in a year-end spending bill: "I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck [Schumer]. ... I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down."

The following week, with a government shutdown looming as Trump and Congress struggle to agree to a budget deal, Trump flip-flopped:

Trump was about to sign a short-term deal with congressional Democrats to keep the government open until New Year's without the wall funding when he suddenly reversed himself. What happened?

What happened is that his base exploded in rage at the idea that he would go back on his campaign promise to build the wall. "Trump gets nothing," Rush Limbaugh complained, "and the Democrats get everything!" Ann Coulter said Trump's White House would become "a joke presidency that scammed the American people" if he didn't build the wall, adding that "he'll have no legacy whatsoever."

As Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said on NBC, "[Trump] says it is an issue of border security. I think we know better. It's an issue of his own political insecurity. When the right-wingers start screaming at him, he just backs off and dissembles in front of us."

 
The shutdown began December 22, and since then lots of blame and finger-pointing has been made:

The government shutdown is now gone on so long that news media have apparently decided the number of hours, minutes and seconds is irrelevant — and has moved to using just a day count.

hours minutes seconds

days hours minutes

days

 

Breakfast of Champions

President Trump hosted Clemson University, College Football National Champions in 2019.

Abraham Lincoln contemplates the feast

The catered meal was supplied by a variety of fast food restaurants and charmingly arranged on a table set with candelabras.

Silver trays held stacks of wrapped burgers from Wendy's. Also on offer were boxed burgers from McDonald's, including Big Macs, and Burger King's Whoppers. White House cups bearing the presidential seal held the fries.

Pizzas, some topped with olives and tomatoes, also were on the menu. Silver bowls held the condiments, and stacks of white plates sat nearby.

Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said much of the staff in the White House residence has been furloughed because of the government shutdown, "so the president is personally paying for the event to be catered with some of everyone's favorite fast foods." The White House did not provide the cost.

Nice touch: Silver tray and paper napkins with the presidential seal

Internet Headline

Saw this headline on the Internet this a.m.

Trump: How do you impeach a president as successful as me?

Hope we get an answer soon.

Columnist Marc A. Thiessen, in the newspaper this morning, said Trump's problem is he suffers from "transgressions of style rather than substance. With the mute button on, the Trump presidency is pretty good from a conservative policy perspective. And yet Trump's approval rating at year's end is just 39 percent – because most Americans don't follow politics with the sound off."

I think he means what Trump has done has been o.k. (good, positive, helpful, whatever you want to call it), but all of his rhetoric overshadows anything o.k. that he's done.

Today's Tweet:

F.Y.I.  According to Gallup, Trump’s job approval rating among Republicans is 89 percent, and just 39 percent among all voters. It’s unclear where he got the 93 percent figure.