Monday, May 01, 2017

How work gets done in the Trump era

The way that Congress reached a deal to avoid a shutdown and fund the federal government for another six months is by almost completely ignoring the President's demands and priorities. The continuing resolution has no money for the wall, it keeps Obamacare subsidies, it continues to allow funding of Planned Parenthood, increases funding to the NIH, does not include his deep cuts to the EPA, etc.

And Trump will almost certainly sign the resolution after it passes, thus confirming that all of his demands and bluster are nothing but meaningless hot air, and giving everyone in Congress good reason to completely ignore what the President says next time.

UPDATE: More here.

UPDATE 2: A lot more here. Money quote: "Perhaps the best negotiators are not the people who tell everyone that they are the best negotiators."

It is still early, but if the coverage follows the WaPo's lead and is all about how badly the president got rolled, it could provoke a Trump tantrum which would lead to a veto, causing a shutdown which would be a total disaster for the President. But Trump is not capable of considering the consequences when he is in the midst of a tantrum. As fun as a disaster for Trump would be, a shutdown would hurt a lot of people. It would be better for the country if the mockery of the president's pathetic negotiation skills didn't start until after the continuing resolution is signed into law.

UPDATE 3: JMM's take.

UPDATE 4: Lord Dampnuts says he will sign it and that he is "very happy with it." I bet no one told him what is in it. But I also bet he doesn't really care.