Chuck and Nancy Have Only Just Begun Kicking Trump's Behind

Chuck and Nancy Have Only Just Begun Kicking Trump’s Behind
They won the first battle over the Wall. Now, Schumer, Pelosi, and the Democrats need to press their advantage.
Michael Tomasky
01.28.19 5:11 AM ET


So, having won round one so resoundingly, what should the Democrats do next about the wall?

One thing: Remember that this is Donald Trump’s problem. And Mitch McConnell’s, and Kevin McCarthy’s (who? The House minority leader). They’re the ones who are trying to push a minority position down the country’s throat. The president in particular, of course. But majorities of Americans are against the wall and always have been. So let Trump turn that around, if he can.

It’s worth chortling again for a few paragraphs over how ridiculous and weak they made Trump look. Remember, this is a man who spent years, going way back before he started campaigning in 2015, saying over and over and over how easy being president would be. Bring the Chinese to heel? Very easy. Make Middle East peace? Please. Get Mexico to pay for the wall? Piece of cake. He’s been saying these things in books and television appearances for years.

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Nancy Pelosi took him to the cleaners, and she deserves enormous credit. Her State of the Union gambit was just inspired. The awesome tell at the way she discombobulated Trump was that he couldn’t even come up with a nickname for her. Did you see that? “Nancy Pelosi, or Nancy, as I call her…” Wow, Don, good one! Her first name!

Taking nothing away from her, though, it wasn’t all Pelosi. Chuck Schumer was the one who goaded Trump into accepting responsibility for the shutdown at that Dec. 11 meeting. And then remember that the cave was set into motion by those two votes in the Senate last Thursday, when only one Democrat voted for the Republican bill (Joe Manchin, whose vote didn’t matter anyway because it didn’t change anything), while six Republicans voted for the Democratic version.

That was huge. McConnell and people from the Trump White House had thought that they could peel off some moderate Senate Democrats to join their bill, pass some wall funding, and then jam Pelosi and the House Democrats. But they didn’t come close. They got Manchin’s meaningless vote, but they didn’t even get Doug Jones to sign on.

And it was right after those votes that McConnell called Chuck Schumer into his office. McConnell wanted Schumer to agree to a down payment on the wall. Schumer said no and counter-offered a continuing resolution and put together a conference committee to negotiate this. And this is exactly what’s happening.

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