Donald J Trump was dragged kicking and screaming to the alter of truth today, forced to agree to end his shutdown of a portion of the Federal Government by a rising tide of fierce opposition from an increasing majority of the American people and by a clear wavering of his Republican Senate enablers on Capitol Hill.
He came grudgingly, defiantly, almost contemptuously in his refusal to recognize realty without a shred of grace – but he came.
Watching President Trump in his Rose Garden concession statement (no doubt inspired by Stephen Miller, Washington’s new “prince of darkness”) was painful. His invocation of a horde of criminals invading our Southern border, intent on crime, violating women (they tape their mouths shut as they move them toward the open border, he intoned), running drugs through the desert spaces with impunity and other arguments for building a WALL was cringe worthy.
Donald, we know why you want the WALL built – in a phone conversation with the President of Mexico you told him it had to be built and Mexico had to pay for it because he, Trump, had promised that during his campaign!
Yes, the WALL, is a terrible idea born of a campaign tactic used to energize his ”base,” those Americans who fear immigrants that don’t look or worship like them and who threaten by their numbers to eventually assume leadership control here.
The money cost alone to do something that would clearly have negletable effect on the ability of human traffickers and drug smugglers and ordinary people seeking asylum to enter our Country would be a waste. But, perhaps, more important the message to the World that this Country no longer welcomes “your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” would be devastating.
People want to come to America because of the freedom and tolerance and opportunity it affords for everyone. Change that and we change forever the America that has been the envy, and thus the leader, of the World.
So, he lost.
The tactic of a bully, demanding “If I don’t get my way, I’ll shut down the Government,” in the famous Oval Office confrontation with Schumer and Pelosi, that tactic no longer worked on the adults in the room. The Democrats stood fast and the “bully” backed down.
Or did he?
The last thing Trump said in his Rose Garden speech today was that if in the three weeks of negotiations he still doesn’t get money for his WALL he will use what he claimed were his legal and Constitutional powers to build it anyway. There is already a report that his aides are looking around for monies in Federal Departments and Agencies that can be diverted to WALL building.
If President Trump thinks the American people will follow him on this one, he clearly is wrong and for his own good ought to kearn the “First Rule of Holes.”
The First Rule of Holes says: “If you find yourself in one, stop digging!” Yes, if Trump thinks if by just continuing to dig for that WALL he can “Win(!)” and satisfy his “base” he is completely bereft of objective judgement. Let him try to say he can do it as President no matter who objects and the flurry of law suits that will tie up the question for years will stop him cold (and Donald you have less than two years left).
A final warning in all this.
The forces that oppose the WALL must, as I believe they will, stand fast, must make no concession on money for a WALL. A few voices will surely speak up in the op-ed pages and even in the Congressional Democrat caucus and argue that “we won on the Government shut down, we beat him and now let’s give him a few million and by doing so show our genuine desire to work together on other important issues.”
No, feed the tiger at Munich and he’ll devour you.
No WALL, not a penny, not ever.
Stop “digging,” Donald. Show a little sense and a little class, just a little. For once, ignore the chattering Limbaugh, Coulter, Hannity monkeys who rattle your cage in their own self-interest – hey, they’re making money.
Stop digging your own political and historical grave and leave us in peace.