The Art of the No Deal

Hey, the government’s open so that’s a thing. For three weeks.

Then we’re facing the same damn problem again? Maybe.

Let's call it "The Art of the No Deal".      

To review:

About 3 years back, Donald Trump, candidate for President of the United States (remember when that used to be funny?) promoted a big but simple idea to stop the swarm of illegal immigrants swarming over the border like some kind of swarming swarm: a wall. A big, beautiful wall, stretching along the southern border from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. Trump proclaimed himself a genius at building things and if anyone could build a wall, it was him. And crowds at his rallies would chant, “Build that wall! Build that wall! Build that wall! Build that wall!”

Oh, that silly Trump and his silly idea about the silly wall.  Well, it’s not like we have to worry about it since there’s no well in hell Li’l Donnie is ever gonna be….

November 2016: what the fucking hell just happened?

OK. Deep breath.

Don’t worry. The logistical issues and humongous costs of securing property along the entire southern border and then constructing a wall of sufficient size and density would prevent the wall from being more than a pipe dream for Li’l Donnie. Never mind the ineffectiveness of such a wall at addressing the actual problems our country has regarding immigration. Even if Trump got a bug up his butt to push for the damn thing, wiser heads in Congress would….

December 2018: what the fucking hell just happened?

Trump decides now is the time to double down on the wall and refuses to sign the budget deal approved by the House and the Senate unless he got money for his wall. 

After 35 days of government shut down, a budget deal was passed and signed without any money for his wall.

As is always the case with a government shutdown, whatever the cause du jour is for instigating the shutdown never wins. Sen. Ted Cruz (known to friends of the blog as a “lying fuckkbastard”) tried to stare down the rest of the government to repeal Obamacare. It didn’t work.

Last year, the Democrats tried to stall on government funding to get protections for those persons harmed by Trump’s reversal of the DACA program. It didn’t work. 

A government shut down is all about political theater, a chance to prove you’re serious about your cause to the voters back home. 

The thing is there comes a point where the instigator of a shutdown realizes the cause is lost but the voters back home got the message so it’s time to cut bait and move on.

In the case of this latest shutdown, Trump as the instigator of the shutdown was too stupid to realize all that and kept pushing.

For 35 days, government workers went without a paycheck because Trump, alleged master deal maker, couldn’t deal with Nancy Pelosi, the will of the people or with reality.  

Yep, definitely "The Art of the No Deal". 

One question I’ve heard a lot was why did Trump wait until the Democrats were in control of the House of Representatives to make such a big push to get wall funding. 

Trump sees relationships as transactional and transactions are adversarial and adversaries must have a winner and a loser. Delusional idiot that he is, Trump probably saw the Democrats in control of the House as an opportunity to crush an adversary, a chance to put Democrats on the spot for denying the border wall, a wall that Trump seems to think is a beloved concept by the entire country. 

Most polls show that the majority of Americans see the wall as too expensive and inordinately impractical. 

Anyway, the government is fully open for business. Until February 15^th. Maybe, just maybe, cooler heads and reasonable minds will prevail.

But this is Washington we’re talking about. More likely, I may be forced to write in a few weeks hence:

February 15, 2019: what the fucking hell just happened?