Trump has demanded that the Senate Republicans jettison the filibuster. He knows the ongoing government shutdown is sinking his already underwater popularity. And he wants an end to the closure.
In a Truth Social post, he explained his feelings:
“The Democrats are cracking like dogs on the Shutdown because they are deathly afraid that I am making progress with the Republicans on TERMINATING THE FILIBUSTER!” Whether we make a Deal or not, THE REPUBLICANS MUST “BLOW UP” THE FILIBUSTER, AND APPROVE HUNDREDS OF LONG SOUGHT, BUT NEVER GOTTEN, POLICY WINS LIKE, AS JUST A SMALL EXAMPLE, VOTER ID (IDENTIFICATION). Only a LOSER would not agree to doing this!”
It is generally accepted that congressional Republicans are rubber stamps for the boss’s caprice. But that isn’t entirely accurate. House Republicans, under the scyphozoan leadership of the pusillanimous Mike Johnson, have demonstrated that sycophancy is their natural state. However, their Senate siblings have shown some spine.
Sen. Jim Thune and his gang have not rushed to “BLOW UP” THE FILIBUSTER. This unusual recalcitrance to advance their Party leader’s cause seems, on the surface of it, remarkable. The boss has asked them to jump. But they have stayed planted.
Why?
Despite reports to the contrary, MAGA does not always walk in lockstep. If it did, Republican Senators would have kowtowed to Trump’s demand and consigned the filibuster to history. But they haven’t. Because in their calculation, the temporary gain resulting from the change in procedure is outweighed by the prospect of a future Democratic Senate majority playing by the new rules.
The GOP is OK with legislative inertia. In general, they want the 60-vote threshold for passing bills. It puts a wall between the desire to do something and the ability to do it. For decades, Southern Senators in the minority used the filibuster to keep civil rights legislation theoretical rather than enacted.
Today’s Republicans are their political heirs. The last time the Democrats were able to cobble together a brief 60-seat majority, they passed Obamacare. Heaven forbid they do more of the same.
Should the new Senate standard be a simple majority, Republicans know their antagonists, the radical socialists, would be able to easily inflict universal Medicare on the population. And that would be just the tip of an activist, big government, legislative iceberg. To the Party of a do-nothing legislature, a government helping anyone besides its owners is a prospect too awful to allow.
Trump does not see it that way. He is not a strategic thinker. He watches the news. He hears reports of cancelled flights. He knows much of his base relies on SNAP. Congressional conservatives may want smaller government — Trump doesn’t. He is a self-promoter with an eye to branding. And he can see the shutdown is oxidizing his gilding.
Some optimistic marketers claim there is no such thing as bad publicity. They are wrong. History is littered with branding nightmares.
The shuttering of the federal government would be Trump’s ‘New Coke’ moment — except for one significant difference. Consumers easily preferred New Coke to both Classic Coke and Pepsi in taste tests. (But the Coca-Cola corporation failed to account for the emotional attachment consumers had to the soda of their youth.)
Instead, the government shutdown is better described as Trump’s Edsel. The Ford company promised drivers a luxury automotive experience. Instead, they delivered an ugly, overhyped, overpriced car with average performance. If that sounds familiar, so be it.
Trump promised the citizens an administration purring on all cylinders to lift every American on a rising economic tide. Instead, his administration is leaving many hungry, stripping their healthcare subsidies, stranding them in airports, and invading their cities with heavily-armed, ill-trained, anonymous bullies.
No wonder Trump wants at least some of the bad press to go away, no matter how much it benefits the Democrats in the long run.
