Running With the Devil

THE BERNHARD PERSPECTIVE

The Republican playbook for the government shutdown is based on a sham and a lie. They hold all the card and they damn well know it. The Democrats are caught between a rock and a hard place.

The Democrats can do little more than play the game. All they really say they want is for the Republicans to sit down and negotiate on the issues of healthcare and stuff. Then they tack that agreement onto a continuing resolution either before they re-open the government or after. 

But so what if they do. 

The problem is that the Republicans negotiate in bad faith. That’s because they are little more than puppets of the president, and do only what Donald T**** tells them to do. And he’s nit likely to tell them to give away the farm. And even if negotiations do produce a compromise, it still has to be passed by the Senate, which is no guarantee. 

Then it goes to the president, and  T**** will veto anything he doesn’t like. And he’s not going to like anything that saves healthcare for so many tens of millions of Americans. 

So in the best/worst case scenario goes like this: Republican legislators in the House negotiate a deal with the Democrats but it stalls in the Senate. Or it get it through both houses of Congress, and the president vetoes it. Either way, T**** wins, the Democrats and Americans lose. Which was the plan all along. 

Democrats negotiating with the Republicans is little more than legislative masturbation. It may feel good at the time and seem like they’re getting something worthwhile accomplished. But in the end, it all goes down the toidy.

After all, running with the Devil is touch and go.