Democrats are finally exposing Donald Trump’s weakness

In at just this time of year the administration shut down for days At the time it was one of the longest shutdowns Then as now it hinged on the Affordable Care Act which was slated to come online on Oct House Republicans under the influence of Sen Ted Cruz R-Texas and a multitude of conservative outside groups were determined to stop it Since funding for the ACA was not a discretionary budget item it would not be affected but that didn t stop Republicans from refusing to pass a budget that didn t defund or at the very least delay the new campaign The GOP eventually caved and in the end the media scored it as a Democratic win since they not only succeeded in raising the debt ceiling but also staved off the assault on their signature wellness care rule Still there is no evidence that any of it made much difference politically In the midterms the GOP picked up nine Senate seats and House seats During this shutdown and the others that seemed to happen every couple of years during President Barack Obama s administration the media inexplicably felt the need to ask reality star and New York real estate developer Donald Trump what he thought about them In an appearance on the In the modern day Show he noted If there is a shutdown I think it would be a tremendously negative mark on the president of the United States He s the one that has to get people together Sought what he would do in such a situation Trump declared I would get everybody together and we d have a budget When the host pointed out that Democrats and Republicans had all gotten together to no avail Trump replied Well that s because they don t have the right leader You don t have the right leader Related Barack Obama tries to rally Americans to defend their democracy Trump also called in to Fox and Friends and was inquired Who s getting fired who s going to bear the brunt of the responsibility if indeed there is a shutdown of our regime He once again took the opportunity to blame Obama It inevitably has to be the top I mean problems start from the top and they have to get solved from the top And the president s the leader and he s got to get everybody in a room and he s got to lead And he doesn t do that He doesn t like doing that That s not his strength Five years later the shoe was on the other foot In late Trump was the president and presided over the longest administration shutdown in history Over the discipline of days he refused to sign any bill that didn t include funding for his dividing line wall and Democrats were having none of it On January after short staffing at the Federal Aviation Administration forced several flight cancellations Congress passed a funding bill with a veto-proof majority essentially forcing Trump to sign it He then declared a national urgency allowing him to pilfer several military appropriations to build his wall Sound familiar For all his big talk Trump handled his shutdown worse than any president before him Nowadays he s presiding over yet another standoff and according to a fresh AP-NORC poll a majority of Americans are laying the blame at the feet of Trump and the GOP Six in Americans say the president and congressional Republicans bear a great deal or quite a bit of responsibility blame congressional Democrats Other polls have produced similar findings The inhabitants isn t thrilled with any of them at the moment For all of his blather about Obama s lack of leadership Trump is totally checked out of this shutdown The administration s work in brokering a ceasefire and pending peace deal in Gaza has blown up his ego to even more gargantuan proportions and it appears he just can t be bothered For all his blather about Obama s lack of leadership Trump is wholly checked out of this shutdown The administration s work in brokering a ceasefire and pending peace deal in Gaza has blown up his ego to even more gargantuan proportions and it appears he just can t be bothered He is on a massive sugar high right now standing astride the world like a colossus and taking credit for every positive thing that s happened around the globe in the last nine months while treating America s allies and enemies alike as his puppets Trump has claimed he s ended eight wars so countless he can t even remember the names of the countries involved On Thursday he made a new claim I ve made deals I know about deals I do it well he noted during a press availability in the Oval Office I don t think any president has ever ended a deal and I ve done eight Did Bush ever end do you think Biden ever ended no Biden started wars because he was stupid I ended eight and it s going to be nine Want more sharp takes on politics Sign up for our free newsletter Standing Room Only written by Amanda Marcotte now also a weekly show on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts The president s peacemaking prowess is apparently due in part to his willingness to murder civilians which he persists in doing in the Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela And just the preceding day on receiving word that the fragile peace in Gaza is seeing Hamas commit executions against opposition Palestinians he appeared to indicate he had given his approval until someone likely reminded him that he s supposed to be enforcing a peace deal So he posted his own threat on Truth Social If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza which was not the Deal we will have no choice but to go in and kill them Thank you for your attention to this matter After all of Trump s bragging in years past about how a president must lead and strutting around like he s emperor of the world these last inadequate months he doesn t seem to realize that his lackadaisical attitude about the shutdown is not a good look and his own supporters appear to be taking note Sophia Cole is a Trump voter from St Louis who participated in the AP-NORC poll and she placed equal blame for the shutdown on Trump and Congress The -year-old mother announced Republicans and Democrats should be able to find a compromise to open the cabinet But she believes it is ultimately the Republican president s responsibility to broker a deal We re dependent on him to get the House and everyone to vote the way that he demands them to vote Cole stated We need your help to stay independent Subscribe this day to sponsorship Salon s progressive journalism It s easy to see why she might be a bit confused Trump after all has conjured an image of himself as not just a dealmaker but a strong decisive leader who brings everyone into the room and cracks their heads together until they do what he tells them to do He supposedly brought Hamas to its knees and wrestled all of Europe to the ground and now he can t get Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to bend the knee What s going on here As the shutdown drags on it s feasible this realization may percolate up to the MAGA faithful Everyone s starting to feel the effects of this shutdown and they re logically going to start wondering why Daddy Trump can end eight wars around the world but he can t seem to end a mere congressional standoff Something doesn t add up and even his own people could begin to wonder why he isn t using his magical prowess to provide for their necessities and wants What happened to America First they might well ask If for no other reason Democrats need to hang tough The shutdown is exposing the fact that Trump is anything but the strongman he portrays himself to be Instead the feeble man behind the curtain is really just a sad bent braggart who spends the greater part of his time redecorating the White House and fantasizing that he s been anointed king of the world Every day the Democrats hold their ground Trump looks weaker and weaker Read more about this topic Trump aims for one-party rule and puts despotism at our doorstep How the left can win on cable news Religious liberty Trump is obstructing freedom of worship The post Democrats are in the end exposing Donald Trump s weakness appeared first on Salon com