Tag: Trump government shutdown

Republicans Will Own The Trump Shutdown

Donald Trump is responsible for a government shutdown. He said it himself, “I will be the one to shut it down.” And Republicans won’t be able to try to blame Democrats. Trump himself even told Democrats, “I’m not going to blame you for it.”

Trump took away a key Republican talking point. Now they will own the Trump Shutdown:

Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler: “hmm, there goes that GOP talking point.”

CBS’s Ed O’Keefe: “‘I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck,’ President Trump tells Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, robbing Republicans of a potential talking point that it’s Democrats eager to shut down the government.”

Politico’s Jake Sherman: “THE PRESIDENT has just robbed Republicans of the ability to say Democrats are shutting down government.”

NPR’s Kelsey Snell: “To be clear, this statement makes it VERY hard for Congressional Republicans to keep saying a shutdown would be Democrats’ fault. The president is literally claiming responsibility”

Americans Don’t Want The Trump Shutdown

The majority of Americans don’t want to shut down the government over funding for Trump’s border wall, and they overwhelmingly say Trump should compromise rather than force a shutdown.

Simply put, Americans don’t want the Trump Shutdown:

Morning Consult poll: A majority of voters say that increased wall funding is not worth a government shutdown, while only 31% say it’s worth it.

NPR/PBS/Marist poll: Americans say 57 to 36% that Trump should compromise on the wall rather than cause a shutdown.

A President Not Sure of What He Wants Complicates the Shutdown Impasse

The following article by Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Maggie Haberman was posted on the New York Times website January 21, 2018:

President Trump has privately told lawmakers twice recently that he is eager to strike a deal to extend legal status to young undocumented immigrants, only to have aides pull him back from such a compromise. Credit Al Drago for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — When President Trump mused last year about protecting immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children, calling them “these incredible kids,” aides implored him privately to stop talking about them so sympathetically.

When he batted around the idea of granting them citizenship over a Chinese dinner at the White House last year with Democratic leaders, Mr. Trump’s advisers quickly drew up a list of hard-line demands to send to Capitol Hill that they said must be included in any such plan.

And twice over the past two weeks, Mr. Trump has privately told lawmakers he is eager to strike a deal to extend legal status to the so-called Dreamers, only to have his chief of staff, John F. Kelly, and senior policy adviser, Stephen Miller, make clear afterward that such a compromise was not really in the offing — unless it also included a host of stiffer immigration restrictions. Continue reading “A President Not Sure of What He Wants Complicates the Shutdown Impasse”

‘Negotiating with Jell-O’: How Trump’s shifting positions fueled the rush to a shutdown

The following article y Ashley Parker, Josh Dawsey and Ed O’Keefe was posted on the Washington Post website January 20, 2018:

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) faulted President Trump and Senate Republicans for the government shutdown. (U.S. Senate)

In a remarkable, televised 55-minute meeting with about two dozen Democratic and Republican lawmakers earlier this month, President Trump twice proclaimed that any immigration deal would need to be “a bill of love” — setting an optimistic tone for averting a government shutdown with a bipartisan solution.

After the president ordered cameras out of the Cabinet Room that day, the group delved into the details. Kirstjen Nielsen, Trump’s homeland security secretary, and her staff passed out a four-page document on the administration’s “must haves” for any immigration bill — a hard-line list that included $18 billion for Trump’s promised border wall, eliminating the diversity visa lottery program and ending “extended family chain migration,” according to the document, which was obtained by The Washington Post. Continue reading “‘Negotiating with Jell-O’: How Trump’s shifting positions fueled the rush to a shutdown”

Schumer offered Trump something Democrats hate for something Republicans broadly like

The following article by Philip Bump was posted on the Washington Post website January 20, 2018:

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) faulted President Trump and Senate Republicans for the government shutdown. (U.S. Senate)

When the New York Times first reported it, it seemed unlikely. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) offered President Trump funding for his wall in exchange for protecting immigrants who entered the country illegally as children? The most powerful Democrat in the Senate was willing to support one of his party’s most-hated proposals, just like that? The Times wrote simply that Schumer “discussed the possibility of fully funding the president’s wall on the southern border with Mexico” — which leaves some wiggle room.

On the floor of the Senate on Saturday, though, Schumer explained that it was almost exactly that: A deal on those covered under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that would also potentially fund the wall. Continue reading “Schumer offered Trump something Democrats hate for something Republicans broadly like”

Shutdown: A familiar partisan ritual takes on new meaning in the Trump era

The following article by Karen Tumulty and Michael Scherer was posted on the Washington Post website January 20, 2018:

The Debrief: An occasional series offering a reporter’s insights

Lawmakers from both parties and White House officials on Jan. 21 laid out their positions in the negotiations to reopen the government. (Video: Bastien Inzaurralde/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Though federal shutdowns have become a depressingly familiar ritual of American politics, the current one was born of a newer, more toxic dynamic — one in which the old partisan arguments about the size and role of government have been supplanted by a tribal battle over what it means to be an American.

The tactics are the same, and in some ways the culmination of a no-compromise, winner-take-all approach that has been taking root since at least as far back as the rise of the tea party movement. A deeply polarized political climate demands both sides play to their most ideological and rigid partisans. Continue reading “Shutdown: A familiar partisan ritual takes on new meaning in the Trump era”

After Vowing to Fix Washington, Trump Is Mired in a Familiar Crisis

The following article by Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Maggie Haberman was posted n the New York Times website January 20, 2018:

President Trump opted not to accept a deal that he and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the top Senate Democrat, had hashed at the White House on Friday. Credit Al Drago for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — One year to the day after taking office with vows to bring the dysfunction of Washington to heel, President Trump on Saturday found himself thrust into the most perennial of political crises, bitterly casting blame on Democrats for a government shutdown he said they had orchestrated to mar the anniversary.

Mr. Trump had planned to spend the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., celebrating his first year in office at a soiree with friends and supporters. Instead, he remained out of sight in the White House, where he stewed about an impasse he had been unable to prevent, according to people close to him, and held a feverish round of conversations with Republican leaders in search of a resolution. Continue reading “After Vowing to Fix Washington, Trump Is Mired in a Familiar Crisis”