U.S. President Donald Trump gives two thumbs up as he talks about the arrest of a bombing suspect sought in connection with packages sent to Democratic political figures and critics of the president during an event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., October 26, 2018. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
The White House is growing concerned that Trump is going to cave to right-wing political pressure and shut down the federal government over Christmas.
Jake Sherman of Politico tweeted:
The reason why Trump may veto was summed up in this roundup of conservative media reaction via First Read:
And some prominent conservative voices aren’t happy about it. At all. “It is now crystal clear that one of two things is true: Either Trump never intended to build the wall and was scamming voters all along, or he has no idea how to get it done and zero interest in finding out,” Ann Coulter writes.
Here was Rush Limbaugh yesterday: “I mean, Washington came together to pass [criminal justice reform] in like 10 minutes. Meanwhile, $5 billion, a measly $5 billion — when compared to the size of the federal budget for border security — is an impossibility. Somebody needs to explain to me how this happened.”
The headline on Drudge from yesterday? “WALL STALL: TRUMP IN RETREAT.”
Trump’s base is the smallest of any incumbent president in modern history. His core of support is tiny and mirrors those hardcore far-right Republicans who watch Fox News, read conservative websites and listen to Rush Limbaugh on the radio. If Trump loses anything from that base, he is eroding the last bit of solid political support that he has in the country.
Trump is also a Fox News junkie who has reversed himself to appease the network at any sign of criticism in the past, so people inside the White House should be worried. Trump is making decisions on withdrawing US troops from Syria on his own, so there is no reason why he wouldn’t shut down the government on his own.
There is this idea floating around that if Trump shuts down the government, he can’t go to Florida for Christmas, but this isn’t true. Trump could see leaving for Christmas as a way to increase pressure on Congress to fund his wall. Plus, Air Force One still flies during a government shut down and there would nothing stopping Trump from signing the bill to fund the government in Florida at his private club.
Trump doesn’t have to stay in D.C., and if he shuts down the government, he probably won’t.
Nothing is a done deal until Trump signs it, and if the right keeps mocking his manhood, he might shut the government down.
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