The Schumer Shutdown.

Posted by Pointman on January 28, 2018 · 20 Comments 

I always had an interest in politics for a variety of reasons. It was an area of human endeavour that seemed to have levels of perception about it that were dependent on the level of interest the person you happened to be talking to had in politics. That spectrum of awareness ranged from complete and utter disinterest to frothing at the mouth fanaticism. Strangely enough, there are commonalities about both extreme positions – the former knows nothing about politics while the latter knows nothing about how politics actually works.

Some knowledge of it does give you a fairly good feeling for the direction society is going to be heading in for the next few years. Even if you’re not particularly happy about that direction, you’re still going to have to live through it, so a reasonably accurate idea of what the future holds will give you a heads up as to how exactly to structure your affairs accordingly.

Politics is usually the handling of unexciting business as usual for long periods of time but is regularly punctuated by some sort of crisis, external or more usually domestic, which requires some active management on the part of the current government. Over the years, I’ve seen many crises, some handled well by an administration, some not so well. The recent shutdown of the American government caused by a recalcitrant cabal of Democrat politicians in the US Senate refusing to approve a federal budget stands out from the usual crises for a number of reasons.

I’ve simply never seen such an exercise in ineptness by supposedly seasoned politicians. When you examine the rationale for deliberately forcing a federal shutdown, what realistic political benefits were supposed to accrue or be achieved, what was expected to happen if it lasted a long time, what would happen in the unlikely event that it succeeded, what would be the impact if it failed and last but probably the most important thing to ponder, what would Trump’s response be. There are simply no rational answers to those points that justify what is almost a petulant action. There doesn’t seem to have been any consideration of these factors, never mind some sort of plan.

The reasons for doing it seem vague at best. Yes, it’s the political opposition’s job to make life difficult for the current administration, but not at the cost of grabbing the helm of the ship of state and risking wrecking it on a rocky shore. Nominally, it was holding a gun to Trump’s head to legalise illegal immigrants in exchange for not wrecking America, but the basic reason behind such a reckless action is quite simply a hatred, almost bordering on the pathological, of President Trump.

I find it difficult to believe, but apparently it happened, that such a course of action was undertaken without consulting the party strategists who would have strongly counseled against it, but as always, such deep-seated hatred blows any judgement out the door.

What was it supposed to achieve? The downfall of President Trump by impeachment? Bill Clinton was impeached and also barred from practicing law as well, but still carried on as president. Even if for some reason Trump stepped down, and I see no legal way the congress could force him, Vice-President Mike Pence would simply step into his place, and his political philosophy is no different Trump’s. He would simply stay on Trump’s heading because it’s obviously working.

If the shutdown dragged along for a long time, soldiers wouldn’t be paid and children in need of financial support from the government would receive none. Every day with interminable stories of personal hardship suffered, every parade of bleeding stumps, a new thorn would be pressed deeper into the Democrats flesh. Despite their massive dominance of the MSM, it would become the common perception of middle America that the party favoured illegals over soldiers serving their country. That may not be a big consideration in the swish circles of East and West coast America, but it definitely is in what’s between, and they decided the last presidential election.

What would happen if it succeeded, whatever that word means in the context of such idiocy? Despite the best efforts of the fake news monolith, Trump is a very popular president and getting more so almost daily. The underhand theft of his presidency would provoke a massive reaction from middle class and blue-collar society. To quote Admiral Yamamoto, a sleeping giant would awake and not go back to his slumbers until a lot of structural damage had been done to the very fabric of America.

LBJ famously said when he signed the Civil Rights legislation in the ’60s, we’ve just lost the South for a decade. He was wrong, the Dems lost it for nearly two decades. The violent ousting of Trump, by whatever dubious constitutional mechanism, would lose the Democrat party the country for a similar amount of time, if not destroy the party completely.

The down side of the Democrat induced shutdown failing has been huge. Their younger foot soldiers deeply committed to an open doors policy on immigration, never mind being against forced repatriation of illegals, are angry and deeply disillusioned with the Dem establishment. Faith has been lost in the competence of the party’s leadership by even their not so political supporters. Billionaire socialists like Tom Steyer have announced they won’t be donating to the party, and while he might be regarded as a socialist idiot, the point is, he’s a rich socialist idiot who’s given generously to them until this debacle. This comes at a point where donations are already at a real low because they’re being perceived as unelectable.

Trump’s response was so predictable and a sure-fire winner. He had a whole weekend to push the meme of Dems favouring illegals over soldiers, never mind Americans, and he played that tune beautifully for the two days before the shutdown came into effect on Monday morning. Other Republican congressmen declared they wouldn’t take any salary as long as the soldiers weren’t getting paid. Even the massively liberal organs of fake news were critical of the move. They’ve now dropped down to the lowest approval rating since Jimmy Carter and have permanently acquired the dubious albatross of their ownership DACA hung around their neck.

Most importantly, it was cast by Trump as holding a gun against the head of America, of taking a hostage, but the biggest miscalculation was trying to blackmail someone like him. Under those circumstances, he was always going to tell them they might as well pull the trigger right now, because he wasn’t going to give them a damn thing, not even the steam off his piss. Like him or not, he’s an alpha male, and that’s how they roll. He’d use every day it lasted to crucify them.

Playing the Washington swamp game with Trump hasn’t worked for the last year, and on that form, is unlikely to work in the future. You come after him ready to plunge a dagger in his back, and he’ll come after you from the front with all guns blazing, because he plays the game so much better than a cabal of political curs sniffing around his dustbins hoping to find some dirt.

By Monday morning, the Dems, in a total panic because of the public’s reaction to what they’d done, groveled and sued for peace. They were forced into a humiliating surrender even before the sun went down on the first working day of the shutdown, and Trump in an act of studied contempt, didn’t even bother to attend any meetings with them. Instead, he dictated terms through his negotiators that gave Schumer less than nothing, and certainly less than he’d been offered in the pre-shutdown negotiations.

They lashed together yet another short-term budget deal, which unless the Dems are totally insane, will be just the usual unopposed rollover, but that’s asking a lot of them. Schumer announced this week that he’s reneging on the deal that was struck, and withdrawing the promised support of the Wall’s funding, so it looks to be another shutdown on February 8th.

I have a feeling that if the mid-terms become a Democrat blood bath, a feeling reinforced by this type of politically inept action, how America sets its budget in the future will certainly change. No more hostage taking of the government and America.

The shutdown was yet another stupid and pointless exercise by the Washington political establishment against someone who plays the political game so much better than them, and the effects of the blunder will be felt down into this years mid-terms in November, and if they aren’t, Trump will certainly be careful to remind the electorate of the reckless behaviour that put America at such risk.

©Pointman

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Filed under Article · Tagged with Chuck Schumer, Politics, Shutdown