If it wasn't absolutely clear that Republican strategist Katon Dawson has no integrity or soul in his mindless defense of all things Trump, I might actually feel a wee bit of pity for him for the thankless job of being the conservative balance on AMJoy.

But I can't feel any pity for him when he refuses to come up with anything better than this lame both-siderism, trying to pin the government shutdown on Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer when confronted with the reality that most of the states that are the most impacted by the shutdown are red states with Republican representatives up for re-election in 2020.

But like the good conservative toady he is, faced with unpleasant reality and facts, he downplays how bad this is for his party. Conservatism can't fail, after all, it can only be failed by blaming all of government, especially those on the left side of the aisle.

But thankfully, we have reality-based pundits like EJ Dionne to remind Dawson that the mythical "Washington" he blames is being controlled by his party, or at least, two-thirds of it. And really, that one-third that the Democratic Party controls has only been under their control for three days.

If Katon Dawson wants people to believe that "Washington" is the problem, maybe he needs to figure out that the solution is to not put the Republicans in control.