Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 08:50 pm
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) won the battle of the shutdown and the battle of the State of the Union.
And that is great news for the country.
But the shutdown already did great damage to not just federal workers, but contractors and others who suffered unseen during Trump’s temper tantrum. NBC estimated that there were actually 2 million workers not being paid, “(R)eporters who write about shutdown should say an estimated 2 million workers are not being paid — 800,000 federal workers who will be paid when the govt reopens and an estimated 1.2 million contractors who have no prospect of ever being paid.”
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1.2 million who will not ever be paid.
Can any of us afford to give up a month and a week of our salaries? This is no small matter for most people.
Those who claim this was a fight between parties are ignoring that one party was doing the will of the people, while the other was not. The Speaker got it done because it was the right thing to do and it should be remembered that she is not the person who held the government and 2 million people hostage over a failed campaign promise.
Trump said today in the Rose Garden, “We do not need 2,000 miles of concrete wall, we never did.” Oh? Well then why has he been hijacking the government since December 22, 2018?
There are so many to choose from, but off the top of my head, Trump tweeted Dec 31: “I campaigned on Border Security, which you cannot have without a strong + powerful Wall” and “An all concrete Wall was NEVER ABANDONED, as has been reported by the media.”
Trump now claims that America never needed a wall, "We do not need 2,000 miles of concrete wall, we never did. " pic.twitter.com/9o1msr2Ln5
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) January 25, 2019
Trump did his Trump thing, where he says one thing and then says the opposite so that he can’t be held accountable for either. But at some point, and that point should have been when he was running for president, he needs to be held accountable for both, as in all, things he says.
The Trump thing was that he couldn’t just claim we don’t need a wall and that’s why he’s conceding because otherwise, what was all of this about? And “this” was costly. While Republicans show little interest and even understanding of the fact that the average person can’t just “get a loan” for groceries and tell the bank to come back later, businesses just complained about the costs.
So the agreement reached, which needs to be passed in the House and Senate and be signed by Trump, leaves his wall funding for later chats according to a Democratic aide. So we don’t need it, he never wanted it, oh but he wants to talk about it still.
And then, Trump had to threaten us all again and say we need a “powerful” wall right after he said we don’t need a concrete wall, just in case we don’t get that a madman is in charge of the country and the shutdown wasn’t scary enough.
“We really have no choice but to build a powerful wall or steel barrier. If we don’t get a fair deal from Congress, the government will either shut down on Feb. 15 – again – or I would use the powers afforded to me under the laws and the Constitution of the United States to address this emergency,” Trump said.
So you see, that right there is why Nancy Pelosi could not give in to Donald Trump. Trump is doing all of this over a failed campaign promise. He was unable to get the funding from the Republican-led House and Senate for two years, but he waited until Democrats won the House to throw this shutdown fit.
Trump didn’t seem bothered by undermining America and harming millions of citizens by shutting her partially down. And that’s odd for a president. But Pelosi was bothered by it. She kept talking about people needing their paychecks, and that’s not just a talking point, it’s actually an issue she has a legislative history of supporting.
Trump is used to pushing Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell around, but now a real grown up is in charge and she is not going to let petulant president man ruin people’s lives over a vanity wall that won’t even work. So yes, Pelosi won. But she won for the people and for the country.
Remember, Nancy Pelosi didn’t start this shutdown. She wasn’t even in power when it started.
Trump was trying to use the shutdown to both derail her power and get his “medieval” wall, but he lost. The alleged author of the Art of the Deal should know better than to pick a fight with someone like Pelosi that would hurt so many people.
Trump’s mistake is that he projects himself onto others and therefore can’t understand what makes Pelosi tick. He can’t win with her because she’s playing a different game.
Listen to Sarah on the PoliticusUSA Pod on The Daily newsletter podcast here.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Connect with Sarah on Post, Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.
