Trump has been largely uninterested in the minutiae
He thinks it’s a game. He thinks he’s winning.
When President Trump made a rare journey to the Capitol last week, he was expected to strategize about how to end the government shutdown he instigated. Instead, he spent the first 20-odd minutes delivering a monologue about “winning.”
“We’re winning” on North Korea, the president told Republican senators Wednesday at a closed-door luncheon. “We’re winning” on Syria and “we’re winning” on the trade war with China, too. And, Trump concluded, they could win on immigration if Republicans stuck together through what is now the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history, according to officials who attended the presidential pep talk.
He thinks it’s a game. People are working without being paid; national parks are being trashed; years of scientific work is being destroyed – and he thinks it’s a game.
In the weeks leading up to December’s deadline to fund the government, Trump was warned repeatedly about the dangers of a shutdown but still opted to proceed, according to officials with knowledge of the conversations.
Because he doesn’t listen, he doesn’t pay attention, he doesn’t understand, he doesn’t care. He doesn’t function like a normal adult with all parts working.
Trump’s advisers are scrambling to build an exit ramp while also bracing for the shutdown to last weeks longer. Current and former aides said there is little strategy in the White House; people are frustrated and, in the words of one, “freaking out.”
They didn’t know they were working for Trump?
Only after Christmas did administration officials begin realizing the full scale of the logistical problems a prolonged shutdown would cause. Aides said Trump has been largely uninterested in the minutiae of managing government agencies and services.
During negotiation sessions, Trump’s attention has veered wildly. At one such meeting with Pelosi and Schumer in the White House Situation Room earlier this month, the president went on a long diatribe about unrelated topics. He trashed the Iran nuclear deal, telling Democrats they should give him money for the wall because they gave President Barack Obama money for the agreement with Tehran. He boasted about his wisdom in ordering the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria. And he raised the specter of impeachment, accusing Pelosi of wanting to try to force him from office — which she denied.
Then he emptied the wastebasket over his head while singing the Marseillaise.
So many people are unaware of what the government actually does; they have no idea how many private sector jobs depend on government contracts, subsidies, etc.
People where I work are all in government jobs (we work at a public college). Most of them will say they get nothing from taxes (?!?!?), and most of them vote for candidates who promise large cuts in the property tax, which is the way our school gets most of its funding.
If they were to compile a list throughout the day of every part of their life that depended in some way on public funding, they would be floored to realize what life would be without government…because things like flushing the toilet and driving on the roads are so commonplace and ordinary, and because for the most part those are happening correctly without a lot of newspapers pointing to “government incompetence”. They don’t realize how much the government does, how much they rely on it, and so a shut down seems great to them, because they think it just means a bunch of “lazy black men” won’t receive their welfare checks…and, of course, they believe against all the evidence that these same people have been on “welfare for life” (can’t – there’s a 5 year limit) and it will do them good to go get a job.
Now it’s threatening to hurt the farmers who voted for Trump. Eventually, of course, that bleeds down to the rest of us when there is less food at a higher price.
Trump’s thought -sorry, cerebral flatulence – for today: “Let them eat cake.”
(Tumbrils start rolling down Pennsylvania Avenue.)
Actually, though, he probably thinks it’s a reality TV show. And he’s the star. He gets to say “You’re fired!” when he doesn’t like someone. And everyone has to kowtow to him, because when you’re a star, they let you do it.
He certainly seems to think that as president of a nation he has the same authority over government that he had over his business; he just cannot comprehend [and I could just end this comment here] why nobody else can accept that.
‘(emph. mine)
I won. My country now. STOP TELLING ME NO!
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/12/donald-trump-government-shutdown-border-wall-democrats
Now, now, be fair. When Obama won, the Republicans accepted his mandate and allowed him to implement all of his desired legislation and policy. They didn’t decry him as a tyrant and use every obstructionist tactic in the book.