The federal government often brags about how it can walk and chew gum at the same time, but Tuesday showed it can’t do either if it’s distracted by Donald Trump.
All the government did Tuesday was talk about Trump.
The table was set Monday night, when Trump said Muslims shouldn’t be allowed to enter the United States. As government officials made their breakfasts Tuesday morning in their million dollar houses in McLean, Va., they were bombarded with Trump all over the TV.
It didn’t matter if they watched CNN or MSNBC or ABC. Trump was just about everywhere.
By the time the federal government finally got to work at 10:30 a.m., there was no way to escape it: Tuesday was going to be all about Trump. Before noon, the Defense Department was peppered with questions about Trump’s comments, and told reporters hungry for Trump news that yes, blocking Muslims would cause national security problems.
More questions were asked at the White House in the early afternoon, but it’s clear the White House wanted to talk about Trump, and his hair.
“The Trump campaign for months now has had a dustbin of history-like quality to it, from the vacuous sloganeering, to the outright lies to even the fake hair, the whole carnival barker routine that we’ve seen for some time now,” said spokesman Josh Earnest.
Earnest added that Trump has an “outrageous” appearance.
The more sober State Department wouldn’t stoop to comments about Trump’s hair, but still ended up discussing the GOP front-runner. Have any Muslim countries complained about comments from Trump?
“I’m not aware of any protests that have been lodged,” spokesman John Kirby said.
Will Trump’s rhetoric undermine the ability of the U.S. to promote inclusive government?
“We certainly hope not,” Kirby answered. “We hope that that’s not the case.”
And it was no different inside Congress. House Republicans met in the morning, and a major issue was Trump. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., denounced Trump’s plan and said it’s “not what the country stands for.”
Like Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is worried about the GOP’s prospects in 2016, and he said Trump was being “inconsistent with American values.”
Democrats, who looked to hang Trump’s comments around the Republicans’ neck, said Trump’s comments were an honest reflection of what the GOP thinks, and that all should be warned. “Donald Trump is standing on the platform of hate that the Republican Party built for him,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
By Tuesday evening, the cable shows were squeezing out whatever moisture was left in the Trump dishrag that had been passed along all day, and an exhausted federal workforce climbed into their silk sheets to ponder the significance of it all.
What happened on Tuesday? Anything? Were any new regulations put out? Did Congress pass a law or something? Honestly, who can even remember?
As dawn broke over Washington Wednesday morning, it was hard to resist thinking, maybe today the government will do something else. Maybe it’ll walk, or chew gum, or maybe even both at the same time.
That is, unless Donald Trump says something else.
