The largest government shutdown in US history has been ended with the largest blow to Trumps’ ego and legislative agenda. Over 1,300 days have passed since he first mentioned a wall, and the country has shown no more (or less) willingness with the polls showing support at 28% for those who prioritize it being built. Except for a GoFundMe page (which became the most successful campaign ever on the platform, raising $19mn in four days) appetite for the wall appears lacking, and congress is unlikely to Uturn on this.
Nancy Pelosi can be credited with the victory, by ‘out trumping Trump’. The newly appointed speaker of the house insisted no Democrat would compromise on the wall, due to its $5.7bn cost. She threatened to cancel the State of the Union address and did, with the house democrats staying in line. Normally a shutdown leads to a
general hatred of politics, both those in power and those causing gridlock, however in this case Trump seems to have caught the flak. Trump’s favorability dropped by around 6%, whilst remarkably Pelosi’s rose by 3% over the shutdown period. The deal Trump took to end the shutdown was basically unchanged from the original on the 19th December, the only differences being a month of suffering for 800,000 government employees and growth being forecasted lower by $11bn.
Trump’s weaker position isn’t helped by the fact that people and drugs coming through the southern borders are at historic lows, and Pentagon officials this week stated that they don’t consider the situation at the border any major threat to US security. Maybe if Donald had asked Mexico a bit more nicely to pay, this whole nightmare would’ve been avoided…
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