President Donald Trump's Dilemma
8 November 2025 By Abiodun Kareem Giwa
Presidents Harry Truman and Donald Trump
President Donald Trump is in a dilemma. The government he heads has been shut down for a second month, dragging the momentum of his administration to a standstill. He and his Republican colleagues do not believe the buck stops at the president's desk - they blame Democrats, and Democrats blame the Republicans. Republicans have forgotten President Harry Truman's words that the buck stops at the president's desk.
No one knows Senator Charles Schumer, except as a former Senate leader who was demoted following his most significant loss at the polls and is seeking a nasty revenge. He has one - his enemies need him to pass a funding bill, and it is time to exact his vengeance.
Shouldn't Republicans know it? Why wouldn't they do something to save the president from the embarrassment? They are not fine with Schumer or ready to do his will and will not do anything possible to advance the public interest? What is the public interest in the matter? Federal workers are not paid. Many programs have lost funding, and as a result, Americans have been affected. People look up to the president for guidance and solutions. People say Trump's administration is in a coma. No one knows the role that politicians in Congress have played. They remember the president, the number one citizen. They remember him when things are going well and when things do not. President Truman could not have been wrong; whatever happens in a country, the president is responsible. Therefore, people expect the president will solve the problem, no matter what it takes, to avoid any damage to his administration and his party's fortune in future elections arising from people's suffering. The fallout from the ongoing shutdown is a dark spot on Trump's brand.
How can a president who is pulling deals to end a lifelong animosity in the Middle East not do the same at home? The answer is that the Republican Party has 51 members in the Senate, but it requires 60 votes to pass a new funding bill. The party needed additional votes that could only come from the Democratic Party members! But the two parties are already archenemies; and why would the Republicans expect a show of love that Democrats lack in giving? Do enemies want their nemesis to succeed?
Republicans say Democrats don't care about public interest. Do they - Republicans - care? Why would the Democrats care, and should they? They are not losing anything. It is the Republican Party that is losing. The Democrats already lost the general election and also failed to stop their enemy - Trump's march into the White House. They already lost and have nothing left to lose, unlike the Republicans who have the White House and their tiny majority in Congress at stake. The public perception is that the Republicans run the federal government, and it is the truth. If workers are not getting paid, it is the employer's fault, and not whatever caused the problem.
Democrats have never hidden their disdain for the president. They do not want him in the White House. They have never hidden their disapproval of him and that he is not their president. He suffered two failed impeachments in his first term. He would be rotting in jail if he had not fought all efforts to rusticate him. It is reason is that no one would blame him for not sitting down with Democrats to make peace. Democrats expect him to sit and talk to them to advance their party's interests, not his as they are doing with a request to renew Obamacare despite its faults. And not willing to do that makes him a target. They are jealous of his active administration: closing the border, returning illegal migrants who Democrats equate to legal migrants, and the fuel price at the pump lowering!
The shutdown is clouding his other achievements in nine months in office, his reputation and legacy. Whatever he has planned cannot proceed with his government shutdown. The government struggles to pay the military. The airspace is not safe, as air traffic controllers at various airports frequently call out, making air travel hazardous. The president is worried enough to call for the nuking of the filibuster. And still, his men and women in Congress act silly.
The filibuster has empowered Democrats. Without it, the 51 Republican senators in the majority would have passed the funding bill, and the government would have continued to operate. Have some Democrats not said that if they gain power again, the filibuster will be abolished to enable the party to appoint justices to the Supreme Court, and do other unimaginable things? It is well to say the moderate Democrats have bowed to the will of radicals in their party, because their position is in danger. Anyone can adjust to achieve an objective. It can also be said that Republicans believe they can retain the Senate to thwart Democrats from killing the filibuster.
But whether Republicans have what it takes to retain the current position of power does not solve the president's current dilemma of having his hands tied against his will? And Senator John Kennedy's hopes of working hard to retain the Senate may turn out to be a mirage. It is like counting your eggs before they are hatched. Wasn't Schumer a Senate leader yesterday, and hoped to return to his seat amid expectations that his party would win the last election? Is he not in the cold and all that he has going for him is a chance to damage the president's administration?
No one knows Senator Charles Schumer, except as a former Senate leader who was demoted following his most significant loss at the polls and is seeking a nasty revenge. He has one - his enemies need him to pass a funding bill, and it is time to exact his vengeance.
Shouldn't Republicans know it? Why wouldn't they do something to save the president from the embarrassment? They are not fine with Schumer or ready to do his will and will not do anything possible to advance the public interest? What is the public interest in the matter? Federal workers are not paid. Many programs have lost funding, and as a result, Americans have been affected. People look up to the president for guidance and solutions. People say Trump's administration is in a coma. No one knows the role that politicians in Congress have played. They remember the president, the number one citizen. They remember him when things are going well and when things do not. President Truman could not have been wrong; whatever happens in a country, the president is responsible. Therefore, people expect the president will solve the problem, no matter what it takes, to avoid any damage to his administration and his party's fortune in future elections arising from people's suffering. The fallout from the ongoing shutdown is a dark spot on Trump's brand.
How can a president who is pulling deals to end a lifelong animosity in the Middle East not do the same at home? The answer is that the Republican Party has 51 members in the Senate, but it requires 60 votes to pass a new funding bill. The party needed additional votes that could only come from the Democratic Party members! But the two parties are already archenemies; and why would the Republicans expect a show of love that Democrats lack in giving? Do enemies want their nemesis to succeed?
Republicans say Democrats don't care about public interest. Do they - Republicans - care? Why would the Democrats care, and should they? They are not losing anything. It is the Republican Party that is losing. The Democrats already lost the general election and also failed to stop their enemy - Trump's march into the White House. They already lost and have nothing left to lose, unlike the Republicans who have the White House and their tiny majority in Congress at stake. The public perception is that the Republicans run the federal government, and it is the truth. If workers are not getting paid, it is the employer's fault, and not whatever caused the problem.
Democrats have never hidden their disdain for the president. They do not want him in the White House. They have never hidden their disapproval of him and that he is not their president. He suffered two failed impeachments in his first term. He would be rotting in jail if he had not fought all efforts to rusticate him. It is reason is that no one would blame him for not sitting down with Democrats to make peace. Democrats expect him to sit and talk to them to advance their party's interests, not his as they are doing with a request to renew Obamacare despite its faults. And not willing to do that makes him a target. They are jealous of his active administration: closing the border, returning illegal migrants who Democrats equate to legal migrants, and the fuel price at the pump lowering!
The shutdown is clouding his other achievements in nine months in office, his reputation and legacy. Whatever he has planned cannot proceed with his government shutdown. The government struggles to pay the military. The airspace is not safe, as air traffic controllers at various airports frequently call out, making air travel hazardous. The president is worried enough to call for the nuking of the filibuster. And still, his men and women in Congress act silly.
The filibuster has empowered Democrats. Without it, the 51 Republican senators in the majority would have passed the funding bill, and the government would have continued to operate. Have some Democrats not said that if they gain power again, the filibuster will be abolished to enable the party to appoint justices to the Supreme Court, and do other unimaginable things? It is well to say the moderate Democrats have bowed to the will of radicals in their party, because their position is in danger. Anyone can adjust to achieve an objective. It can also be said that Republicans believe they can retain the Senate to thwart Democrats from killing the filibuster.
But whether Republicans have what it takes to retain the current position of power does not solve the president's current dilemma of having his hands tied against his will? And Senator John Kennedy's hopes of working hard to retain the Senate may turn out to be a mirage. It is like counting your eggs before they are hatched. Wasn't Schumer a Senate leader yesterday, and hoped to return to his seat amid expectations that his party would win the last election? Is he not in the cold and all that he has going for him is a chance to damage the president's administration?
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