Dem
47
GOP
53
We accept that sometimes politicians stash themselves away in smoke-filled rooms, hammer out an agreement, and then surprise the rest of the world. But that really does not seem to be what's going on when it comes to the government shutdown set to commence Wednesday morning at 12:01 a.m.
By all indications, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) aren't talking right now, and don't particularly see a need to talk. Thune thinks it is entirely reasonable to kick the can down the road for another 7 weeks, and that if the Democrats don't agree, voters will blame the blue team for being unreasonable. Schumer thinks that money for healthcare subsidies must be secured, and that if he doesn't fight, his base will be furious, while if the Republicans don't bend, voters will blame the red team for being heartless lackeys of the billionaire class.
Yesterday, Donald Trump declared that if there is a shutdown, Democrats would be to blame. He also announced that his administration would undertake mass firings of government employees if the government did indeed shut down. This is not the usual furloughs, this is "take your stuff and get out of here and don't come back."
Is there any way to interpret this other than: "You Democrats care about federal employees and I don't, so I am going to use that against you"? If there is, we're not seeing it. In any case, after Trump made his threat, Politico published an item headlined "Republicans' shutdown blame game is fracturing." In short, Congressional Republicans settled on a "let's be reasonable" message, and Trump blew that up with his bomb throwing. Meanwhile, The Hill published an item headlined "Cracks form among Senate Democrats as Trump threatens big shutdown layoffs." As the headline indicates, at least some Senate Democrats don't want to see a bunch of federal workers laid off.
So, the Republicans are fracturing and the Democrats are cracking. Put another way, nobody really knows which side might back down, or if either one will. And nobody really knows which side will feel the pain if there is a shutdown (complete with mass firings?). That said, Donald Trump does tend to have pretty good instincts about these things, and his words and actions suggest that he thinks he and his party are going to be in trouble if this situation goes south. Meanwhile, if the Republicans get what they want, and the can is kicked to November, then... what are they going to do then? Try to kick the can again? (Z)