NY Times editorial board slams Trump over shutdown: 'A cruel joke'
BY TAL AXELROD - 01/26/19 09:31 AM EST
The New York Times editorial board excoriated President Trump late Friday, slamming his handling of the 35-day partial government shutdown as a toddlers pageant of foot-stomping and incompetence and "a cruel joke."
What a debacle President Trumps shutdown proved to be what a toddlers pageant of foot-stomping and incompetence, of vainglory and self-defeat. Mr. Trump tormented public servants and citizens and wounded the country, and, in conceding on Friday after holding the government hostage for 35 days, could claim to have achieved nothing, it wrote.
He succeeded only in exposing the emptiness of his bullys bravado, of his I alone can fix it posturing. Once upon a time, Mr. Trump promised that Mexico would pay for a wall. He instead made all Americans pay for a partisan fantasy.
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Maybe you want a wall. Can you possibly argue that Mr. Trumps shutdown strategy advanced your cause? He made the right decision on Friday to sign a bill reopening the government through Feb. 15, giving lawmakers time to reach a permanent deal. But he could have had this same outcome without a shutdown. He ultimately agreed to the sort of bill that Democrats have been pitching for weeks one that contains not one dollar in wall funding, The Times editorial board wrote.
Of course, the new narrative that Mr. Trump got owned by [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi isnt likely to sit well with him, either. And who knows what hell do next to try to salve his ego, and salvage some political capital with the minority of Americans who still seem inclined to support him.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/media/427088-ny-times-slams-trump-over-shutdown