George H.W. Bush accepted the 1988 Republican nomination for president, reassuring his party that he wouldn’t cave to Democratic pressure to raise taxes. In perhaps his most effective rhetoric ever, he described the left returning again and again to press him to take more money from people’s wallets. He said his final response would be, “Read my lips — no new taxes.” This solidified his base and helped win him election. But when he betrayed his promise in 1990, the base evaporated and Bush was defeated at the hands of Bill Clinton in 1992.
President Trump’s promise to “build the wall” may now be similarly significant. His repeated undertaking to fortify the southern border helped him more than any other to win the presidency in 2016. But like “read my lips,” it could destroy him if he caves to Democrats’ pressure to go back on his word.
That’s why this government shutdown is the longest ever. Trump cannot afford to break his promise, and Democrats, having won back the House after two years of out-and-out resistance, have no incentive to compromise. That would risk enraging their voter base, which wants Trump ousted in two years at most.
This is the focus of our cover story, “Washington Hits The Wall,” by Jay Caruso. It examines the politics of the wall and the shutdown, and how difficult compromise is with the border barrier being less an element of practical policy than a symbol of partisan conflict. That doesn’t mean walls aren’t practical; the idea that they don’t work is emptier rhetoric than any recently. Walls work, which is why they are built all over the world.
We also profile Elaine Chao, the transportation secretary and wife of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Chao has brought impressive unflappability to every Republican administration since that of President Ronald Reagan.
And we look into crucial changes at the Florida Supreme Court following Republicans’ victory in the state in 2018. It means every justice on court will have been nominated by GOP governors, completely reversing of the 7-0 Democratic monopoly that adjudicated the Bush vs. Gore recount fight after the 2000 election.
In the Life & Arts section, Jamie Dettmer visits the fabulous and holy Visoki Decani church in Kosovo; Eric Felten proposes the wearing of ties in leisure hours now that smart neckwear has disappeared from workplaces; Paul Bedard scrambles to cope with the first heavy snowfall of the winter at his demesne in rural Virginia; and Seth Mandel sees rock venues as buttressing communities as so many other institutions crumble.
At the back of the magazine, as ever, we have an obituary. This week we celebrate the wonderful, quirky life of Carol Channing.
