Although not a fan of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the Wall Street Journal gave her credit for bringing the government shutdown to an end -- by making President Donald Trump blink first and cave over his border wall.
According to the conservative editorial board, "Trump cut his growing political losses on Friday by agreeing to reopen the government for three weeks pending new border-spending negotiations."
Noting that, "Most voters blamed him for the shutdown, and the costs to the public had begun to build," the editorial quipped, "Maybe someone told Mr. Trump that Presidents get the blame when the economy suffers."
The editors lamented that everyone knew the shutdown would end badly, adding the president had no one but himself to blame.
"Mr. Trump’s strategy, to the extent he had one, was to hold his breath until Mrs. Pelosi gave in," the opinion piece continued. "She merely had to do nothing to win."
The editorial then attacked Trump's wall supporters -- who have now turned on him -- who claim they care about border security but are just cashing in on the racist sentiments of his supporters.
"The same immigration restrictionists who told Mr. Trump to shut down the government are now calling him a wimp for not watching his approval rating sink even lower. They care more about their own TV ratings and book sales than they do Mr. Trump," the editors charged.
The editors also encouraged Trump to throw adviser Stephen Miller under the bus, saying he needs to be taken out of the border security debate.
"He also can’t do that [make a deal] as long as he listens to White House adviser Stephen Miller, the hard-line restrictionist in the White House," the editorial advocated. "He needs to turn the negotiations over to someone who really does want to make an immigration deal. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is the voice to listen to here."
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