The spinmeisters are hard at work trying to create the illusion that it is everyone’s fault but Donald Trump’s that the government shutdown on Friday. As hard as they try, and the Trump surrogates believe, there is but one reality that is inescapable, it is Donald Trump’s fault that the U.S. military, federal workers and border agents aren’t getting paid. So, forget all the talking heads and the spin and focus on these undeniable truths.
First, both houses of Congress are controlled by the Republicans, the party that Donald Trump ran under. The Republicans hold 51 seats at the Senate. The Republicans hold 238 seats at the House, or 55.1%. In the Senate, 60 votes are required to adopt the budget, leaving the Republicans nine votes short of the votes necessary to pass the budget.
The spinmeisters want you to believe that nine Democrats are holding the government hostage. Nine Democrats is about 20% of the 47 Democrats. So, let’s work the math, to adopt a budget, the Senate needs to convince nine, or ten Democrats to vote along with the Republicans, or 20%. Depending on the budget negotiations, some Republicans might object and thus the vote count needed to pass the legislation fluctuates. This is where the Donald Trump lies comes into play.
Donald Trump ran on the platform of being an experienced businessman with superpower negotiating skills. Trump’s promise was that he was going to use his negotiating skills to get thing done. He offered his voters his “expertise.”
This gets us to the crux of the issue.
Donald Trump, as an expert negotiator, should be able to negotiate a plan that all Republicans should be able to buy into. At least 99% of the Republican’s, after all, it his party. Achieving that milestone would only leave the necessity to bring 20% of the Democrats on board. That’s about nine to 10 Democrats that are needed.
An “expert” negotiator should be able to achieve that.
What happened?
Are we really to believe that the Democratic caucus has that much sway over its members that it can control 100% of them? Really?
The government has shutdown. That is the reality that no amount of spin can hide.
I am no expert negotiator, but this is what I would do to avert the shutdown. I’d pick some low-hanging Democrats and make a deal with them. Divide and conquer. Pick one or two Democrat Senators and find their single most important pet legislation that would make their constituents happy. Carve out that legislation for them in the budget and get their votes. If it happens to be a Democrat facing a midterm election, that much better. Go down the list until you get ten Democrats to join the Republicans.
But, but what about the House, the Senate cannot do it without the House and the House had already adopted a temporary budget. A negotiator doesn’t wait until the chaos to be reactive, an expert negotiator anticipates and plans ahead to fulfill their goal. But, what do I know, I’m not Donald Trump.
Donald Trump has failed the voters that voted for him.
The worst part is that Trump’s other great promise was border security. Guess what? The border agents are working for free today. How’s that for Making America Great Again?
I am bewildered by US politics. Most of the US public who read the international news will be aware by now that the latest Gallup polls show a growing international disillusionment with US government, and surely the present events leading to the US government shutdown can only fuel the disillusionment further.
First we have the unfortunate parallel with the 2013 shutdown where the GOP led by the Tea party faction used a public policy issue to force a shutdown. The reason GOP gave as an excuse for the shutdown in that event was that Obama’s healthcare needed to be delayed. (Was this because they thought Obama was too generous in offering a solution that might be too expensive to help the poor???) Trump went one step further saying that if there were a shutdown it must be the President’s fault– and Obama should be fired because the shutdown happened.
Second we have the unsurprising situation where once again the heavily indebted Government is running out of money. The curious twist came when Mr Trump and the GOP pre-empted the unresolved potential shutdown by announcing they were seeking additional money for a wall, then announced with great fanfare that they were going to improve the economy for setting a tax bill in place to reduce the future tax take.
Third, in an effort to force the Democrats to the negotiating tableMr Trump and the GOP leadership the Democrats by offering to discuss a possible relaxation on the need to get rid of the Dreamers but instead subject to the Democrat delegation to a rant on “Shithole” countries and take the Dreamers option off the table. They then offend known more liberal members of their own party to the extent that some are guaranteed to vote against them and cannot then understand why they should then lose the vote on the Government Shutdown.
Mr Pence, who should have at least understood what foreign observers would have been wondering, apparently thought the avoidance of a shut-down was a done deal, and instead of staying back to help solve the impasse, flew off to the Middle East to tell the troops that the escalating problem in failing to solve the issue was entirely due to the Democrats.
Mr Trump now sets up an entirely fictitious straw-man argument that this shutdown means the Democrats are responsible for all the murders done by un-documented immigrants (which happens to be proportionately less that the rate of murders done by citizens!!)
He also forgets that he presumably thought himself to be speaking the truth when in 2013 he said that a Government shut-down can only be the fault of the President. So would you wonder that the polls from non US observers would now conclude that those who put their faith in President Trump are losing the plot?!
peddiebill
The foreign countries, a lot, are worried they are not going to get their foreign aid checks from the U.S government in a timely manner or on their need timelines!
Martin your post is nonsense this is Schumer’s’ shut down and most in America gets it!
Next the Executive branch doesn’t legislate that is the job of Congress!
If Trump even whispered he would use a executive order to put the budget in place the left, Left-Wing Tabloid mainstream media and you would be calling him a dictator! Which Trump hasn’t made such an order and he won’t! Trump clearly understand the Constitution and even more clear Martin you do not along with a lot of people on the left!
Next power reside with Congress not the presidency!
Next the Republicans do no have a 60% majority and that is what it takes to pass the legislation to stop the government from shutting down. The Democrats cause the shutdown, given time they will end up eating it and having to own it whether they like it or not!
Schumer caved! Seems the Dreamer protest in not voting backfired and like always the Democrats sold out once again! Damn it sucks when you have been proven wrong Martin!
Let say for the sake of argument that it is the Democrats’ shutdown; I would think that the Republicans would be a little more grateful to the Ds. After all, the Republicans have always wanted a smaller government.
El trompas wanted a government shutdown, the Democrats delivered. They acted in support of el trompas on his quest for greatness.