Senate Republicans are reportedly "dumbfounded" that Individual 1 volunteered to take the blame for a government shutdown in his batshit meeting with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer Tuesday. Why this has come as such a shock to them is unclear, because Trump has been volunteering to shut down the government at every opportunity, for his entire time in office.
Nevertheless, they seem to think this came totally out of the blue. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), who is retiring rather than further associate himself with a party that has Trump at the helm, said "Everybody wants to blame it on the other party, always. That's what you typically do. That's out the window now." Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) goes for a little bit of light anti-Semitism in his remarks. "I think Sen. Schumer was very shrewd in his efforts to make certain that whatever blame is to be had for a shutdown doesn't rest with the Democrats," Moran said. Right, that "shrewd" Jew tricked Trump. When Trump was the one insisting that this all happen in front of the cameras and when Trump has been begging to have a shutdown.
After that "remarkable exchange," Politico tells us, "congressional Republicans were reeling as they tried to adjust to the president's stunning willingness to own an impending partial shutdown over his wall demands." Not just willingness, eagerness. "I am proud to shut down the government for border security." And even after the meeting, when he was sent out again to do some damage control, he declared "I don't mind owning that issue. […] We're closing it down for border security and I think I win that every single time."
The most astounding thing out of this is that Republicans are astounded. One of the many departing House Republicans said Trump's performance "was unbelievable. I literally couldn't believe a president of the United States was acting that crazy." Where the hell has he been since 2015? The delusion is deep, however. Says Sen. John Thune (R-SD), everyone will forget this and blame it on the Democrats when the shutdown happens. "This is going to be the finger pointing exercise we always go through […] irrespective of that interesting press conference."
No. Trump is going to make sure that he gets all the credit for a shutdown. Because HE. WANTS. A. SHUTDOWN.
Where we go from here is not entirely clear. House leadership is apparently planning to have that vote Pelosi taunted Trump with, including $5 billion for his wall. It seems highly unlikely that it will pass, because if it could have passed, it would have already. But maybe as their last gasp on their way out, Republicans will rally together to get it down. That would mean, however, that the 44 of them who haven't shown up for work this week would have to come to D.C. We'll see. Seems pretty certain at this point, though, that several hundred thousand federal employees are going to be spending the holidays without paychecks. Because that's what Trump wants.
