THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

Cheeto Mussolini, operating in brain disengaged mode, threatened to shutdown the government at his last campaign rally. Unlike his businesses, the government can not simply be shut down in the face of a recalcitrant union that won't let him have his way. And as was made clear the last time it happened, the public takes a dim view of those who do shut it down.

President Trump handed Democrats a gift this week with his vow to shut down the government if he doesn’t soon get money for his border wall.

Democrats may be only too happy to let him follow through on his threat since it will now be easy for them to blame the president for any government interruption, which would probably aggravate many Americans.

Rather than cowing Democrats, Mr. Trump’s tough talk is more likely to embolden the opposition in ongoing negotiations, particularly since he has now twice suggested he was willing to shutter government agencies if he didn’t get his way.

It also puts more pressure on Republicans to find the votes internally to pass spending bills and an increase in the federal debt limit — two things hard-right conservatives in the House and Senate have refused to support in the past. That Republican resistance provides Democrats leverage — Republicans can either grant concessions such as no wall money or produce all the votes for the spending bills and debt limit increase themselves.

Mr. Trump also has spent the past few weeks taunting and denigrating Republican leaders who will be responsible for navigating these formidable fiscal obstacles, providing them incentive to look out for themselves rather than the interests of the president.

On Thursday, the president again undercut Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, and Speaker Paul D. Ryan, saying they had failed to embrace his proposed maneuver to raise the debt limit by tying it to a popular veteran benefits bill.

“Could have been so easy — now a mess!” the president tweeted.

Seizing the opening, Democrats wasted no time putting the onus squarely on Republicans for any economic upheaval to come.

“With the White House, House and Senate under one-party control, the American people expect and deserve a plan from Republicans to avert a catastrophic default and ensure the full faith and credit of the United States,” Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader, said Thursday. “With so much at risk for hard-working families, Republicans need to stop the chaos and sort themselves out in a hurry.”

With Cheeto regularly throwing hand grenades into their midst, it is unlikely the Republicans will get it together, and will depend heavily on their gerrymandering and other voter fraud efforts to remain in control in 2018.