President Donald Trump maintains a strikingly high opinion of himself. This Friday, he signed the criminal justice reform package known as the First Step Act at the White House as the government continued to hurtle towards a partial shutdown due to lack of approved funding. In video taped remarks he eventually tweeted a link to, he reiterated some of his lines of defense against critics of his administration — although they remain utterly detached from reality.
At one point, he said:
‘It’s really up to the Democrats. It’s the Democrat shutdown — because we’ve done our thing… now it’s up to the Democrats as to whether or not we’ll have a shutdown tonight. I hope we don’t, but we’re totally prepared for a very long shutdown, and this is the only chance that we’ll ever have in our opinion because of the world and the way it breaks out to get great border security.’
Today, it was my great honor to sign the #FirstStepAct – a monumental bi-partisan win for the American people! https://t.co/isy6Bt38iK
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 21, 2018
In reality, President Trump could choose to let the government continue on without getting the some $5 billion he wants for his wall, but he’s held fast to his decision to press on down the opposite path. In an on-camera spat with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), he insisted he’d be proud to have the government shut down.
It’s noteworthy enough on its own that he chose to kick off his remarks at the signing ceremony for the First Step Act by rambling about the mess he’s put the government in. That’s not what the proceedings were about, but he took the opportunity to cast the GOP’s position as gold plated all the same. He touted the GOP-led House having passed a government spending package supporting the wall late Thursday although it was nothing more than a public relations stunt since Senate Democrats made clear they would not support the wall.
Ludicrously, he offered one of his familiar personal anecdotes that reek of hyperbole and claimed that some unidentified member of Congress had said they’d never seen the body in as good spirits as they were when passing the bill, no matter the outcome.
Down here in reality, hundreds of thousands of government workers are facing the prospect of either working without pay or being sent home just in time for the holidays unless Trump can get his act together quick.
In the description of The Guardian, the bill getting lost under the weight of a looming shutdown “expands rehabilitative opportunities, increases “good time”-served credits for most federal prisoners, reduces [federal] mandatory minimum sentences for a number of drug-related crimes and formally bans some correctional practices including the shackling of pregnant women.”
Featured Image via Screenshot from the Video
