Democratic strategist Joe McLean said Wednesday that while the government shutdown over President Trump’s border wall may be popular with his base, it plays into a “larger narrative of government chaos” that will ultimately hurt the president in the long run.
“The fact that he took credit for the shutdown very visibly and very publicly plays into a larger narrative of government chaos and you can see that with the statement by General McChrystal and Senator-elect Mitt Romney,” McLean said during a panel discussion on “Rising.”
The partial government shutdown is in its second week with no end in sight. Both Republicans and Democrats are struggling to find a compromise over a bill that would meet President Trump’s demands for $5 billion to build a barrier along the U.S-Mexico border.
“In the the context of that larger narrative and over the longer term, he loses; the short-term, he wins,” McLean said.
Retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal and Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, both criticized Trump publicly in recent days.
During an interview with ABC’s “The Week” on Sunday, McChrystal said that Trump was dishonest and immoral.
President Trump later hit back, saying that McChrystal was “fired like a dog by Obama.”
“Known for big, dumb mouth,” Trump tweeted on New Years Day before adding, “Hillary lover!”
Romney in an op-ed published Tuesday in the Washington Post wrote that Trump “has not risen to the mantle” of his office.
Trump later fired back, urging the Utah Republican to “Be a TEAM player & WIN!”
McLean said Romney is one of the few Republicans that doesn’t have to appease Trump’s base because of his popularity in his own state.
Romney overwhelming won his Senate race against Democratic opponent Jenny Wilson, thanks in part to his name recognition from his presidential run and his work on Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002.
“I think Mitt Romney may be the only Republican senator from a state where what Trump thinks about him doesn’t matter and that gives him tremendous freedom to voice what he believes is the truth,” the strategist said.
—Tess Bonn
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