On a domestic flight in the U.S. on Saturday, I could feel the relief of the security staff at the airport as the government shutdown ended. Finally, after 40 days, they would be getting paid.
About 800,000 federal workers were forced to work during the busy period of Christmas and New Year's, but didn't see a cent of their salaries. Many were afraid they wouldn't be able to pay their bills and were afraid for their financial future. The passengers were relieved, too.
The Democrats might have secured a public relations victory because U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to sign a temporary budget that does not include funding for a wall on the Mexican border, but at the same time, it appears that it's too early to eulogize this presidency. On the contrary.
Trump saw his support in the polls take a hit these past few weeks but he wasn't scared. He knows that his base appreciates his battle. The real fight, as he sees it, is the race for a second term. It's possible that because of that, it would be better for the Democrats to give him funding for the wall so the issue would drop off the agenda by November 2020.
The leader of the Democrats, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, might feel like she's the new sheriff in Washington, but the American public will give her the cold shoulder if she uses this temporary victory to scupper all of Trump's initiatives. "I voted for Trump, I voted for the wall," I am told by Jane, a saleswoman who is on her way home.
On Saturday, the American media establishment rushed to declare that Trump had caved and Pelosi had won the insufferable battle (on whose back?).
Whenever I visit America, I'm always surprised at all the Trump voters who are never seen on news broadcasts. Make no mistake – his opponents exists, but you hear them endlessly. Trump supporters, the ones you don't hear, are seen in the streets.
Trump understands that the compromise he struck with Pelosi could boomerang on her. In a few days, the plan calls for him to be invited to Congress to give his annual State of the Union address. Tradition stipulates that she will sit behind him – as he speaks out against her. It is likely that Trump will take advantage of the opportunity to attack her and her party and whip up his supporters, so they'll forgive him for the difficult shutdown.
The ball is in the Democrats' hands
But the big story is that the ball is now in the Democrats' hands. Because what is Trump asking for? To build a wall that will protect the American people? There was a time when the Democrats were in favor of that, but not the way Trump is proposing. Now everything is political. Whatever Trump proposes, the Democrats will oppose. The Democrats might be playing into his hands.
The wall, which the media mocked throughout the 2016 campaign, helped him win because the focus on it tagged the Democrats as a party that prefers illegal immigrants over law-abiding U.S. citizens.
The wall issue might come back to haunt the Democrats in 2020 if they don't propose an alternative of their own. As far as Trump is concerned, his willingness to bet the pot was a message to his voters that he still needs them. Trump is fighting their war and they will appreciate it.
In the end, the government shutdown proved once again that Washington is broken. And if there's something Trump loves, it's reminding the nation that he is the only one who can smash the establishment and drain the swamp.
The Americans think, rightly, that they deserve a little more. They would be very happy if the parties stopped playing a zero-sum game. So the groundwork has been laid for Trump to run a second time as a candidate who can change the rules of the game.
