Donald Trump To Rush Limbaugh: Government Shutdown Would Be Great For Sweeps Week!

He really just gets politics, you know?

Donald Trump, still riding a high from all the love of his big Tampa rally where finally everyone loved him again, called in to Rush Limbaugh's show Wednesday to congratulate his own personal John the Baptist on 30 years of lowering the bar in American political discourse. In there among all the mutual admiration, Trump mused that he'd really like to shut down the government to force Congress to buy him a Wall, ideally before the midterm elections. But maybe after, since a lot of Republicans seem to think a shutdown in the last weeks of the campaign might hurt them, isn't that weird?

Limbaugh made sure to start the segment with a huge load of flattering cowflop, asking Trump,

Are you aware of what you mean to everybody who voted for you and I think a bunch of who didn't who want to the next time around? People have invested their hopes and their futures in this country being made great again and saved in you. [...] But when you're alone in the White House, do you think about that? Do you ponder what you've come to mean to people?

Trump said he does, he definitely DOES know how much he is loved, and he sure hopes all his supporters, who he loves, know he loves how much they love him, too!

[You] probably saw last night I was in Florida and we had 9,000 seats in the auditorium [...]

That was packed, and we had thousands outside and in these rooms all over the place. I guess they had at least 15,000, 18,000 people that couldn't get in last night — which I hate. So we're actually starting to put up big screens. I must tell you, it's such an honor to me to see this. This love!

Wouldn't you know it, the media didn't even report on how the crowd who couldn't get into the venue was probably double the number inside.

Then Limbaugh said the really great thing about Trump is how he's never, ever gone back on a single one of his campaign promises, which conveniently leaves out Trump's promise to replace Obamacare with something far better that would cover more people, cost less, not touch Medicaid, and protect people with preexisting conditions. But yeah, that wasn't what his voters really wanted anyway, as long as certain people lost coverage.

So hey, Mr. President, how about shutting down the government to force Congress to Build The Wall? Gonna do that? (Also, please, nobody notice Rush didn't ask about making Mexico pay for it, because that might negate the whole "keep every promise" thing.) Now, how about those traditional Republicans who say "Oh, no! No! Don't say that!" when the Great Man says he's gonna close the government for the sake of The Wall?

Trump replied, "Yeah, I actually think it would be positive," before launching into a long digression. Not about the wall, but about that terrible "man — I won't mention his name" who singlehandedly destroyed Trump's chance to "repeal and replace" Obamacare last year. In Trump's mind, if only John McCain had voted for "skinny repeal" of the ACA, "we would have saved $1 trillion, on top of which we would have had good health care." But it was a long time ago and nobody's gonna look it up, right?

After that completely unprompted aside -- if we suspected Trump had a conscience, we'd say it had nagged him -- Trump got back to the glories of a government shutdown before the midterm election. Or maybe after. Either way, great idea!

I say, "Hey, if you have a shutdown, you have a shutdown."

Now, the shutdown could also take place after the election. I happen to think it's a great political thing, because people want border security.

Then it was time for a whole bunch of additional lies! Trump griped about "catch and release" -- letting some undocumented migrants out on bond before a hearing -- and flat out lied that

you catch somebody, he can be a criminal of the highest order, and you have to release him! You catch him, you take his name, and you release him.

Not so, of course, since in mere reality, most people are held until they're deported, the exceptions being children (and until recently, their parents) and people requesting asylum. Trump apparently thinks GPS ankle monitors simply don't work on Messicans from Central America. He lied again about his other immigration hobby horses, the notion that "chain migration" allows thousands of terrorists (and his wife's parents) into America, and his dumb claim that the immigration "lottery" is full of people thrown out of their own countries because they're undesirable. Those are both lies refuted here, so we won't waste space on 'em.

Limbaugh, perhaps aware Trump was on autopilot, circled back around to rag on "Washington DC professionals" who supposedly tell Trump to back away on immigration as an issue, but instead of taking the hint and ranting against the Deep State, Trump said maybe they had a point, but nah, he doesn't care whether he shuts down the government before or after the election, as long as he gets to do it. Why not during Sweeps Week? You can hear the gears churning as he mulls it over right there on the radio:

I happen to think it's a good thing politically. I'm not doing it for politics. I'm doing it because it's the right thing to do. So I'm not looking at politics. But I happen to think that border security would be a good thing before the election, but there are many people within our party that are good people that are like you that agree with you on everything you say. But they'd rather do it after. [...]

Well, if you do it before, there's a lot more pressure to get a great solution. But it's riskier. If you do it afterwards, there's less pressure; there's less risk. I'm just not sure you'd make as good a deal. I will say a lot of people — good people — you know, would ask me in the nicest of ways, "Could we do it after the election?"

Either way, Trump knows for sure that building the Wall and maybe just the threat of shutting down the government is a "great campaign issue. I think it would be great before," but on the other hand, he doesn't want to "disappoint a lot of very good people that are working with me," so maybe after the election, too.

And there you go. Donald Trump is Mr. Decisive, and that's exactly the sort of spine and fortitude people love him for. Once he finally decides a thing, he sticks with it, unless maybe it turns out to be less popular than he thought, because he is a straight shooter who trusts his gut. Which is very slim.

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 [Rush Limbaugh / TPM ]