On the Brink of a Government Shutdown, Our Stable Genius Is Feuding with his Chief of Staff

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | January 18, 2018 |

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | January 18, 2018 |

Tomorrow, there’s a very good chance that the government will shut down. At this very moment, there seems to be less effort to prevent that shutdown than there is an effort to pre-assign blame. Reminder: The Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the Presidency. Double reminder: There is a bi-partisan bill on the table that 7 Republicans have agreed to support publicly (and more may support privately) that the President turned down two days after he said that he would sign it.

Why did Trump turn it down? Apparently, because it didn’t provide the funding he wanted for The Wall.

But here’s the thing: Yesterday, John Kelly — the President’s Chief of Staff — not only said that he’s basically running the ship (OHNOHEDDIDN’T), but that the President is “uninformed” about The Wall:

“As we talked about things — where this president is and how much he wants to deal with this DACA issue and take it away — I told them that, you know, there’s been an evolutionary process that this president has gone through as a campaign [sic]. And I pointed out to all of the members that were in the room that they all say things during the course of campaigns that may or may not be fully informed. But this president, if you’ve seen what he’s done, he has changed the way that he’s looked at a number of things. … So he has evolved in the way he’s looked at things. Campaign to governing are two different things, and this president is very, very flexible in terms of what is within the realm of the possible.”

Kelly also had a pretty nice moment with a Democratic lawmaker who apologized to him for nasty things he said about him in the past, and Kelly told him, “That means a lot.” Kelly and the Democrats were getting along! Kelly seemed to suggest that he wanted protection for the DREAMers and that Trump’s demands about The Wall were unrealistic. He also conceded that he’s basically been managing the President since he took over.

Kelly suggests he’s in the job to prevent Trump from failing, saying if the president fails, the country fails.

— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) January 17, 2018

That didn’t sit well with Trump, who later subtweeted his Chief of Staff:

We need the Wall for the safety and security of our country. We need the Wall to help stop the massive inflow of drugs from Mexico, now rated the number one most dangerous country in the world. If there is no Wall, there is no Deal!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2018

And that’s where we are now: Republicans and Democrats have come to a bi-partisan agreement to save DACA and fund the government, but Trump is making unrealistic demands — according to his own Chief of Staff — and the government is going to shut down because Trump thinks America needs to build a clear wall with solar panels across the Mexican border to keep out people who basically don’t even want to come into the country anymore since Trump became President. I mean, Mexicans hate us now.

Mexican views of the United States drop to record low, poll finds https://t.co/IXPQ2MeDLa pic.twitter.com/MFsZR50VkY

— Adam Taylor (@mradamtaylor) January 18, 2018

It’s a clusterfuck. But you know, Trump knows what he’s doing, right? He’s s stable genius. He can pass a rudimentary mental fitness test. From Reuters:

He blamed his three immediate predecessors, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, for failing to resolve the crisis and, a day after his doctor gave him a perfect score on a cognitive test, suggested he had the mental acuity to solve it.

“I guess they all realized they’re going to have to leave it to a president that scored the highest on tests,” he joked.

We’re on the verge of a government shutdown, and Trump is handing out Fake News Awards. How is that for stable genius?

Meanwhile, the Republicans are holding healthcare for children hostage, offering a deal to continue the funding of CHIP in exchange for the Democrats’ vote on a 30-day continuing resolution, a CR that would put us right back in this position in 30 days. Democrats won’t sign it without a deal for DACA, and the GOP is suggesting that Democrats care more about immigrants than children’s health, which is an idiotic argument because the GOP could pass a bipartisan extension of CHIP in a heartbeat. That strategy might have played well with the base, anyway, except that no one is paying attention to the Republicans because they’re too focused on Trump’s feud with John Kelly and the fact that Donald Trump had “generic sex” with a porn star and paid her $130,000 to keep quiet.

That is a dumb story, and honestly, I really don’t care who the President has consensual sex with while his wife is pregnant, but still, HOW IS THAT NOT A HUGE STORY? If Obama had winked at a woman, Fox News would be calling for his head.

You’re not crazy. The married president of the United States had an affair with a porn star when his son was an infant, paid six figures for her silence, and in the final analysis, no one really cares. You’re not crazy.

— Todd Zwillich (@toddzwillich) January 18, 2018

Anyone else just praying for this solution to America’s problems?

Cardiologists not associated with the White House told the NYT that Trump’s physical exam revealed serious heart concerns, including very high levels of 'bad' cholesterol, which raises the risk that Trump could suffer a heart attack while in office. https://t.co/wLlbr9JwTG

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 17, 2018