President Trump “claimed that ‘most of the people not getting paid’ in the partial government shutdown are Democrats, days after he contended that many federal workers support his call for more border wall funding,” the Washington Post reports.
“Trump made the claim in a morning tweet as the shutdown entered its sixth day, with hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed without pay amid signs pointing toward a prolonged standoff.”
A new AP/NORC poll finds that 16% of those who “somewhat” supported President Trump’s job performance decided to vote for Democratic House candidates in the November midterms. That’s compared with 6% of those who self-identified as Trump’s “strong” supporters.
That difference helped Democrats capture the House majority, picking up 21 of their 40 new seats in districts Trump carried only two years earlier.
Washington Post: “House members have been told there will be no votes on Thursday, meaning the partial shutdown will probably last until at least Friday. Many national parks across the country have also been closed, and the Internal Revenue Service planned to close taxpayer assistance lines, among other operations, weeks ahead of filing season.”
“The shutdown also began affecting the nation’s court system, as the Justice Department asked a federal judge to temporarily pause certain cases until the government provides funding for the department.”
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New York Times: “With a partial government shutdown stretching past Day 5, the impasse over funding a wall at the southwestern border has highlighted the debate over effective border security, with a breakthrough possibly hinging on a semantic argument: What is a wall?”
President Trump said many people want outgoing Defense Secretary James Mattis’s job, The Hill reports.
Said Trump: “I will say that I’ve got everybody — everybody and his uncle wants that position. And also, by the way, everybody and her aunt — just so I won’t be criticized for that last statement,”
President Trump and the White House communications team “revealed that a U.S. Navy SEAL team was deployed to Iraq after the president secretly traveled to the region to meet with American forces serving in a combat zone for the first time since being elected to office,” Newsweek reports.
“While the commander-in-chief can declassify information, usually the specific special operations unit is not revealed to the American public, especially while U.S. service members are deployed.”
“The president’s video posted Wednesday did not shield the faces of special operation forces. Current and former Defense Department officials told Newsweek that information concerning what units are deployed and where is almost always classified and is a violation of operational security.”
A new Morning Consult survey finds President Trump’s approval hit a new low mark for the poll amid the partial government shutdown.
Just 39% of registered voters — including 80% of Republicans — approve of the president’s job performance, while 56% — including 90% of Democrats and 57% of independents — disapprove.
Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker claimed he earned “All-American” academic honors while at the University of Iowa on his resume and on government applications, but the Wall Street Journal found no record of it being true.
“I want to be clear and explicit that I am not likening Trump to Hitler, but the forces at play could lead to a future Hitler-like character if we don’t watch out. It must be remembered that another thing that Benjamin Franklin said was that he who trades his freedom for security, deserves neither. Indeed, how true.”
— Outgoing Rep. Mark Sanford (R-SC), ina farewell statement.
President Trump “dug in his heels Wednesday as the partial government shutdown drags on, telling reporters during a trip to Iraq that he would do ‘whatever it takes’ to get a wall at the border with Mexico,” Politico reports.
Said Trump: “Whatever it takes. We need a wall. We need safety for our country.”
No votes in Congress are scheduled to break the impasse.
NBC News: “While the trip was shrouded in secrecy for security reasons, an airplane aficionado spotted the distinctive blue and white Boeing jet flying over England, and posted pictures of it on his Flickr account Wednesday morning.”
“When the president is on board, the VC-25A plane — a military version of the 747 — uses the call sign Air Force One. The plane spotted over England, however, was using the call sign RCH358.”
“Online detectives figured out the plane’s disguised call numbers, and tracked its movements — even sharing them on Twitter.”
Politico: “After tweeting more than three dozen times over the last four days, Trump ceased his rapid-fire online missives on Tuesday night. By Wednesday, the president was nowhere to be found, without any scheduled public events. There was no uniformed Marine standing outside the West Wing, normally an obvious signal that the president is in the Oval Office. White House officials went silent.”
President Trump said that he wants to visit the U.S.–Mexico border wall before he gives his State of the Union address next month, The Hill reports.
Trump, speaking with reporters during an unannounced trip to Iraq, said he planned on “going to the wall” for a “groundbreaking” event before his State of the Union address, which will be held in late January.
“Stocks on Wednesday climbed back from their epic Christmas Eve plunge as all three indexes posted big gains,” the Washington Post reports.
“The Dow Jones industrial average roared more than 1,050 points in late afternoon as stocks snapped a four-day losing streak that had placed the 10-year bull market on the edge of death on Monday.”
President Trump visited American military forces in Iraq, “a surprise trip and the first visit to troops stationed abroad in a combat zone by a commander in chief who has made withdrawing the United States from foreign wars a signature issue,” the New York Times reports.
“The trip, shrouded in secrecy, came in the midst of a partial government shutdown and less than a week after Mr. Trump disrupted America’s military status quo and infuriated even some of his staunchest political allies by announcing plans to withdraw all troops from Syria and about half of those stationed in Afghanistan. The president’s decision on Syria, made over the objections of American military generals and civilian advisers, led to the resignation of Mr. Trump’s defense secretary, Jim Mattis, and fueled tensions within the national security establishment.”
Associated Press: “Wednesday brings the first full business day after several government departments and agencies closed up over the weekend due to a budgetary stalemate between President Donald Trump and Congress. And there is no end in sight.”
“So far, the public and federal workers have largely been spared inconvenience and hardship because government is closed on weekends and federal employees were excused from work on Christmas Eve and Christmas, a federal holiday.”
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been discharged from the hospital after cancer surgery, CBS News reports.
Ginsburg left New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center on Tuesday and is now “recuperating at home.”
Folks, I’m exhausted. The crushing amount of political news over the last three years has just about worn me out. The next two years promises to be even crazier.
So for the next week or so, Political Wire will not be updated at the normal pace.
Thanks for your patience — and for reading!
New York Times: “For 50 years, the details of how the exemption came about, and who made the diagnosis, have remained a mystery, with Mr. Trump himself saying during the presidential campaign that he could not recall who had signed off on the medical documentation.”
“Now a possible explanation has emerged about the documentation. It involves a foot doctor in Queens who rented his office from Mr. Trump’s father, Fred C. Trump, and a suggestion that the diagnosis was granted as a courtesy to the elder Mr. Trump.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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