The U.S. government is back in business. President Donald Trump signed legislation last Friday night to end the longest shutdown in the history of the United States. His decision has been widely cast as a defeat for the president. The entire episode was illogical and the administration had no strategy other than brute force to get the Democrats to capitulate to Trump's demand for $5.7 billion to build a border wall. The reopening of government is only temporary, however: Trump has threatened to shut it down again in three weeks if he does not get funding for his wall by then. That tactic is likely to be as successful as it was the first time it was tried: Republicans are increasingly skeptical of the man in the White House and may now be ready to put their interests, and those of the Congress, ahead of those of the president.
There was no reason for the U.S. government to shut down last year. Both houses of Congress passed legislation to fund executive branch agencies, and the president had indicated his readiness to sign those bills. Criticism from right-wing radio talk show hosts and his most conservative supporters prompted Trump to change his mind, however, and refuse to sign any bill that did not include the money for his wall. And, the president insisted, he had to have "a wall": Intensified border security would not suffice.
He miscalculated the strength of his chief adversary, Nancy Pelosi, the new Democratic speaker of the House. Pelosi, speaking for her party, insisted that while more border security was possible, there could be no funding for a wall, and negotiations could only begin when the shutdown ended. Trump's belief that he could crack the Democratic caucus proved mistaken. The party remained united and the only fractures appeared among Republicans.