It's the last week of Republican misrule in Washington -- and, oh dear Lord, chaos reigns

Trump's worst week yet: A shutdown looms, the stock market dives and Jim Mattis quits over the Syria pullout

HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
DECEMBER 21, 2018 2:25PM (UTC)

On Thursday night, over a chyron that said "Trump plunges Washington into chaos: Mattis resigns, shutdown looms, market dives," CNN's Don Lemon said, "Right now there's not a permanent attorney general, defense secretary or chief of staff. The government is on the verge of a shutdown because the president wants money for his border wall. Stocks are having the worst December since the Great Depression. And Robert Mueller has indicted multiple members of Trump's inner circle. Is this administration melting down?"

I'm not sure why they were being so subtle about it. This may have been the single worst week of the Trump presidency. And it wasn't over yet.

Earlier in the week we saw that astonishing sentencing hearing for Michael Flynn, in which a federal judge, having read a pile of classified documents, excoriated the president's former national security adviser for "selling out his country" and potentially committing treason. Judge Emmet Sullivan was the first person outside the Mueller team to see this evidence and it obviously shook him to the core. One imagines his reaction had a similar effect on Donald Trump, who went uncharacteristically quiet about the issue.

Meanwhile, even though Trump had said he would be "proud" to shut down the government if he didn't get his border wall, cooler heads seemed to be prevailing. On Wednesday the Senate passed a continuing resolution to keep the government funded until February and the president was said to be willing to sign it. But then all hell broke loose on right-wing media. Ann Coulter declared that Trump's presidency a joke if he didn't demand full funding for his wall. Rush Limbaugh compared him to Obama. Even "Fox & Friends" turned on him.

So Trump finally decided to take a stand and do the right thing: He unfollowed Ann Coulter on Twitter. But that was the end of that little rebellion. Trump then got word to Limbaugh that he was reneging on the deal and called Paul Ryan up to the White House to instruct him to get that vote so he could show up Nancy Pelosi. And, as usual, they obediently complied to make him happy.

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https://www.salon.com/2018/12/21/its-the-last-week-of-republican-misrule-in-washington-and-oh-dear-lord-chaos-reigns/