Courtesy of Donald J. Trump, as of Saturday morning at 12:01 a.m. we have a government shutdown due to lack of funding. You might think the first job of any government is to keep the government operating, but apparently that’s not the case. There were bipartisan deals in the Senate that would have avoided this, but Trump torpedoed them. We should have been forewarned, as last May Trump said that the country “needs a good shutdown”.
As with so much else with the Trump administration, the debate has focused on immigration, particularly on the “Dreamers” under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Trump killed the existing DACA program last September, which he did not have to do.
The Dreamers were brought to the U.S. as children. Many have no memories of the countries where they were born. Some do not even speak the language of those countries. DACA allowed them to remain in the U.S. and receive work permits as long they were in school or the military, or had at least a high-school diploma or an honorable discharge from the military. It did not enable them to become citizens. Without DACA they would be deported.
A week ago Thursday there was a bipartisan deal that gave Trump what he said he wanted: $1.6 billion for his border wall, a DACA fix for the Dreamers “bill of love” that Trump requested from Congress, and a long-term spending bill for the military. Anti-immigration hardliners Stephen Miller, Trump’s senior policy advisor, and John Kelly, Trump’s chief of staff, worked fervently to convince Trump to sink the agreement. That resulted in the White House rejecting the deal, with Trump asking “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?”
Talks continued. Yesterday Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer was negotiating a deal with Donald Trump and success seemed near. Then John Kelly again persuaded Trump to block the deal because of the DACA fix – resulting in the shutdown.
What happens now is that most non-essential federal employees are furloughed. Those deemed essential continue to work but do not get paid. Trump wants to keep the national parks open for public relations reasons – one is not quite sure how those are essential – but many workers in the U.S. intelligence services will be sent home. And, although already overwhelmed with implementing the new tax heist bill, the IRS could lose half its workers.
The House and Senate remain in session this weekend to see if they can fund the government funded at least temporarily, but Trump – in his usual helpful fashion – said that now he would not sign any funding bill unless the Democrats reopened the government. Of course, the Republicans hold the majorities in the House and Senate and hold the Presidency.
The Republicans believe that the Democrats will suffer the most politically from the shutdown. In contrast, an ABC/Washington Post poll shows that most Americans will blame the Republicans more than the Democrats (48% to 28%). Other polls concur. The shutdown may not be resolved until the Republicans see that they are being blamed for it by the American people.
And so, on to Russia.
Although Special Counsel Robert Mueller requested a May trial date for former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson indicated that trial might not begin until September or October, given the work the defense has to do. One imagines that could be quite a bit, given the charges against Mr. Manafort are for money laundering conspiracy and violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Glenn Simpson, co-founder of Fusion GPS, which produced the Steele Dossier, told the House Intelligence Committee that there are “patterns of activity” involving the Trump organization that “might be suggestive of money laundering,” including dealings with Russians. Simpson also said of Trump that “during the early part of his career he had connections to a lot of Italian mafia figures, and then gradually during the nineties became associated with Russian mafia figures.” Russian organized crime has strong connections with the Putin government.
On Thursday the McClatchy new organization broke the story that FBI investigating whether a Putin-linked Russian banker funneled money through the National Rifle Association to help the Trump election campaign. It is illegal to use foreign money to influence a federal election.
Perhaps not surprisingly, according to a Gallup poll, Trump set a record: He ends his first year with the lowest average approval rating of any elected president in his first term. Trump’s current approval rating is just 38%, with 57% disapproving. The Women’s Marches against Trump, held countrywide today, matched or exceeded the ones a year ago. The 2018 elections look good for the Democrats at least for the House and perhaps for the Senate.
(These pieces are posted on www.thereviewsalon.com.)