Donald Trump’s original idea was to force Congress to give him $5 billion for a border wall by way of a specific threat: if lawmakers didn’t meet the president’s demands, he’d shut down the government.
This, of course, was a terrible plan. Not only would Trump get the blame for the fiasco, but neither party is interested in putting up the money for the president’s unpopular idea. The Washington Post reported earlier this week, “Trump has told people around him that he is frustrated that he does not have much leverage in the fight, and two presidential advisers said a shutdown was unlikely because there was no way the president could win.”
This morning, Trump suggested via Twitter that he’s settled on a new leverage point.
“The Democrats, who know Steel Slats (Wall) are necessary for Border Security, are putting politics over Country. What they are just beginning to realize is that I will not sign any of their legislation, including infrastructure, unless it has perfect Border Security. U.S.A. WINS!”
Yes, it’s funny to see the president rebrand his own wall proposal as “Steel Slats.” And yes, it’s amusing that Trump believes Democrats secretly believe that the wall-that-is-not-a-wall is “necessary” to secure a border that the president believes is already secure.
But what’s notable in this case is that Trump thinks he has something over Democrats: he won’t sign any of their priorities into law unless they first give in to his wall demands.
So, will this work? Of course not.
Part of the problem is that the Senate will be controlled by a Republican majority, which will actually be slightly larger than it is now. It’s not as if the new House Democratic majority will be able send progressive measures directly to the Oval Office for consideration, bypassing Congress’ upper chamber.
In other words, Trump’s new pitch doesn’t count as leverage because Dems already know Mitch McConnell will reject the biggest items on the party’s to-do list long before the president can reach for his veto pen.
But what about infrastructure? Isn’t that the one big-ticket item where Democrats and the Republican White House might be able to find some constructive common ground? Maybe, but again, there’s still the GOP-led Senate to consider.
The week after the midterm elections, Politico reported, “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday flatly rejected the idea of doing a big infrastructure deal with Democrats. ‘Republicans are not interested in a $900 billion stimulus,’ he told reporters.”
I don’t blame Trump for trying to find leverage, but he’ll have to do a lot better than this.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."