The economy booms, a second Supreme Court nominee waits in the wings, and yet this president decided to waste two perfectly good news cycles with threats like this one:
I would be willing to “shut down” government if the Democrats do not give us the votes for Border Security, which includes the Wall! Must get rid of Lottery, Catch & Release etc. and finally go to system of Immigration based on MERIT! We need great people coming into our Country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2018
On Sunday, Trump tweeted another shutdown threat. Don’t give him funding for his wall, Trump signaled again during a Monday press conference, and he “would have no problem doing a shutdown.” By Tuesday, though, Trump had forgotten all the tough talk. Skip the wall money for now, an administration official signaled in the Wall Street Journal, because that fight can wait until after the election.
It was the worst kind of whiplash, not just because it sent commentators prattling, but because it was a complete waste.
Trump showed his base just how much he values his congressional majorities. If Republicans can’t deliver him a wall while they control both the House and Senate, he implied, why bother showing up to help them keep their seats?
[Related: Senate GOP begs Trump to reconsider shutdown threat over immigration]
Obviously that suggestion is as shortsighted as it is inescapable. There are a lot of reasons why Republicans are eager to kick the can down the road until after November, not the least of which is that a border fight ties up Republicans and hands Democrats a sympathetic issue right before the midterms. But the real damage of the shutdown mini-drama is self-inflicted and long-lasting.
This isn’t the first time Trump has threatened to leave lawmakers in the dark if they don’t give him what he wants. He told a crowd in Michigan the he was considering a shutdown last April, then repeated that claim to a different crowd in Arizona last August. Nothing came from either threat except a better understanding of a president who has a bad habit of tweeting wolf.
Until Trump follows through on his threats, Congress will continue to disregard him. By now, Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., are used to the president’s routine: Trump threatens, they negotiate, and Congress gets its way. This is becoming the norm.
Everyone is beginning to understand that Trump doesn’t mean what he tweets and doesn’t do what he promises. It makes negotiations over a border wall that much more difficult and Trump has no one to blame but himself.
