Surprise! A Temporary Breakthrough on the Shutdown!

The new year has been off to an exciting start in the midst of the Shutdown! Half of congress’s Dems announcing intentions either to run or to impeach. Nancy’s cancelling the state of the union address in the House chamber, Donald cancelling her trip to Brussels and the battlefront. RBG’s health scares, Bruce Ohr’s revelations that the DOJ and FBI knew about the prank dossier well before using it to get FISA warrants, BuzzFeed’s bogus story about Michael Cohen and Mueller’s slap-down of it, Covington vs Phillips fake-news kerfuffle, Joy Behar’s admission they’re desperate, the 0-Dark:30 Gestapo raid to take down public enemy #1 Roger Stone to bury the impact of Bruce Ohr’s revelations. Oh My! And of course, the left getting leftier.

As the first month of the new year draws to a close, the record-breaking government shutdown takes a 3-week hiatus. Is divided government, despite the heightened rhetoric, bringing the sides a bit closer together due to the sheer pent-up need for the bureaucracy to function again?

Just previous to this miraculous truce, it appeared that the shutdown would continue into the spring; Mick Mulvaney had inquired into which federal programs were most vulnerable to indefinite gridlock. Approaching caravans prompted speculation as to what kind of incident would necessitate emergency executive action. RIF (Reduction In Force) actions to close whole programs, which can be initiated after 30 days of federal workforce layoffs, are possibly being held in reserve for the next extended shutdown when the hard negotiations for immigration policy commence.

After the blue wave recapture of the House majority (never underestimate the power of the liberal media to whip up angst & hatred of Donaldus Magnus, nor the dark money funding from crony billionaires), the left is resisting any semblance of victory that might be claimed by the Trump Administration, whether it be $5.7 Billion, or $1 for a “wall”. Delicious chips such as a pathway for dreamers, who are so much more valuable as pawns, or beaucoup bucks for infrastructure largesse couldn’t make even the most moderate Dems break ranks. Ahh, but Stenny Hoyer admitted the wall wasn’t really immoral. What? After Nancy and Chuck claimed from the bottom of their Catholic faith that it was? And rumors abound that some Dems are secretly opining that we really do need a wall to keep illegals out. After all, a border wall is their first line of defense too - of which the walls around their gated communities are the next to last line, and Rings, Simply Safe and ADT systems the final line; except for the Glocks and 12-Guages, of course.

Upon the announcement of the breakthrough, the liberal media proclaimed that Nancy outfoxed Donald, and that was that. But was it blinksmanship, or brinksmanship? In his address to the nation declaring a temporary cessation of the shutdown, the President warned at the beginning, and pointedly repeated at the end, that if no solution is forthcoming on Feb 15th, he would resort to emergency measures. That must be the brink.

To participants in the overall ideology debate, legislative and funding negotiations, media hype and all other fields of fire, it is becoming increasingly clear that in the run up to 2020, immigration will be front and center; right after which puncher or counter-puncher is going to occupy the White House in 2021.