"'Tis the time's plague when madmen lead the blind."
-Earl of Gloucester from King Lear
If it couldn't get any worse, the president capped off the year appropriately with a partial government shutdown. However, in the days leading up to this concluding event did not bode well for Mr. Trump either.
What's amazing is that the president seems to listen and take advice from everyone, anyone, who is not in his government. In a call with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president recommended that the U.S. pull completely out of Syria and shortly after, Mr. Trump announced just that. The president had a deal for a C.R. (continuing resolution) to keep the government open and then listened to the right-wing fringe of his party with regard to the wall then announced "no deal," and hence we have a shutdown.
This was just in the past week.
Never mind that 17 U.S. intelligence agencies informed the Mr. Trump that Russia interfered in the 2016 election but he listened to Vladimir Putin instead. And the president also deferred to Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman with regard to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi again over his own CIA. After all this, it's crystal clear that Mr. Trump is incapable of making a decision for himself and is listening to either the rational or even the irrational actors in his administration. He's taking his cues from autocrats and right-wing talk show hosts.
Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) said that we have an impulsive president but would work with him where he could. It's a reasonable answer but these are times beyond reason. To Mr. Toomey's credit, when Chuck Todd asked him if he was disturbed by the fact that President Trump was changing foreign U.S. foreign policy away from what every president since WWII has followed, the Pennsylvania senator answered with an unequivocal 'yes.' He also said that senators (Republican) need to step up. And Syria and the subsequent resignation of General James Mattis just may be been the breaking point for Republican senators who have so far followed the president blindly down a dangerous path. Who likes the president's decision in Syria? Erdogan so that he can crush the Kurds, a steadfast U.S. ally in the region, and Vladimir Putin so that Russia can have free reign in the Middle East. Neither Democratic nor Republican senators are in favor of this decision.
As for the shutdown due to the lack of funding president's physical border wall, the Democrats have flatly said 'no' to it, as they should. The the right-wing doesn't mention is that Mr. Trump promised that Mexico would pay for the wall, so why should American taxpayers float the bill? Answer: They shouldn't. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) explained the 1 in 5 trucks that cross the border are checked in terms of their cargo. The system to check them all would cost $300 million, which is a lot less than the $5 billion that the president wants for an ineffective physical wall. Additionally, the president wants the wall to be made of steel, but because of the tariffs the president put in place, steel is now more expensive. The entire argument is utterly ridiculous.
As PBS's Yamiche Alcindor explained, sends Mr. Trump into a rage is that he's losing the messaging. Despite what he says about how the Democrats should take the blame for the shutdown, he owns it. With Republicans still in control of all branches of government and a shutdown still occurs, it's on the president. The Syria pullout, which even "Fox & Friends" took issue with, was the last straw for General Mattis so he resigned that the covered was brutal for Mr. Trump. Senator Durbin mentioned that foreign dignitaries were calling up senators asking, "What the hell is going on?"
The Cook Political Report's Amy Walter pointed out that the president wants to fight, not fix and that impulsiveness is not working, the latter qualifying as the understatement of the year - just look at the stock market reacting to the madness of the president.
It's time Republicans in Congress peel off the blinders and take a good hard, realistic look at what the president is doing to this country.
Panel: Amy Walter, Cook Political Report; Yamiche Alcindor, PBS; Joshua Johnson, NPR; Hugh Hewitt, Salem Radio Network
One more thing...
Everyone have a safe Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday!!!!
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