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January 23, 2018

A GOP Schumer sugar high?

By Monica Showalter

Piling victory on top of victory, the Republicans have good reason to dance around a little with the Democrats' agreement to end the government shutdown . It comes on the back of the stunning tax reform package passed last month that has poured Miracle-Gro onto the economy and portends more victories to come, to be topped off by possible gains in the Congress by November's midterms.  It also indirectly affirms the GOP position that succoring DREAMers is not the most critical issue out there in the minds of the voters.  The Democrats' intransigent stance had to have been polling badly.

All this after enduring years in the wilderness as "the stupid party."

But it's too soon to celebrate.  What we have here is a sugar high that could lead to a sugar crash if the next steps aren't played just right.  Celebrating now actually makes winning in the longer term quite a bit harder.

On Twitter, all sorts of Republicans we adore are having a good time about this.  Here's a favorite, expressing the sentiment:

Even our president joined in:

The problem with this is that the victory of the continuing resolution to fund the government is going to last all of three weeks.  Sweet as it is, the happiness here is a sugar high.  A bigger, more permanent budget is still out there to be passed on Feb. 8, and it will  require Democrats' cooperation.

If you know anything about what's going on on the always overreacting left side, you're aware that they're boiling with rage at their leaders.  Elizabeth Warren and her minions are threatening to organize a new movement.  Out on Twitter, the left is furious at Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer's "cave-in" on the DREAMers, calling for his head.  They're yelling for a primary challenge and bellowing to each other that he's the worst leader ever.  It's easy to dismiss this bunch as the sore losers they are, but what it means is that the Democratic base is energized.  They are now even more determined not to let Schumer cave in again.

The BBC has a choice summary:

On Twitter, "Democrats CAVED" was trending on Monday evening.

Democrats voiced s[k]epticism of Mr[.] McConnell's promise and some liberal groups are infuriated by the agreement to reopen the government.

Possible Democratic 2020 presidential candidates in the Senate – Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker, Bernie Sanders[,] and Kamala Harris – all voted against Monday's bill.

Senator Harris, of California, said it would be "foolhardy" to trust Mr[.] McConnell's promise to take up an immigration bill in the coming weeks.

Another California senator, Dianne Feinstein, told The Hill, a political news outlet, she was "very disappointed" in the deal because there's no guarantee that Republicans would help [DREAM]ers.

Democratic congressman Luis Guti[é]rrez slammed his own party's senators after the vote saying: "They caved.  They blinked.  That's what they do."

Stephanie Taylor, of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said: "Today's cave by Senate Democrats – led by weak-kneed, right-of-cent[er] Democrats – is why people don't believe [that] the Democratic Party stands for anything."

This means that Schumer will be even more intransigent and unreasonable come the next vote-down on Feb. 8.  He doesn't like the beating he is getting from his fellow Democrats, and he likely wants their praise.  Working out a deal with the GOP won't get him that, so it's likely there will be more trouble down the line, especially if he sees the GOP laughing at him as he played ball with them.  That may be why House speaker Paul Ryan, who knows more than anyone how Congress works, warned that it isn't party time just yet.  According to the BBC:

"I know there's great relief that this episode is coming to an end," said Speaker Paul Ryan.  "But this is not a moment to pat ourselves on the back.  Not even close."

And the reality is, the GOP has been there before, when it attempted to shut down the government over the nightmare of Obamacare.  The bid didn't work, and as the out-of-power party, the GOP got blamed.  Congressional Republicans know they can't be too proud.

President Trump seemed to be aware of this in one of his other tweets, offering Democrats the olive branch of shared victory (a big win for everyone, as he puts it) if Democrats don't act up again.  He got the tone just right in the delicate political matter:

It's pretty much the leadership that's needed.  In this tweet, it's clear he's not falling for the sugar highs.

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