On this morning’s edition of ‘Morning Joe’ on MSNBC, former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough called Donald Trump’s government shutdown a ‘Seinfeld shutdown, a shutdown over nothing”.
Why is it over nothing?
Well, the shutdown could easily have been avoided after Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate unanimously passed a continuing resolution bill in December to fund the federal government through February 8 while Congress plus Trump negotiated additional funds for border security.
Donald Trump, the ‘greatest negotiator ever’ who ascended to the presidency with the help of Vladimir Putin, initially said that he would sign the continuing resolution to keep the government open.
But then, a couple of right-wing pundits . . . Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh . . . suddenly criticized the poor boy for walking away from his oft-repeated campaign punch line about building the ‘greatest border wall ever,’ a wall that was to have been paid for by Mexico.
Scarborough said, "This is Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter attacking the president of the United States, and he was so insecure he listened to those two people and panicked."
The former Republican congressman who represented- Florida’s 1st congressional district from 1995 to 2001 went on to say, "Americans do not want this wall. They said they wanted to tune it to the point of $1.6 billion. Republicans don’t even want the wall. This is Donald Trump and Donald Trump alone and not even for policy reasons. He was ready to give it up. This is just him being intimidated and frightened of some talk radio pundits."
That Trump’s oft-repeated claims about Mexico paying for a border wall most experts say is completely unnecessary were nothing but shameless lies designed to do nothing more than elicit cheers from folks at campaign rallies seems to have gotten lost in the current dustup over the showdown.
What is evidently of critical importance to Trump and Republicans in the House and Senate is not the economic security and well-being of hundreds of thousands of innocent federal employees, contractors, members of the United States Coast Guard, or even the stability of the entire American economy.
No, not at all.
What is important here is that America stands by in silence while Donald Trump penalizes hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions of Americans to ensure that his pathetically fragile ego isn’t trampled on by a morbidly overweight millionaire and one-time drug addict or an abrasive, self-absorbed political pundit who has secured a life of wealth and privilege by promoting titillating conspiracy theories and extreme political talking points.
And that, dear readers, is definitely about nothing.
Isn’t it?