It’s as if President Donald Trump’s humiliation over the government shutdown and his failed push to honor his core campaign promise never happened.
Going forward, he would have to adopt a fundamental change of approach if he is to wring money for his border wall and revive a presidency badly damaged by his loss to Democrats in the first clash of the new era of divided government.
But any new strategy will expose the President to significant political risks and require an ability to work the levers of power in Washington that Trump was unable to show even when the GOP had a monopoly on congressional power.
And most dauntingly for the President, a genuine deal with Democrats would require concessions that would force him to do something he’s never dared to do: risk angering his ultra-loyal political base.
The unpleasant reality now facing Trump, and the unchanged political dynamics that provoked the shutdown, are why Washington appears headed for a second one — or a bid by Trump to short circuit Congress by using executive power to build the wall that could cause a constitutional firestorm.
The President’s dilemmas will play out during a three-week short-term funding truce reached Friday to end a shutdown that left 800,000 government workers without multiple paychecks on-time and the nation’s federal infrastructure in chaos.
Negotiations will take place between a panel of Republicans and Democrats from the House and the Senate in a search for a border security plan that everyone can sign off on.
But in an interview with the Wall Street Journal Sunday, the President held out little hope the talks would work.
«I personally think it’s less than 50-50, but you have a lot of very good people on that board,» he said, adding he doubted he would water down his demand for $5.7 billion in wall funding.
‘Fair deal’ or new shutdown
Trump warned on Friday that if he didn’t get a «fair deal» on money for a wall that Democrats vehemently oppose by February 15, government would close again or he’d invoke emergency powers to build it.
Trump’s refusal, so far, to moderate his position does not take into account damage to his political standing in a shutdown that now looks like a grave miscalculation.
The impasse aggravated moderate voters and damaged his poll numbers, as well as united and emboldened Democrats.
