On the Government Shutdown, President Trump Proved He is the Bigger Man

The liberal media’s incessant “Trump lost, Pelosi won” coverage of the President’s decision to reopen the government after a 35-day partial shutdown does not reflect what really happened – President Trump, unlike Democrat leaders, refused to put politics above the interests of the American people and national security.

Media talking heads can’t contain their glee that Mr. Trump suffered a political defeat because the government reopened without funding for a border wall. The agreement reopened the government until February 15 and all parties agreed to discuss border security. Although the White House Acting Chief of Staff said on the Sunday morning talk shows on January 27 that President Trump is prepared to shut the government down again on February 15, I hope he does not take such action.

I said in a media interview in December that although I admire President Trump for his efforts to keep his campaign promises, closing the government to get a border wall was a mistake because Democrats — especially Nancy Pelosi — are prepared to let Americans suffer unending pain to hurt the President politically and prevent him from being reelected. They don’t care about governing.  They don’t care about securing the southern border.  For this reason, I recommended that the President find another way to fund a border wall.

The President’s decision to reopen the government was a difficult one, but it also was an act of leadership because he realized Democrat leaders were putting their hatred of him ahead of the welfare of the American people and U.S. national security.  He proved he was the better man.  In the future, the Trump administration will need to find inventive ways to protect our national security – including building a border wall – that gets around the Democrat’s irresponsible political obstructionism.