Surprise! Donald Trump’s government shutdown threat unless he gets his Mexico wall was a lot of hot air!
Politics
With a great deal of “pretend” bravado inside the Oval Office, Trump told Democratic leaders Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi that unless he gets his beloved wall, he will “gladly” initiate a government shutdown only days before Christmas. Too bad (for Trump) it was a bunch of baloney.
In the midst of the moment (and to the Trump supporters), the government shutdown threat seemed like a bold choice by a powerful leader. However, in reality, it was simply Trump “Trumping” again.
Trump merely wanted to sound strong at the time. Then, once the cameras were turned off and the press was sent packing, his advisers actually pulled his coattails and informed him that a government shutdown over a border wall would be political suicide for Trump and the GOP.
Or, in other words, Trump opened mouth and inserted foot before realizing what he was actually promising.
Since then, Trump mouthpiece Sarah Huckabee Sanders has had her hands full walking back the bravado from her boss — and on Tuesday, she initiated a complete reversal from the Schumer/Pelosi confrontation by announcing that The White House is now exploring “different” sources to pay for the wall along the Mexican border.
“There are certainly a number of different funding sources that we’ve identified that we can use, that we can couple with money that would be given through congressional appropriations that would help us get to that $5 billion that the president needs in order to protect our border,” Sanders told Fox News.
“At the end of the day we don’t want to shut down the government, we want to shut down the border,” she added.
Lawmakers have until midnight on Friday to either pass a spending measure or initiate a government shutdown. Republicans are not at all prepared or even willing to accept the political price it would cost for them to shut down the government. Which is why on Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell introduced a short-term spending bill to fund the government through February 8, 2019.
His hope is that this temporary spending bill will keep the government afloat until Democrats retake the House of Representatives in January.
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….People do not yet realize how much of the Wall, including really effective renovation, has already been built. If the Democrats do not give us the votes to secure our Country, the Military will build the remaining sections of the Wall. They know how important it is!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 11, 2018
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Trump has always promised that Mexico would pay for the wall. Then, earlier this year he began floating the idea that the military would build it and he would need $5 billion US taxpayer dollars to make it happen.
Now, Trump is between a rock and a hard place. He made a promise to his supporters he can’t keep. He threatened Democrats to pay for his wall or else, only to have them laugh in his face. His own party is refusing to march behind him and back him on closing the government over his beloved border wall. And now, Trump is having to publicly backpedal just to save face over a threat that never had any merit, to begin with.
Oh, what a tangled web we weave…
