While you should never subscribe to evil what could be explained by stupidity (and this is Stupid Watergate for good reason), I do wonder if this shutdown crisis wasn’t a convenient off-ramp for the GOP to jettison Trump and save their party.
The reason I think this is because of how this shutdown started. We were well on our way to averting the shutdown when the Senate unanimously passed a resolution to fund the government just before Christmas. It then failed in the House of Representatives after Trump was pressured by the right-wing media into making a statement that he would veto any appropriations bill/continuing resolution that didn’t include funding for his signature campaign promise, the wall. He has been stonewalling since, which has resulted in the longest shutdown in U.S. history.
With what we know about the Republican Party and the right-wing media, it’s not surprising they would pressure Trump into making this stand. However, I think it isn’t completely implausible that the right-wing media intentionally threw Trump under the bus by forcing him to fight an unwinnable battle.
After all, the Republican Party is presently doing nothing to save Trump from this crisis. His poll numbers are starting to tread water among his base, and he’s largely losing the public relations battle on this matter. What’s more, his every attempt to end this shutdown in his favor has revealed him to be nothing more than a presidential figurehead (though we knew that already, since he wanted his Vice President to run the country while he MAGA’d).
While there would likely be a humiliating defeat for Trump if the shutdown ended after an override of his veto, it’s not as if Trump hasn’t backtracked before and had the information laundromat that is the right-wing media make him look victorious and righteous the whole way through. Besides, his cult-like followers are programmed to believe whatever Trump and the right-wing media says — we know the overwhelming majority of them would have blissfully kowtowed the party line even if it is the complete opposite position of where Trump was before.
In short, none of the innumerable scandals and controversies that have preceded this one have stuck to Trump in any significant way, but this one is sticking. And I think it’s because Republicans want it to stick. And considering all of the devastating news stories that keep breaking around the Trump organization, campaign, and administration, not circling the wagons around Trump is the equivalent of throwing him an anchor.
I suspect the reason for this is that Republicans know Trump is going down and want him to be tarred and feathered by this controversy in particular. Not so much to save the country from the damage he (and they) could cause, but rather to save the party. As a consequence, they aren’t even lifting a finger as Trump self-destructs. And why would they? They don’t want to get anymore of their fingerprints on him.