As our dear president digs an ever deeper hole for himself, he seems determined to drag the Republican Party down with him. Trump already has Lindsey Antebellum in the hole, urging him to dig deeper, all the way to China if he has to, all because Republicans completely sold the conservative base on the necessity of a border wall that has no practical use whatsoever.
This was made abundantly clear on the Orange King's trip down to Texas, where he was briefed by border officials on the number of ways drug dealers and illegal immigrants have of circumventing the wall -- everything from tunnels to drones. Unless, there are some pretty deep foundations and some way to shoot down drones this wall will do little to stop drug and human trafficking through the border.
Trump never saw the wall as anything more than a hook to lure supporters into his campaign tent. I think he was genuinely surprised by how well it worked, and thought nothing more of it until the midterms rolled around and he had to use it again to beat back the Democrats in the Congressional and state elections. Now, it has come back to haunt him as there is no way to separate himself from his campaign promise.
Steve Doocey, Ann Coulter and other conservative pundits made sure of that when a temporary spending bill appeared on his desk just before Christmas. Dear Mr. President, they shouted, remember your promise! So, it was either build a wall or lose face with the only support he has left today, the rabid base of the Republican Party.
As Nancy Pelosi said, this is a manhood thing for him. Trump doesn't like to lose face and will do whatever it takes to save it. The only problem is that Nancy holds the upper hand. Trump made sure of that by telling everyone the trade deal he signed at the end of November with Mexico and Canada will indirectly fund the wall through taxes. He didn't seem to realize that Congress has to ratify this trade deal and now that the Democrats control the House, Nancy is the one holding the gavel.
Trump never bargained for a Congress defying his orders. He didn't much care to this point as his orders were for the most part inconsequential. However, promises are promises and he was forced to use whatever bit of leverage he had at his disposal to make good on the wall. We have now entered week four of the shutdown he said he was so proud to take the mantle for back in mid-December, but has since bestowed on the Democrats for not acceding to his demands.
You really have to wonder how anyone can support him at this point, but his fanatical base still does, and is putting a lot of pressure on Congressional Republican representatives to stick with their president or face the consequences in 2020.
This is why Lindsey Graham has made a complete flip-flop from supporting the bipartisan Senate bill back in December to urging Trump to declare a national emergency in order to get the wall built. Of course, declaring such a faux emergency would take the monkey off the back of Congressional GOP leaders, as the President could then tap into the defense budget to fund his wall and they could reopen government. A win-win situation as far as they are concerned. But, he would face an almost certain lawsuit from Democratic leaders if he were to use such extraordinary powers, holding up such funding for months.
Basically, the GOP is fucked and they know it. They are saddled to a President who answers to such a narrow base that anyone outside Trumplandia hasn't got a hope in hell of winning a general election. Susan Collins is desperately trying to play both sides of the issue so as not to alienate independent voters back in Maine, as are a number of other vulnerable Republican Congresspersons who have to defend their seats in 2020.
Surely Mitch could have sat down with the President long before now and hashed out a strategy for better border security that didn't necessitate a government shutdown. The Senate majority leader had two years to do so. Somehow he thought the issue would go away, but Trump generated such a fright over the migrant caravan this past summer that the Magaheads started shouting "Build that Wall" all over again and there was no way to ignore it lest you want to be "Teabagged" or "Cantored" or "Trumped" or whatever they call it now in the primaries. Mitch is also up for re-election in 2020.
So, we are forced to watch a President literally throw a temper tantrum for the whole world to see and Congress paralyzed to do anything about it. To her credit, Pelosi put forward a temporary spending bill but this time it was the Senate that stymied it, refusing to go against the President out of fear of their own political hides. As Ollie would say to Stan, this another fine mess you have gotten me into.
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