Trump caved. He backed down. I have a few theories, one or more of which might be a factor in why he finally signed the bill to fund the government for a few weeks:
- A friend of mine said maybe Trump was trying to distract people from the Roger Stone indictment, which is a possibility. He does this a lot. When he’s faced with bad news, Trump flashes a shiny object. A tweet. A speech. Whatever. “I am the great and powerful OZ! Pay no attention to the little man behind the curtain.”
- Maybe Trump thought the Democrats would cave first. When Pelosi held firm, Trump had no Plan B. In other words, he didn’t have an exit strategy. He didn’t plan ahead for what happens a month later.
- The bad news about consequences of the shutdown was relentless and never ending. Government workers and contractors couldn’t pay their mortgages or buy groceries. TSA people were calling in sick (to work as Uber drivers) and travelers had to wait in long lines at airports. The FBI had no money to pay confidential informants or make drug buys. IRS workers weren’t working in this high season of tax refunds. Farmers weren’t gonna get their reimbursements/bailouts to compensate them for China’s retaliatory tariffs. Poor people might not get their food stamps. Every day there was another story. The shutdown was affecting millions of people all over the U.S., not just 800,000 government workers.
- Trump’s approval rating was going down and his disapproval rating was going up. Maybe he figured out that the longer the shutdown lasted, the lower his ratings would go.
- In the Senate, there were six brave Republican senators who voted against him. Not enough to get past a filibuster, but enough to make him nervous about losing support of Republicans in the Senate.
- This is my own personal conspiracy theory. I have no proof that it’s true. But I wonder if there was a threat to shut down an airport? Maybe by air traffic controllers going on strike. Or maybe TSA security agents going on strike. If just one airport shut down (perhaps in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, or some other major hub), it would paralyze the economy.
Trump has bragged about being a very stable genius, a businessman who has a talent for negotiation. He’s neither. He’s delusional and pathetic.