<ite this, it is the start of the second week of winter term. I would have never imagined that the shutdown that began before Christmas would still be going on, the longest government shutdown in the nation’s history.
Maybe by the time this article is published, it will be resolved, but who knows? It seems like we can’t predict anything anymore.
I am mostly irritated at Donald Trump and his fetish for a wall that anybody who has studied migration trends to this country will agree is useless in countering murderers, rapists and drug traffickers (that is, murderers, rapists and drug traffickers from Central America, as we all know that US citizens who commit the exact same crimes are fine in the eyes of Republicans, particularly if you are a wealthy swimmer at Stanford University).
I am torn also over whether the Democrats should just let Trump win this one. The prime focus should be on ending the shutdown, regardless, but then if Trump gets his wall, he will become even more arrogant and obnoxious than he already is.
He will still blame Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer for holding the country back, even though he was quoted on tape as saying, “I will be proud to shut down the government.”
His base doesn’t care. If you show them that notorious video where Trump, Pelosi, and Schumer argue while Mike Pence looks like he needs to be recharged, the MAGA-nuts will call it “fake news.” It is similar as to how all these same people have conveniently forgotten about the Mexico paying for the wall thing.
Just imagine if Barack Obama, while he was president, had shut down the government for this amount of time and threatened a national emergency over an issue like gun control. Republicans would be blowing up in steam by now with plotting his assassination.
Anything that was an act of “pure evil” while Obama was in the White House is completely acceptable with Trump. It is not just a partisan matter, as George W. Bush, nor his father, had nowhere near this level of unconditional cheerleading from Republicans.
It is a Trump matter, as he is now a cult of personality.
Since that disastrous night in November 2016, I have spent more than enough time trying to understand why Trump, a corrupt businessman with zero political experience, was the choice in nominee enough to win the electoral college.
To give some perspective, why are Evangelical Christians who freak out about gay people getting married endorsing a guy who has been married three times and has a complex history with porn stars? Furthermore, why is so much of the base eagerly attacking anti-Trump Republicans like Mitt Romney?
Just over six years ago Romney was the Republican presidential nominee. I think the explanation comes with the extreme version of populism that Trump ignited. He has conquered the party as his own, so much that the party symbol may be better represented by a MAGA hat than by an elephant now. Before him, the Republicans were an endangered species as more people left the party.
His campaign promise of a border wall, no matter how absurd it is in reality, rallied the party up in a way that Romney would have never been able to do. Thus, the willingness of Trump and his fan club to shut the government down over this issue is just the climax of his populism.
I will admit that I may not be the best person to explain Trump supporters. I am a lifelong Democrat, and both Carleton and my hometown are liberal bubbles.
I have one uncle who voted for Trump, but he only did because he is a Bernie Bro who considers Hillary Clinton to be Satan.
Based on what I’ve heard, he is in no sense a fan of Trump and will probably not vote for him in 2020. Regardless, I think the political circumstances will make it that Trump’s days in the White House are numbered.
Whether he resigns, is removed from office or is defeated in 2020, this disgusting populism will die out sooner or later. The question is if the Republican party will ever be able to recover from this circus and become a “reasonable” political party.