Democrats And Republicans Finally Agree: The Best Way To Govern Is To Ignore Trump

Last updated on February 2nd, 2019 at 02:37 am

As Congress negotiates a deal that would keep the government open past the February 15 deadline, Democrats and Republicans have seemingly reached agreement on at least one thing: Ignoring Donald Trump is the best way to govern the country.

As MSNBC‘s Chris Hayes laid out on Wednesday night, after Trump‘s border wall tantrum kept the government shut down for over a month, nobody in Washington wants him near future negotiations.

Donald Trump is now engaged in another battle over his unpopular border wall with an even weaker hand and everyone seems to know it except for one man, the president,” the MSNBC host said. “The increasingly irrelevant and ineffectual president is just about the only person in Washington who does not understand just how badly the shutdown damaged his own position.”

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Chris Hayes said:

Donald Trump is now engaged in another battle over his unpopular border wall with an even weaker hand and everyone seems to know it except for one man, the president. Today lawmakers from both parties met for the first time to try to head off another Trump shutdown. And a temporary bill to fund the government runs out 16 days from now and they all seem to be paying as little attention as possible to the president of the United States. Trump has not held a public event in five days, he’s been holed in the White House rage tweeting about whatever he sees on Trump TV on DVR and attacking a former staffer who wrote a tell-all book. Trump did manage to briefly weigh in on the negotiations early this morning … and then everyone kind of just ignored him. … The increasingly irrelevant and ineffectual president is just about the only person in Washington who does not understand just how badly the shutdown damaged his own position. His approval rating is down and a majority of Americans continue to oppose his border wall that, you’ll remember, Mexico was supposed to pay for. There is massive opposition to Trump declaring a national emergency to try to get funding for the wall, which he has flirted with, and even greater opposition to enforcing the nation to endure another shutdown. … Back in November, a poll found Republicans with a 10-point advantage on handling border security. But in the wake of the Trump shutdown, it’s the Democrats who now have a nine-point advantage. I mean think about that: The president of the United States used the full force of his bully pulpit to make an argument to the American people, and he managed to convince them that his opponents are right.

Trump has become irrelevant following the government shutdown

As Chris Hayes noted, Trump has been holed up in the White House since the government shutdown, not holding any public events and simply acting as a rage-tweeting pundit who happens to live in the White House.

His approval rating has tanked, the American people widely blame him for the shutdown and now even members of Congress are tuning him out. In short, the record-long shutdown has made Trump completely irrelevant.

We live in an era of American politics in which the two major political parties hardly ever agree on anything. But following the disastrous Trump shutdown, they appear to have found one concept they can all get behind: The best way to keep the government running is to pretend this president doesn’t exist.

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