Talk inside the White House about invoking the act has ebbed and flowed since Trump took office again in January, said the five people, who include the senior administration official, two people familiar with the discussions and two people close to the White House.
But the debate inside the administration has shifted recently, from whether it makes sense to invoke the act to more deeply exploring how and when it might be invoked, both people close to the White House said.
To the Trump admin it won’t matter if the reason to invoke it is real or fake. The federal government is corrupt to the core and using the shutdown to prevent congress from losing the MAGA majority until the insurrection clause is invoked. There is no ideal solution, it’s just that if you aim for the king, you best not miss.
The MAGA base is not suddenly going to be turned around and convinced unless you are able to puncture their Sinclair echo chambers, the federal is increasingly going to deny funding to Democratic states, SCOTUS is still going to overturn any impediments federal judges try to throw at Trump, ICE is still going to be ignoring any and all laws since they know they get to eat pardon cake if it ever becomes an issue, ICE is still going to get the biggest slice of the federal budget … “Drawing first blood”, you lose. Hoping a system rotten to the core in all three branches of government turns around and becomes semifunctional when no matter what you will still have Republicans and MAGA at the end of whatever solution comes up, you don’t lose, but at a cost that’s going to be comparable or greater than losing.