New Orleans    The problem when businessmen go into politics is learning that it is more important to be able to count the votes than just the dollars in your bank account. You can buy a lot in politics, but not everything, because office holders really, really want to hold onto their day jobs, not just your job. When it comes to Congress, there are no term limits, so many of them know they will be in office long after whoever is in the White House comes and goes.

President Trump has handled the learning curve so poorly and at such dangerous speed that he has gone over the cliff now because of his inability to focus on the need to be able to count the votes. In the Senate there is a 53 to 47 edge held by the Republicans over the Democrats, yet somehow with his proposal for $5.7 billion to fund his wall, come hell or high water, he could only muster a vote of 50 to 47 in the Senate, and that included one Democratic crossover from West Virginia. On the Democrats failing motion, they got more votes, 52 to 44, picking up six Republicans who want the government to open and oppose the shutdown.

Now it’s easier to understand Republican Senate Majority Leader’s strange silence for almost a month into the partial government shutdown. He knew he didn’t have the votes for the wall all along! He likely had told the President that before this disaster. Tactically, he was trying to claim that he was ready to bring something forward, “when it had the votes,” but said over and over that he wasn’t going to bring something up just to waste time that either the House wouldn’t approve or the President wouldn’t sign. He’s just let the President twist in the wind, frothing at the mouth to his base, and acting the fool, and waiting until the time was right to teach a lesson to him, even if subtle, and painful to federal employees and the public.

Worse, Trump now finds himself in the worst possible position for any negotiation. He’s stuck “bargaining with himself.” As a term of art, that entails being forced to concede demands made without any compromise on the other side. We saw that with his threat and his attempt to give the State of the Union address to the House of Representatives. There’s a new sheriff in town. With Nancy Pelosi as Speaker, she shut the door on his foot, and forced him to back away. Now, it is proven that he doesn’t have nearly enough votes for his wall.

In negotiating with himself, he’s now saying he wants the billion offered for border security by the Democrats in the House before the Senate vote to be a “down payment” on the wall. That’s not happening, captain!

Senate McConnell needs to whisper louder in his ear, so he really hears it this time. You don’t have the votes. You better start claiming you want border security, so we can all make a deal and get back to work, because your wall just came tumbling down.