Let them eat Statuary marble
By 
With 40 million people about to go hungry and many other bad consequences of Trump’s shutdown proliferating, he’s being even more of a self-parody of a reality show billionaire than usual:
American families are worried about losing food stamp benefits. Hundreds of thousands of federal government workers have no idea when they will next be paid. Several airports have been experiencing delays because of staffing shortages.
The pain of the government shutdown is growing more acute as it grinds toward the five-week mark, with Congress showing little movement toward a resolution. But President Trump has been attending to other matters.
Just hours after returning from a trip across Asia, Mr. Trump left Washington on Friday for a Halloween party and a fund-raiser at his Florida residence. When he weighed in briefly on the shutdown, it was to cast the potential loss of benefits that millions of Americans rely on for groceries as mostly a problem for Democratic voters. Rather than offer steps he might take to bring the crisis to a close, Mr. Trump called attention to the new details of his renovation of a White House bathroom.
“Highly polished, Statuary marble!” Mr. Trump declared on social media as he posted images of his new Lincoln bathroom, even as some households planned on handing out canned soup in lieu of candy.
The stark contrast crystallized how the president has appeared largely disconnected from the fiscal impasse that has gripped Washington and paralyzed much of the federal government.
I don’t blame Trump for being complacent about losing his “Trump if for YOU” credentials — after all, he maintained them during the last campaign despite his first term being devoted almost entirely to the economic health of fellow plutocrats. But his tacky celebrations of wealth used to be counterbalanced with more fake-populist gestures, and depended on a good economy as well as veto points stopping at least some of his least popular desires. The fact that more straight news stories like this are appearing in place of Patrick Healy “why is Trump so overwhelmingly popular?” panels and the like is itself not a good sign for him.