Donald Trump backed away from a government shutdown late last week and helped hand Democrats a major win on government spending. But next time—in September—he wants a government shutdown, he claims.
He caved, he now realizes he’s been publicly humiliated by the spending deal, and so posturing about wanting a shutdown is the best way he knows to look like a tough guy again. During the 2013 shutdown, kids were sent home as Head Start programs closed, low-income babies went without formula vouchers, food safety inspectors were furloughed, the head of the Centers for Disease Control said “This really interferes with our ability to protect people,” and the economy took a major hit. But tough guy Donald thinks that’s how to get his way on border wall funding, and, hell, his budget cuts most of those programs anyway, so what does he care about Head Start or low-income babies or food safety or public health?
But Democrats do owe him some thanks for these tweets. Now, when Republicans play their usual game of pushing toward shutdown while trying to blame Democrats, Democrats will have documentary evidence that Donald Trump wants a shutdown. Republicans say they’re trying to avoid a shutdown despite their very own president thinking “Our country needs a good ‘shutdown’ in September to fix mess,” but it’ll be at least a little harder for them to convince all but the most gullible members of the press of that.