Trump caves under stress
WASHINGTON: Hours after the indictment and arrest On Saturday of President Donald Trump’s longtime adviser Roger Stone on seven charges of lying and obstructing justice, another dramatic development demanded the nation shift its weary eyes.
At some of the nation’s busiest airports, planes were halted because so many air traffic controllers, unpaid through a 35day government shutdown, called in sick. The splitscreen images captured a sense of the chaos that has surrounded President Trump for much of his two years in the Oval Office.
For most of that time, the country has adjusted to a realitytelevisionstyled presidency that has delivered its share of shocks to the system. Trump has not always faced the kind of severe consequences that might have blown back at his predecessors. At the weekend, however, his ability to avoid a steep price for his governing style seemed to change.
Under mounting pressure and amid declining poll numbers, Trump caved in on his demands for a border wall. By midafternoon Saturday, he announced a shortterm agreement to reopen government agencies.
He warned the reprieve could be only a temporary return to normalcy, threatening to issue a possible emergency declaration should a longterm spending Bill not include a level of border security money he deemed satisfactory.
‘‘If we don’t get a fair deal from Congress, the Government will either shut down on February 15, or I will use the powers afforded to me under the laws and Constitution of the United States to address this emergency,’’ Trump said during an appearance in the Rose Garden.
Democratic leaders, however, seemed unconcerned about that possibility, knowing that the public had largely blamed Trump for the shutdown and that the President’s fellow Republicans have shown no willingness to go through another round.
From farmers hurt by retaliatory tariffs as a result of the President’s trade war to retirees worried about their investments as the stock markets swing, many Americans, including some of those who voted for Trump in 2016, had been affected by his policies well before the shutdown occurred. But the pain the shutdown inflicted on roughly 800,000 federal workers, many of whom were forced to work without pay, appeared to crystallise the uneasiness many voters have felt about Trump’s leadership.
‘The president’s popularity has slid in the last month. A new ABC News/ Washington Post poll released on Saturday showed a 21point deficit in his overall standing, with 37% of the country approving of Trump’s job performance and 58% disapproving. ‘‘Making some people stay home when they don’t want to and making others show up without pay — it’s mindboggling, it’s shortsighted, and it’s unfair,’’ FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a video message to all bureau employees. ‘‘It takes a lot to get me angry, but I’m about as angry as I’ve been in a long, long time.’’
Trump’s capitulation to Democrats on the shutdown, coming two days after his retreat after a failed effort to push House Speaker Nancy Pelosi into allowing him to deliver his State of the Union address on Wednesday, threatened to worsen his position. . —