,
6 tweets,
2 min read
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Trump is the least important person in the shutdown battle.
Schumer and Pelosi aren’t really battling him - though he very much thinks they are.
That’s the funny part.
He thinks he’s the towering general locked in a war against the leaders of the opposing army...
1/
Schumer and Pelosi aren’t really battling him - though he very much thinks they are.
That’s the funny part.
He thinks he’s the towering general locked in a war against the leaders of the opposing army...
1/
In reality, Chuck and Nancy are using Trump’s battlefield incompetence to not just win this battle but also break his control of his forces.
Trump is a buffoonish despot but he hasn’t truly lost a battle of wills with Democrats decisively.
He hasn’t gotten routed.
2/
Trump is a buffoonish despot but he hasn’t truly lost a battle of wills with Democrats decisively.
He hasn’t gotten routed.
2/
Even when Trump hasn’t gotten his way, the cost to individual Republicans has been far less than the cost would have been if they had bucked Trump’s will and invited his wrath.
Trump thinks he’s waging a war of will. He thinks his refusal to yield will ultimately prevail.
3/
Trump thinks he’s waging a war of will. He thinks his refusal to yield will ultimately prevail.
3/
What Pelosi and Schumer are actually doing though is forcing Republicans to strap in alongside Trump and take the entire Thelma and Louise trip right over the cliff with him.
They’re baiting Trump into exactly what he’s doing: showing that he is utterly incapable of reason.
4/
They’re baiting Trump into exactly what he’s doing: showing that he is utterly incapable of reason.
4/
Chuck and Nancy are forcing R’s into a position where they have no choice but to wrestle the steering wheel away from Trump.
They’re baiting Trump into being utterly inflexible at any cost to force his ranks to mutiny.
5/
They’re baiting Trump into being utterly inflexible at any cost to force his ranks to mutiny.
5/
...and once the ranks have mutinied, a Mad General never again has the same power.
Pelosi and Schumer are forcing the moment to its crisis as T.S. Elliott would say.
The ranks will break. And when they do, it won’t have just won the battle; it will have also turned the war.
6/6
Pelosi and Schumer are forcing the moment to its crisis as T.S. Elliott would say.
The ranks will break. And when they do, it won’t have just won the battle; it will have also turned the war.
6/6
