RESISTANCE
The “mantra” of the first Trump Administration – RESIST. Resist the Nation altering changes that his Presidency represented. Resist the atrocity of child separation at the border. And, Resist the mind numbing litany of hate and disrespect uncovered by his presence. And Resistance was effective (not futile, for those Star Trek fans – he ain’t the Borg). But it wasn’t half as effective as Trump world falling all over itself.
Trump was unable to make systemic changes in America in large part because he, and his minions, couldn’t get it together. They constantly stepped on their own messages, fell over their own ideas, over-reached when the shouldn’t, and fell back when they should have “charged”. They knew it, and so did the larger “MAGA” movement. That’s why the “good folks” at the Heritage Foundation laid out almost 1000 pages of explicit plans for the second Trump Administration, “Project 2025”. They don’t want to miss their “second bite at the apple”.
Chaos Theory
He’s not the President, yet. But Trump is already starting his personal brand of “chaos theory”. The latest example is the general disorder of the House of Representatives and the current government funding bill. It’s all pretty simple: if the House (and the Senate, already on board) don’t pass a spending resolution before tomorrow (Friday, 12/20), the government will shut down. Well, not really, but those parts of the government deemed “non-essential” will shut down. Paying Federal employees for example is not essential (according to them), especially the week before Christmas. Many will still be required to come to work.
But it’s still a big deal, and the Republicans in the House of Representatives know it. So they negotiated a bi-partisan deal with the Democrats, one that most of both parties could support, to gain the majority needed to fund the government until March. Part of that bill is emergency aid for disaster relief to places like North Carolina and Florida. Yesterday morning, Republican Speaker Mike Johnson woke up secure that the bill would be passed, and he could send his Congress home for Christmas secure the government was still functioning.
That’s when Trump, and his new side-kick Elon Musk, decided to tank the deal. Musk (in Trump’s name) demanded that a debt limit be included in this piece of legislation, a “poison pill” to any bipartisan legislation. And Trump backed it up, saying he would support a primary challenge against any Republican (that’s his own Party) who dared to support the “old” bipartisan bill. Musk followed up with a pledge of financial support to those challengers.
Blackmail
If that sounds like good, old-fashioned political blackmail, it is. Blackmail from two men who currently hold no office in American government, who are operating from their own “capital” at Mar-a-Lago, and who completely undercut their own, elected, Speaker of the House.
So what’s the plan? Is this really about shutting the government down, or is this more about sending a message to the Senate? Pete Hegseth, Bobby Kennedy Jr, and Tulsi Gabbard all are highly problematic appointments to the prospective Trump Cabinet, each with multiple Republican Senators questioning their fitness for office. Is Trump and his “muscle” Musk flexing to make the point to Murkowski, Ernst, Collins and Cassidy: this can happen to you?
Miss the Target
It’s pretty clear, the only path to keep the government open would require Speaker Johnson to make a deal with Dems, a “poison pill” for him that may well cost the Speakership in January’s House vote. Johnson can’t depend on Democrats to pull him out of the fire on then. Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries is more likely to let the vote go for days, demonstrating how weak and divided the House Republicans really are, with only a couple of votes to the majority.
And maybe that’s what Trump wants: a Speaker wholly beholden to him. Hard to imagine Mike Johnson as some kind of “rebel”, but he is theoretically the most important Republican in the government right now. Maybe Trump needs to disable him first, though no one can top Johnson for his sycophancy to Trump. It doesn’t matter.
Close the government. Dump Mike Johnson. Make Elon the “Q” (another Star Trek analogy) behind the throne. It doesn’t really matter. The second Trump administration seems to be starting where the first Trump administration left off. Sure, we need to RESIST where we can. But, at least this far, Trump and his minions aren’t “the Borg”, an immense, immutable force. Instead they’re more like the Feringi, in for the profit, and often “the gang that can’t shoot straight”.
In the long run, that’s good for everyone.
