President Donald Trump threw a grenade at Republicans and "legitimizing blaming his own party" as the government shutdown drags on, according to an analysis on Friday.
Trump pushed GOP lawmakers late Thursday night to end the shutdown "by invoking the so-called 'nuclear option' — that is, getting rid of the filibuster and 60-vote threshold in the Senate. This would allow Republicans to pass things on party-line votes in the GOP-controlled Senate," CNN senior reporter Aaron Blake reports.
And Republican leaders are now "probably wishing he hadn’t."
“BECAUSE OF THE FACT THAT THE DEMOCRATS HAVE GONE STONE COLD ‘CRAZY,’ THE CHOICE IS CLEAR — INITIATE THE ‘NUCLEAR OPTION,’ GET RID OF THE FILIBUSTER AND, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Trump has been "conspicuously quiet" over the last several weeks. Yet it should come as no surprise that he would call for this next move by GOP lawmakers, as he has spent years urging Republicans to eliminate the filibuster.
"But Trump is now legitimizing blaming his own party for the shutdown because they won’t have done the thing he told them to do," Blake writes.
And despite more Americans blaming Trump and the Republicans for the shutdown than Democrats, his latest comment is essentially "a pointless interjection from the president."
"But it does matter in one way: It’s Trump yet again inserting himself into these kinds of talks in ways that are thoroughly unhelpful to his party. And this has become a trend," Blake wrote.
"The reason it’s unhelpful in this case is that it legitimizes Democrats’ talking point that Republicans could end this shutdown any time they want to. And that could make it harder for Republicans to shake the blame they’ve been saddled with," Blake explained.
It's unclear what will happen next or if "Trump's late entry into this shutdown debate is a game-changer."
"Perhaps GOP leaders will get through to Trump that this strategy isn’t particularly helpful – as they appear to have with other Republicans who occasionally suggested this route – and he’ll drop it," Blake writes.
"But his late-night social media demand has at the very least put Republicans in the uncomfortable position of explaining why they don’t attempt to do the thing that is technically in their power to end the shutdown."