After five weeks, President Trump reluctantly agreed to reopen the federal government without any funding for the wall during a speech in the Rose Garden this afternoon. A short term deal funds the federal government through February 15th, but Trump is reserving the right to shutdown the government again or invoke emergency powers if Congress cannot agree to fund the wall.
The last thing Trump should want is to shutdown the government. Indeed, no member of Congress or future President should ever utter the words "government shutdown" ever again. All it accomplished was having 800,000 federal workers and 1.2 million contractors not being compensated creating economic anxiety and general instability while making Trump look foolish in the presence of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at every turn. Under the circumstances, assuming no funding for the wall is forthcoming, Trump will probably invoke emergency powers which would result in a court challenge that he might very well lose.
So why did Trump end the shutdown today?
His announcement came only hours after the FBI arrested his longtime confidante Roger Stone in the Mueller probe on charges ranging from false statements, witness tampering and obstruction of justice. Ending the shutdown certainly diverts attention away from the Stone indictment. That is at least until Mueller has another shoe to drop. Or should I say stone to turn?
But there's also the State of the Union address to consider. The thought of Pelosi depriving him of a nationwide forum to display his love for his own voice might have been too much to bear. Of course, Trump had planned to come to Capitol Hill on January 29th - shutdown or no shutdown - until Pelosi put the kibosh on it. Re-opening the government allows for the possibility of Trump to give his speech after all although Pelosi might make him sweat it out especially if he is planning to shutdown the government yet again in three weeks.
Although why he would want to shutdown the government again I cannot imagine unless Trump is really this stupid. The past 35 days have been the worse of his presidency. Trump's arrogance and incompetence were on full display for all to see. His actions did all harm and no good. There is no upside for him (or anyone else) to shutdown the federal government again.
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