Team Trump Gleeful That Shutdown Will Hijack Pelosi's Big Moment

[Judi Lynn]

The president’s aides see a debate being waged on his issues, not hers, and they couldn’t be happier.

Sam Stein,
Asawin Suebsaeng
12.28.18 4:40 AM ET

Days into a partial government shutdown that has left tens of thousands of federal workers furloughed, President Donald Trump and his close allies have begun feeling more confident about the political perch they occupy.

In their eyes, a prolonged stalemate will likely fracture voters along traditional partisan lines, and the ultimate outcome will be a debate waged largely on the president’s terms. Increasingly, they see an upside in forcing likely incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi to have to spend the first days, if not weeks, of the next Congress engaged in an argument over border wall funding rather than her preferred agenda: a mix of sweeping ethics and election reforms and congressional oversight. And they continue to believe that a conversation around immigration and border security is in the president’s best political interests.

“The more the focus is on the wall, the more Pelosi is forced to focus on this fight instead of the investigations,” said one source close to the White House, expressing a sentiment shared with The Daily Beast by three other individuals allied with Trump. “It’s a situation where [Trump] has no choice but to shut it down. It’s the best of the worst choices. It’s really the only choice [because] I think there are people who would vote for him today who might not if he gave in too quickly."

The White House press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But two people who’ve spoken with Trump about the shutdown—one during and the other just before it began—said the president believes the politics have been a boon for him and a potential humiliation for the Democrats. One of these sources said Trump has privately predicted that Democratic politicians are “screwing themselves” with voters by resisting his hard-line, restrictionist immigration policies, and not signing on to his wall.

More:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/team-trump-gleeful-that-shutdown-will-hijack-pelosis-big-moment?ref=home

[Achilleaze]

1. Ha ha! Not likely to work that way.

KGOP republican fantasies are funny. He* believes this stinking mess is "a boon to him."


* aka republican Draft-Dodger-in-Chief

[Arkansas Granny]

2. Have they considered that most Americans don't consider the wall to be

a priority and most did not favor a shutdown over it.

I hope Trump is shooting himself in the foot again

[orangecrush]

3. This is what the "wall"

is really about.

Like everything else with this russian plant, a tool for distraction.

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. Nancy can handle it, don't worry

She'll send Trump off to his room where he can have his hourly tantrums in private.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. Republicons had 2 years. She knows she doesn't have to carry their water.

She should quickly pass a simple clean funding resolution (means no wall) and announce that they are done and moving on to other important business.

If the wall can't be passed on its own, it shouldn't be passed as an add-on to important legislation.

The wall can't be passed on its own. Let tRump gloat about his political strategy and ignore him as much as possible. Let him tweet his insults and fret about Mueller.

[C_U_L8R]

6. Au contraire.

Trump handed us the enormous club to pummel him with.

[agingdem]

7. oh you got her!

how amusing these sycophantic thin-skinned morons assume that Nancy Pelosi, a highly intelligent politically savvy woman gives, a damn about her Big Moment...pretty sure she's had a couple of Big Moments in her life...

[muntrv]

8. Isn't this wall going to be built by a Russian steel company?