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- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
White House officials, at the start of the shutdown, were certain the Trump administration was better positioned to battle the left during a funding lapse.
In early October, several Trump administration officials had a friendly pool going of how long the shutdown would last. The White House, at the time, was confident Democrats would quickly fold.
No one guessed more than 10 days.
The account, relayed by a person close to the White House granted anonymity to discuss internal thinking, underscores just how much the administration miscalculated the Democrats’ will to keep the government closed even amid furloughs and imperiled social programs like food assistance.
As the shutdown heads into its second month, Donald Trump is increasingly frustrated. On Thursday, he called for Republicans to abolish the filibuster to reopen the government — a plea he knows is futile, but that demonstrates his growing irritation with Democrats, said a second person close to the White House.
It’s almost like people who don’t understand how govt works shouldn’t be president. Or even be allowed to vote, for that matter. It seems like people think there’s a magic wand that the top guy can wave and everything just falls into place.
I think that voter registration should work like driver licensing. And the test you have to pass should be the citizenship exam.
Appealing as the idea is, the problem is who gets to control the exams.
That’s a fair criticism. We know how poll testing has historically been used to disenfranchise minority groups.
That’s why I suggested the citizenship exam, which is a well-established test with specific parameters and existing preparation programs.