Trump’s Shutdown: Another Losing Bet

Image: Deadline

Though hailed by his supporters for his supposed business acumen, the truth is Donald Trump had made a ton of losing bets in real estate and other ventures leading to six bankruptcies, according to the Washington Post.  

Among them was the Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. Trump paid more than $600 million for the unfinished casino, which he billed as the “eighth wonder of the world.” It opened in 1990 and filed for bankruptcy a year later.

Betting on a casino—four of them in fact—would seem like a sure bet. Anyone who has gambled and lost in casinos can rightfully ask the question, How can you lose on a casino? It’s like a funeral parlor going under, if you forgive the pun.  But the self-described business tycoon Trump managed to lose money in his casinos but not by playing slots.

Now as President, Trump has made another losing bet: the Trump partial shutdown of the federal government over his insistence there be funding for an inane wall, which on the campaign trail in 2016 he assured his supporters that Mexico would foot the bill. 

Make no mistake, he owns the shutdown as he declared, “I’ll tell you what, I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck,” Trump declared on national TV to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on December 11. “So I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not going to blame you for it.”

About 800,000 Federal employees are either furloughed or working without pay as pawns in this standoff between Trump and the newly emboldened Congressional Democrats. Just sworn-in Speaker Nancy Pelosi described Trump’s medieval wall as an “immorality” and Trump is still digging in lest he will get criticized by his kitchen cabinet consisting of Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity among other right wing talking heads.

During the impasse, Trump has rarely mentioned the Federal employees victimized by this dysfunction.  Yes, he suggested that they can offer their landlords manual labor in lieu of paying rent (he was serious) and he characterized most Federal employees as Democrats (read: Black) so I’m sure he’s not losing sleep as their first paycheck since the shutdown began is about to be missed.

His insensitivity to their plight is not surprising given his decided lack of empathy during disasters, mass shootings, and a deadly neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, a devastating hurricane in Puerto Rico as well as other tragedies.

But he should, if he had any political acumen, understand that this gambit is a losing one.  A solid majority in the country oppose a wall along the southern border.  Federal employees, their families, neighbors, friends and sympathetic retirees live in Congressional districts throughout the country and they will remember at the ballot box in 2020 who is responsible for this travesty.

The longer this shutdown lasts, the worst it will be politically for Trump, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell and other compliant enablers in the GOP.  Fissures are starting to form among Republicans and will deepen as this goes on.  

Particularly for Trump, however, this one was a loser from the get-go.

Where’s the Flamethrower?

Dems need a leader to step up to harness the anti-Trump fervor.

As President Donald Trump continues to offer evidence on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis as to why he is not fit to be president and commander-in-chief, with few exceptions, Democratic officials are perplexingly standing on the sidelines.  This window of opportunity should be seized by leaders who can galvanize the incredible energy stemming from the grass roots’ opposition to the president.   #hocopolitics

The ordinary citizens—mostly disappointed supporters of Hillary Clinton—have established a movement mainly through the use of social media to drive Trump out of office.  They are hoping this can be accomplished either through making it so uncomfortable for him that he would resign, hoping Congress would activate the impeachment process for such offenses as failure to divest from his businesses among other violations, or perhaps his connection to Russia and their efforts to disrupt and influence our democratic election process may be too much for Trump to withstand. 

Any of these possesses a low probability of achievement in having Trump “repealed and replaced” (not that Vice President Pence is a great bargain).  However, if handled properly, it could set up a favorable political environment for Democrats in 2018 and 2020.

What the Democrats need is a flamethrower in the way that Newt Gingrich was early in President Bill Clinton’s first term.  It worked.  Even if Gingrich’s personal popularity waned, Republicans gained 54 seats in the House of Representatives and 8 seats in the Senate during the 1994 midterms—a phenomenon known as the Gingrich Revolution.

Whether it be Trump’s attachment to the new health care bill, the unusually harsh (even for Republicans) budget proposal, the bizarre libelous accusation about President Obama’s “wire tapping” (in quotes) Trump and/or associates or most recently Trump’s ill-advised humiliation of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Democratic officials have responded with a measured tone.

That is not sufficient.

Why not the outrage that these episodes and countless more during Trump’s first two nightmarish months warrant?  The only blowback seems to have come from Twitter accounts or Facebook pages that push for impeachment or resistance and from our friends at MSNBC. 

During normal times, statesmanlike responses from Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi would be justified, if not welcome.  These aren’t normal times and a more fiery approach is required.

A local elected official, noting the palpable anger among Democrats, advised a gathering of Democratic partisans to pace themselves since it is so early in Trump’s term.  I disagree given the circumstances.  We must not take our foot off the gas pedal and instead, keep the pressure on. 

The “tea party” didn’t pace themselves.  They attacked Obama at every turn, and that helped wrest control of the House, the Senate and now the White House.

Earlier in Trump’s tenure there were numerous street demonstrations.  The Woman’s March was historic and had a great impact.  We need more of the same, and public officials need to get in front and lead these protests.

We also need a leader, a voice, to take this broad energy and funnel it through public platforms to make the case to all Americans.  This is one time when demagoguery is not only desirable but also essential. 

Politeness must be set aside until our country is back on the sensible path.  No need to take the high road; it only gets you to the exit ramp.  Of course, this goes against the notion of encouraging civil

Will Rep. Tim Ryan lead the anti-Trump movement?

discourse in our politics.  But these are dangerous times with an erratic, thin-skinned, unstable and dangerous president. 

Democrats need a fresh face to take this on.  Who will emerge?  Will it be Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the popular bastion of progressive principles?  Will it be Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio, a relatively new figure, a centrist who appeals to working class Democrats?  His loss to Nancy Pelosi for House Minority Leader was a shame; the Dems needed to reboot after the debacles of 2014 and 2016.  It also could be Sen. Corey Booker, Sen. Al Franken, Gavin Newsom or someone nobody heard of or a combination of any of the above.

Regardless, the Democrats need a leader to harness this energy before it’s too late.  We need a flamethrower.