Begala: Why Trump caved to Pelosi and Schumer [View all]

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Begala: Why Trump caved to Pelosi and Schumer
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By Paul Begala

Updated 11:35 AM ET, Thu September 7, 2017



(CNN)I never again want to hear someone ask why the Democrats chose Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer as their leaders. The two just made a deal with the guy who wrote "The Art of the Deal" and made it the Art of the Steal. Poor President Donald Trump was lucky he got out of the room with his hair.

On Wednesday, Trump threw his support to a deal that gave the Democratic leaders everything they wanted: disaster relief funding and a 90-day extension of both the day-to-day funding of the government and the debt ceiling.

That means when the dual deadline for the budget and debt arrives in mid-December, Democrats will have enormous leverage. They will be in a position to trade support for the budget and the debt ceiling for any number of Democratic priorities, from health care to protection of Dreamers who are suddenly facing deportation.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker Paul Ryan were left fuming, the rug having been yanked out from under them by the leader of their own party.

How did this happen? How did the relatively powerless Schumer and Pelosi get everything they wanted in a negotiation with a man whose party controls the House, the Senate and the White House? Four factors:

1. Democratic unity: Unity is a force multiplier, and congressional Democrats are as united as I have ever seen them. Despite having numerous Democrats up for re-election in states Trump won (like West Virginia, which Trump carried by a mind-boggling 42%), not one Senate Democrat has broken ranks on critical votes, especially standing in unison against the GOP's health care bill, which would have gutted Medicaid.
Schumer and Pelosi maximize what little leverage they have by holding their fractious party together -- no easy task. Most legislation requires 60 votes in the Senate; the GOP has just 52 seats. And in the House, the renegade right-wingers in the Freedom Caucus have already threatened to oppose a debt ceiling hike if it is paired with disaster relief.
That makes Ryan's job of getting 218 votes more difficult. And Pelosi, with 193 other Democrats behind her, may be needed to ride to the rescue. She will do so -- at a price. Because of Democratic unity, Schumer and Pelosi were able to play a weak hand expertly.

2. Experience matters: Pelosi is in her 30th year as a member of the House; Schumer is in his 36th year in Washington, having served in the House before being elected to the Senate. That's 66 years of lawmaking experience, spanning six presidencies. Mr. Trump, on the other hand, has 229 days of governmental experience. Turns out running the government of the United States of America is a little more complicated than reading off a cue card on a reality show.

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