A.B. Stoddard: Trump ‘Doesn’t Understand What a Political Loser Shutdowns Are’

EXCERPT:

STODDARD: "For one, President Trump has not been through this before and doesn’t understand what a political loser shutdowns are. He doesn’t yet appreciate the political pain. Republicans in the Senate, I suspect, will be making it known to him in the weeks to come. The Democrats are saying this is the Trump shutdown. He said on camera he wanted a shutdown. He is shutting the government down, he is enjoying it. 'The New York Times' is reporting he is enjoying the fight, he thinks it’s great. He wants only to shore up his base and doesn't care about the rest. I think after you get to that next pay period, January 11th, as you point out, Brianna, contract workers who are not working directly, they are not furloughed employees, they don't work directly for the government and they won’t be repaid, ever. We will really start hearing some very tough stories and this will become much more difficult, I think, for members. The congressman and I were talking about yesterday, if the Senate who are up in 2020, some in states Hillary Clinton won, they're going to want to reopen the government. Cory Gardner from Colorado was running away from reporters at the Capitol a few days ago to avoid answering any questions. If Nancy Pelosi keeps passing bills to open the government and McConnell keeps saying, 'I just can’t put it on the floor,' it becomes very untenable soon for some Republicans on that side."