29 December 2018 — 1054 mst

Sen. Daines and Rep. Gianforte: if President Trump vetoes
a responsible budget, you must vote to override his veto

President Trump has backed himself into a corner from which he cannot retreat gracefully — and his supporters in Congress, fearful of the voters who elected him and them, are refusing to rescue him, and the nation, from his predicament. Consequently, part of our government remains shut down for lack of funding.

This standoff hurts our nation and makes us look like fools to other civilized nations. It must end soon, before more people are hurt, before more economic damage is done. There are plenty of paths to a responsible compromise on this issue.

But the President, a proud and stubborn man, may not have the capacity to adjust his psyche to accept a responsible compromise. Should that impasse occur, the remedy is Congress’ imposing a compromise on the President by exercising its Constitutional power to override his veto.

That would put Sen. Daines and Rep. Gianforte in the unenviable position of having to choose between discharging their duty to the nation to fully fund the government, which would displease their political bases and infuriate a vindictive chief executive, or backing the President’s mulish intransigence to the detriment of the nation.

If they give the matter enough hard and honest thought, they must conclude that for the good of our nation, the President must rescued from his folly; that they must vote to override his veto of a responsible compromise.

What’s a responsible compromise? That’s open to interpretation, but by definition it’s a place closer to the middle than the ends. In this situation, that means some funding for The Wall in exchange for some immigration reforms. I suspect most members of Congress are having little difficulty recognizing that such a compromise would be responsible. For Republican members of Congress especially, the toughest problem is not recognizing what’s responsible. It is mustering the political courage to impose that compromise on a Republican President whose pig-headedness is harming our nation.

Sen. Daines and Rep. Gianforte, get ready to pull on your overriding boots. You’ll probably need to use them to kick the President out of his corner, and the government back into gear.