It’s early. I’m groggy. The mixed blessing of Morning Joe is passing before my eyes, and I may be missing something. But I think the Trump Administration has gifted us with a big beautiful path to bring the government shutdown to an end in a way that benefits Democrats (and the American people) now and even more so next year, right before the midterms.
In the past few days, Trump famously offered first a $20 billion, then a $40 billion, bribe to the people of Argentina if and only if they support one of his favorite would-be dictators, Javier Milei, in Oct. 26 elections. Milei is a comical figure who combines the naive magical thinking of Rand Paul libertarians with the buffoonish theatricality of Trump himself. So it’s no surprise Trump likes him, and apparently he has friends who have bet big money on the Argentine economy, but alas, that economy has crashed, making Milei extremely unpopular with his people.
But the early reports are the bribe offer has gone over in Argentina like the proverbial lead balloon. It has only made Milei more unpopular than ever. I’m sure Trump is mystified. After all, he’d take a $40 billion bribe. He’s taken bribes much smaller than that. Hell, he once cashed a check for 13 cents, earning Spy magazine's award for America's Cheapest Zillionaire. But there it is. Integrity is a concept Donald just can’t quite get his head around, like the sacrifices made by our ancestors on the beaches of Normandy.
Nevertheless, Trump has basically admitted that he has $40 billion washing around the executive branch to do with as he pleaseses. Meanwhile, the Obamacare subsidies at the center of the shutdown can be extended for one year for just $35 billion.
So after Milei loses in little more than a week, Democrats should magnanimously propose just a one-year extension of the subsidies — a significant concession from their current position. Democrats would look like the responsible adults in the room, getting credit for solving the immediate crisis facing millions of American families, and they would ensure that a year from now we will having the exact same argument we’re having now on the eve of the midterms. I’m confident the prospect of soaring insurance rates will be just as unpopular in a year as it is now.
Oh yeah. And there’s even enough money left over to save public broadcasting.
But it all seems too easy. Tell me what I’m missing.
