Abbreviated pundit roundup: A manufactured crisis
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We begin today’s roundup with Eugene Robinson’s analysis at The Washington Post on why Donald Trump is manufacturing a border crisis: Trump is afraid of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Matt Drudge, Laura Ingraham and the rest of the far-right echo chamberAbbreviated pundit roundup: A manufactured crisis
We begin today’s roundup with Eugene Robinson’s analysis at The Washington Post on why Donald Trump is manufacturing a border crisis: Trump is afraid of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Matt Drudge, Laura Ingraham and the rest of the far-right echo chamber. (He sees Sean Hannity as more of a house pet.) He’s afraid of his shrunken but loyal base, which could abandon him if he doesn’t give them a wall. He’s afraid of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and the federal, state and local prosecutors in New York who are investigating various Trump enterprises. And he’s afraid of losing his coercive hold over the Republican senators who one day could sit in judgment of his fate. Not one of these intertwined fears is irrational. Trump must realize he has painted himself into a corner but sees no alternative. According to news reports, the president knew his hostage-video Oval Office address on Tuesday and his photo op at the border on Thursday would make no difference. He must also be aware that the GOP leadership in Congress can’t hold the line forever. Elaine Godfrey at The Atlantic explains that Republicans are starting to squirm as Trump digs his heels in: As President Donald Trump descends on the border Thursday to further make his case for a wall, back home in Washington congressional Republicans—the ones whose resolve he needs if he’s going to continue his shutdown campaign—are growing more anxious. While the images Trump broadcasts to the nation may bolster his case to his base, these Republicans are left to talk and share doubts among themselves. [...] In a political world where government shutdowns have become commonplace, lawmakers from both parties have never quite been here before. And pressure is mounting. Friday will mark the first day that federal workers won’t receive a paycheck. Transportation Security Administration agents have been calling out sick at higher rates since the shutdown began, and furloughed federal aviation-safety inspectors are holding up signs at airports warning passengers that their airplane might not have been properly inspected. If the shutdown continues after February, some 38 million American food-stamp recipients could be at risk of going hungry. Read more