Day 736: Trump sees pal and adviser Roger Stone indicted, then is forced to finally cave on shutdown
In the political realm, far too many things that affect millions of Americans’ lives are looked at through a lens of “winners” and “losers.” That’s much of the reason for the constant Donald Trump spin about the Robert Mueller probe and the government shutdown: he wants to be seen as the “winner.”
On the former, Trump has proclaimed that the Mueller investigation was a witch hunt, despite the number of indictments and guilty pleas. Friday, longtime Trump friend and aide Roger Stone heard his name called as he was indicted and arrested at his South Florida home.
The indictment against Stone — which include charges related to lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering — alleges a level of coordination between Stone, the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks (referred to in the indictment as “Organization 1”). Considering that U.S. intelligence agencies believe that WikiLeaks is an arm of or agent for the Russian government, that’s a serious issue for Trump.
The list of Trump officials who have had contacts with Russians and/or lied about their dealings to the FBI and/or Congress is staggering.
Having woken up to the news that his friend got indicted, Trump was forced to face the music of the shutdown as the day went on: it was time to fold.
After 35 days, and the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, Trump announced that he would sign a continuing resolution that was virtually identical to the one that he could have signed in December. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers and their families toiled in the wind for weeks, all because Trump demanded a border wall or no deal. In the end, there wasn’t a single penny for a border wall in the bill.
The resolution will fund the government for three weeks. During that time, as Democrats suggested long ago, the parties could negotiate to see if there was common ground on large-scale funding issues and, possibly, immigration reform.
Pundits — left, right and center — all saw the continuing resolution for what it was: Trump caving to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Democrats, grumbling Republicans up for reelection in 2020 and the realities of the moment. The judicial system, airports and parks were all suffering at dangerous levels as workers remained furloughed. There was also very little appetite for a border wall from the public, especially if it meant shutting down the government to get it.
Desperate to try and spin the announcement amid ever-dropping poll numbers and brutal reviews from his right-wing base, Trump heavily hinted that should a funding deal get made in three weeks that doesn’t include wall funding, he would declare a national emergency.
If that happens, there would certainly be legal challenges that could wind their way in the court system for months or years. The Trump administration would potentially have a difficult time showing how funding 20 percent of a border wall would cure a national emergency and what has happened to tip the scale from issue to more serious concern.
Ultimately, Democrats are acutely aware that Trump doesn’t care about anything besides getting political “wins,” which is going to make it difficult for him to ever get a wall through mere negotiation.
Overall, Friday was a terrible day for Trump. The “no collusion” argument took another monstrous hit and his border wall is no closer to beginning than it was two years ago.
736 days in, 726 to go
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