Thank President Jell-O for shutdown
Trump’s reversals mean neither party trusts him
If the shutdown dysfunction in Washington seems like an echo, it’s because we’re on a familiar journey now with President Trump. Last year, it was health care held hostage; this week it was the government itself.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said negotiating with Trump was like “negotiating with Jell-O.” Lawmakers in both parties who are eager for an immigration deal can’t be blamed for having a tough time pinning down where the president stands on it. Trump went from "I will be signing" whatever bipartisan deal you come up with on Jan. 9, to completely reversing his position two days later.
The health care repeal battle taught not just Democrats but Republicans as well what it’s like to negotiate with an unpredictable president. When House Republicans finally passed a repeal bill Trump had been asking for, he was quick to describe it as “mean.” It was during the health care debate that the Jell-O president was born.
This time, it took only hours after House Republicans publicly released their budget package for Trump to tweet against it.
Republicans don’t want to be stuck in the Trump Jell-O any more than the Democrats do. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a point person on bipartisan immigration negotiations, threw up his hands last week and said he can’t figure out what page the president is on from one day to the next. Even a weary Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell found himself stuck. He used his news conference last week not to point a finger at Democrats, but to note of Trump that Congress could make progress “as soon as we figure out what he is for.”
When the president shifts his position, it’s one thing. But when the White House can’t be trusted to honor the deals it agrees to, it’s quite another.
Trump’s tax cut bill, his sole legislative win of his first year, was predicated on betrayal that’s coming back to haunt him. Just last month, with only two votes to spare, Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Jeff Flake of Arizo- na were two of the most likely defectors. Trump was a party to giving each of them promises to earn their votes — Flake on immigration, Collins on improving ACA stability. Those promises lasted about as long it took to get the bill passed and were then forgotten.
If this is how Trump treats members of his own party, it’s hard to blame Schumer for balking when Trump expected him to deliver votes for a budget deal on the “promise” of a bill to help “dreamers,” the undocumented immigrants brought to this country as kids. When McConnell made the same commitment Monday, most Democrats decided to trust him and hope for the best. But it’s clear that walking out of the White House with a handshake doesn’t mean what it once did.
President Reagan often said “trust but verify” when he was negotiating with the Russians. When negotiating with Trump, the mantra may be “get it in writing, bring witnesses and even then, don’t hold your breath.”
This shutdown wasn’t about philosophical disagreements between Democrats and Republicans over immigration. It was about having the basis and the leadership to work them out.
Unlike the polarizing health care debate last year, both sides — and the American public — will win if and when a long-term government funding deal finally arrives. The resolution of the status of dreamers and the ability to run the government without hiccups like this shutdown will reflect glory on each party involved, and more important will be good for the country.
After a year of seeing Trump use any means necessary to cut their health care, Americans are weary and their representatives suspicious. We may be experiencing the “unpredictability” Trump bragged he would bring during his campaign. The track record from his first year brought the country to a halt before year two could even get started. And this time, with a fractured GOP and another shutdown deadline looming Feb. 8, he alone must fix it.