EDITORIAL
Budget Paralysis Follows Trump Tirade

Jan 22, 2018

With the paralysis surrounding a government shutdown continuing, the chaos and drama surrounding the Donald Trump presidency continues to intensify.

The government shutdown of non-essential services was the result of unsuccessful negotiations between Democrats and Republicans to simply extend the current budget through February 16. It occurred despite the fact that weeks ago, Trump staged a press event to show that he would sign a bi-partisan bill with no protest.

In an abrupt turn, just days later, he reversed himself. What he had called “A Bill of Love” evaporated and was replaced by a barrage of racial attacks on would-be immigrants that directly denigrated almost a quarter of the world population. With a racist shot heard around the world, he said, “why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?”, disparaging the whole continent of Africa plus Haiti and El Salvador. He recommended, instead, increasing immigration from “countries like Norway” where the population is overwhelmingly white.

The president’s behavior provoked rightful protests from around the world. Not at all dissuaded by the outcry, Trump moved from one attack to another, on immigrants, on the poor, on Medicaid, even on Republican senators who were trying to pass the budget bill. The ranking Republican senator said Republicans would move forward on the budget legislation, “as soon as we figure out what he (Trump) wants.”

So, maybe it is not a coincidence that in the last several days, new information about Trump’s inability to govern is circulating. In addition to the already advancing federal investigation of the Trump campaign on suspicion of conspiracy and obstruction of justice, prosecutors announced their intent to pursue interviews with Steve Bannon, Trump’s previous right-hand man, and with the president himself. The third leg of the investigation, which is financial, focuses on possibilities of money laundering by Trump and his cronies.

The higher powers seem to be keeping all of their options open for dealing with Trump. The current paralysis of the government as a result of his chaotic behavior may turn out to be too much even for those who really run things: Wall Street financiers. Trump may be able to deflect blame onto the Democrats to survive one last round. But eventually, even those wealthy bank owners, speculators and bosses who benefit from his tax cuts and deregulation proclamations may worry about the results such instability brings. The shutdown of the government, while always amendable, has its costs and consequences.

And if they can’t get Trump out or don’t choose to, what solution then?

While the Democrats would like us to believe that they are a solution, what are they really offering? Throughout this whole miserable year, the Democrats have waited in the wings, focusing on replacing the Republicans, encouraging voters to wait for 2018 and 2020 elections to vote the Republicans out.

Who has the time to wait for these Democratic millionaires to come forward one more time to explain away why they can’t fix “the mess the Republicans left behind?”

In fact, the situation for the working class drastically worsened throughout the eight years of the Obama administration. The working class has been under attack, losing on every front. Trump, as much of a mess as he makes, will go at some point, leaving a swath of destruction in his wake. But the problems will remain for us.

Maybe the Trump chaos will prove to be too disruptive for the powers that be; maybe they will even remove him, but that won’t take the working class out of the crisis we are in. A real fight to replace this rotten system can take down in its wake the petty tyrants like Trump and the pretenders in the Democratic party, and replace it with government run by and for the working class.