A shutdown nobody wants or a palate cleanser?

President Trump on Nov. 28 said he is “not really that surprised” that Democratic leaders declined to meet with him. (Video: The Washington Post)

The Post reports:

President Trump and top lawmakers Tuesday failed to craft the outlines of a spending agreement as Democrats backed out of a planned meeting at the White House amid growing acrimony over a slate of year-end legislative priorities, with a potential government shutdown looming over the negotiations.

The impasse all but ensures another holiday-season standoff over legislation designed to keep the government open and that also is expected to settle complex issues regarding immigration and health care.

Failure to act in the coming days could bring a partial shutdown of government operations, jeopardize health-care services for 9 million children and 370,000 pregnant women nationwide, and further complicate the fate of hundreds of thousands of children of illegal immigrants, known as dreamers, who could start facing deportation in early March.

“We have a lot differences,” Trump said in the White House’s Roosevelt Room, flanked by two empty chairs meant for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), calling Democrats weak on crime, immigration and the military. Asked about the possibility of a government shutdown this month, the president said: “If that happens, I would absolutely blame the Democrats.”

This is a quintessential Trump-made crisis. He provoked a needless confrontation (tweeting Tuesday morning that he didn’t see a deal on a spending bill), tried to use it to buck up his base and now faces the very real possibility he won’t have the votes to keep the government running. He can tell his base whatever fable he wants, but the problem of a shutdown rests on his shoulders and those of the GOP majority in both houses.

Trump’s provocation has emboldened not only Democrats but some moderate Republicans:

Among Democrats, there is growing resolve to withhold support for a spending plan that fails to address the fate of the so-called “dreamers.” But on Tuesday, Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.), who represents a swing district in South Florida, became the first Republican lawmaker to say that he also will withhold his support for a spending bill that funds the government into next year if a solution for dreamers hasn’t been enacted.

Frankly, it’s hard to figure out why Democrats shouldn’t withhold support for a spending bill that leaves “dreamers” hanging and doesn’t reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) that covers millions of children.

Republicans control everything — the House, the Senate and the White House — but they cannot control their own members. It’s the fanatical wing of the GOP that hands Democrats and some moderate Republicans the leverage to extract concessions on health care and immigration. Democrats seem to have a tailor-made rationale: Republicans can keep the government going if they like; if they fail, it’s their fault.

Trump is so mercurial and unreliable that Democrats and others favoring Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) relief and CHIP reauthorization cannot rely on his and GOP leaders’ promises to address those issues later. They might as well force the issue now, especially given Trump’s predilection to talk a tough game and then crumble (as he did on a mid-year funding bill without money for his border wall).

All of this takes place in the shadow of the tax-bill negotiations (more about that later today), but it’s indicative of Republicans’ desire to have their candy first (tax cuts) before figuring out how to pay for it and addressing competing interests on taxes. It would be a shame if, as in the 2013 shutdown, Republicans demonstrated their own ineptitude and caused widespread hardship for Americans. On the other hand, emergency spending (including national security) would continue and the debt ceiling is not an issue at this time. If shutting down the government for a few days is the price to pay for forcing Trump to retreat and to give way on DACA and CHIP, Democrats may figure it’s worth it.