President Trump is moving to avert the most harmful consequences of the partial government shutdown, an equivocation that suggests uncertainty about whether he can win in the court of public opinion and extract immigration concessions from congressional Democrats.
Lawmakers from both parties are welcoming this development, especially White House commitments to process tax refund checks and issue food stamps should the 20-day-old shutdown persist. But some Republicans are acknowledging flaws in Trump’s approach. The less painful the shutdown, the less political pressure on Democrats to capitulate and approve funding for a border wall — if the risky tactic is to work at all.
“I didn’t come up with the strategy here, so I’m not sure I can explain the strategy,” Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said.
“Like Sheriff Bart in ‘Blazing Saddles,’ Republicans have pulled a gun and taken themselves hostage. When you’re mitigating the negative impacts against yourself, you have a political problem,” said Doug Heye, a Republican strategist who was working for a GOP leader in the House during the 2013 shutdown. “That’s why the entire shutdown is puzzling and frustrating.”
Trump on prime-time television on Tuesday addressed the nation from the Oval Office in a bid to win more support for his plan to build a wall along the Mexican border. A few hours prior, senior administration officials met with House Republicans behind closed doors and assured them that the government shutdown would not halt tax refund checks, food stamps, or other critical federal services.
[Also read: GOP offers to pay federal employees who work during the shutdown]
The decision to soften the blow raises key questions. If an otherwise determined Trump was winning this debate, why would he mitigate the adverse impacts of the shutdown? Indeed, the whole point of wielding a government shutdown is to foment voter frustration and direct it toward the political opposition, which in turn forces them to negotiate, if not cave altogether.
That’s how President Barack Obama responded to congressional Republicans in 2013, when they triggered a government shutdown in an attempt coerce him to defund the Affordable Care Act and block its rollout. It worked. After 16 days, the public was furious with Republicans, and they meekly abandoned the shutdown strategy and allowed the government to re-open.
As this shutdown careens toward becoming the longest in American history, Democrats in Congress on one side, and most congressional Republicans and Trump on the other, are dug in and fighting through the media. A Wednesday meeting at the White House between the president and congressional leaders ended in acrimony. In a series of comments, Trump projected faith in his game plan, reaffirming a willingness to keep the government partially shuttered indefinitely.
[Related: 8 Republicans vote to reopen the Treasury Department in test of House GOP unity]
In interviews on Capitol Hill, several Republicans expressed support for Trump’s immigration policies and strategy of using the shutdown to compel Democrats to acquiesce. They said the president’s request for $5.7 billion for the construction of a wall and humanitarian aid is reasonable and good policy, and they applauded him for holding firm.
“Some in the press think I’m equivocating on it. I want border funding. I want a proposal that the president accepts,” said Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who could face a stiff challenge next year when he runs for re-election in purple North Carolina. “I’m prepared to keep the portion of the government that’s not funded right now shut down until we do.”
But Republicans hesitated when asked if Trump was winning the battle of public opinion with the broader electorate, those voters outside of the conservative base. “I’m not a political pundit,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said.
