A woman had finally had enough of her nasty drunk of a husband. Problem was she lived in a state that required those seeking divorce to jump through ridiculous hoops placed by good Christian lawmakers bent on “preserving” the institution of marriage. So, despite having a protective order from the court, and being watched closely by detectives worried for her physical safety, the woman is forced to attend three couples counseling sessions before her divorce is allowed to proceed to the next level.
At the counseling session, the mediator asks the husband what he thinks needs to be done to save the marriage. He promptly recites a list of measures he’s prepared to take to make things work. No more drinking, go get a job, no more sleeping with other women, etc.. The counselor then turns to the woman and asks what she thinks of his long list of promises. She makes clear the ship on their marriage sailed the last time she spent the night in the hospital after one of his beatings. There’s nothing he can do at this point to change her mind. She finally has the strength and will to get out of this nightmare and she’s going to do it. The husband then jumps up snarling, fists clenched and looks at the therapist. “See, this is the damn problem; she’s just so unreasonable. She won’t even listen!”
Any critic of the George W Bush Presidency looking for credence to argue just how bad things were need only point out his chief speechwriter was Marc Thiessen. Fully beholden to Reagan glorification, even as he constantly employed the Gipper’s memory to add bona fides to policies that yielded results nobody would want their legacy anchored to, Thiessen, like his former colleague Michael Gerson, has carved out a career as a syndicated columnist. But where Gerson has taken the admirable road of calling a spade a spade where this Administration is concerned, refusing to allow whatever agreement that may exist on policy obviate Trump’s avalanche of lies, ignorance and overt corruption, Thiessen has become one of the Donald’s more articulate spin doctors, a low bar indeed.
Thiessen thrice weekly dedicates his pen in full unapologetic support of Trumpism. Like Hugh Hewitt, another member of what passes for the intelligentsia in the Fox/AM universe, Thiessen provides ivory tower normalization for all Trump imbecility. The government shutdown is no exception.
Thiessen maintains the President’s recent offer proves he’s “the adult in the room.” That’s akin to saying I’m the target market for a great new type of comb. Yet and still, it may almost be as credible as calling a 2000-mile plus eyesore, requiring eminent domain usurpation of thousands of land owners, necessary to national security. It’s a ridiculous idea, created solely to gin up a base of nativists with the stipulation they wouldn’t have to pay for it, and is now foisting economic hardship on 800,000 hard working government employees only because nasty Fox/AM mouthpieces wouldn’t allow the issue to pass… the better to fill vapid air time with. Thiessen paints Trump as the epitome of statesmanship, offering a win-win solution to yet another crisis he is solely responsible for creating. Accepting that premise is merely another step toward the ruin this Administration incessantly lurches toward.
Of course, as another round of paychecks now look likely to go by the wayside, the stakes get higher by the hour. The temptation to give Trump his wall, or at least take his offer seriously as a basis for further discussions, while reasonable, even compassionate, should be resisted for several well documented reasons.
The hardships government workers now suffer are compelling and impossible to ignore. However, while the principles Trump and his poodle, Mitch McConnell, point to as the grist of their obstinence are inventions hastily created to keep up with Trump’s knee jerk pandering to Limbaugh and Coulter et al. which began this mess, the importance of forcing him to eat the full serving of crow he deserves can’t be overstated. Allowing Trump to emerge from this episode with anything Thiessen’s ilk can spin as victory denies the nation a critical opportunity to clarify for a decisive majority of critical “undecideds” how dangerously inept government by Fox/AM is. Negotiations about the wall are fine, but the government reopens right now. That has to be the first, last and always position.
Thiessen and the Trumpie braintrust will continue to provide false credibility to this President no matter how lazy, aloof and disdainful of actual governance he remains. At every turn of the immigration “crisis” Trump dreamed up when he announced his candidacy to people actually paid to cheer him, he has acted in the worst faith. Trump’s word is very close to worthless and nothing he agrees to now can be relied on later. Once any deal is reached with a DACA component the extremists will begin constant carping, and Trump will surely stew over their tweets. What he then does as bigots in his base threaten desertion, and Mueller’s noose tightens, is anybody’s guess.
Who really believes he can be trusted to keep his word? Or not concoct some sort of nasty mischief to redeem himself in their eyes? The only lesson he will have learned is closing the government works. Maybe the next time he’ll use the debt ceiling. GOP invertebrates will have learned backing him is still relatively painless; why wouldn’t they back him again? Giving Trump anything but total defeat will only make him more reckless. Megalomaniacs never consider what they did wrong, only what sycophants exude they did the best. Nothing good can come of it. The same employees now getting stiffed will live in fear it can happen again at any time, hostage to a paycheck to paycheck existence. You don’t deal with terrorists because they’ll only continue to terrorize you.
This POTUS has lied more than 8000 times since taking an oath he never meant to honor. This shutdown is based on nothing more than one subset of those fictions. Allowing him to create such needless suffering for no other reason than his cowardly embrace of right wing extremists, whose support he will likely employ to create yet another crisis when held to account for his criminal malfeasance, hurts the nation and will only further embolden him to act again counter to the national interest. When that inevitability plays out, Thiessen will be at it again, pretending this is a real President with a real policy agenda. Far better to nip it in the bud this time than have to relive it all over. BC