As the federal government shutdown lags on, President Donald Trump remains as committed as ever to his idea of putting up a border wall between the United States and Mexico. This Monday, on Christmas Eve, Trump yet again paraded the proposal before the world, casting himself as the victor in a nonsense fight that he himself created. He’s refused to approve any funding for the government without provisions for his wall.
Appearing to rebuff plans for border security funding without a wall — and dismissing Democrats’ stance on the whole issue altogether, making his previous pledges for bipartisan cooperation all the more laughable — Trump ranted:
‘The Wall is different than the 25 Billion Dollars in Border Security. The complete Wall will be built with the Shutdown money plus funds already in hand. The reporting has been inaccurate on the point. The problem is, without the Wall, much of the rest of Dollars are wasted! I am all alone (poor me) in the White House waiting for the Democrats to come back and make a deal on desperately needed Border Security. At some point the Democrats not wanting to make a deal will cost our Country more money than the Border Wall we are all talking about. Crazy!’
He just.. says things, and to him, they’re therefore true.
It’s not immediately clear what exactly he’s referring to as “the Shutdown money.” It could be anything from the money the government “saves” thanks to being partially shutdown to the money at the center of the whole debacle — the billions he wants for his border wall.
Either way, he has consistently vastly inflated the need for a wall. He’s claimed that undocumented immigration over the southern border costs the United States hundreds of billions of dollars a year and that there’s a crisis of epic proportions unfolding at the United States’ southern border.
There’s not, and this is all manufactured outrage.
He’s concurrently dismissed the outrage over his abrupt decision to withdraw from Syria as manufactured, although the Islamic State terror group that American soldiers were there to fight in the first place remains very much a threat. His decision to withdraw was praised by interests like the Kremlin, which has backed the Syrian regime, and detested by members of his own national security team.
Monday, he touted a claim that Saudi Arabia would step in to help in Syria after the American withdrawal — but again, his estimation of reality desperately misses the mark.
He ranted — about the regime that he’s consistently ignored holding accountable for their murder of a dissident journalist, mind you:
‘Saudi Arabia has now agreed to spend the necessary money needed to help rebuild Syria, instead of the United States. See? Isn’t it nice when immensely wealthy countries help rebuild their neighbors rather than a Great Country, the U.S., that is 5000 miles away. Thanks to Saudi A!’
Journalist Jack Detsch noted that the Saudis had pledged $100 million to Syrian reconstruction, while the United Nations has estimated the Syrian Civil War’s cost to be at least $388 billion.
In other words, Trump keeps fumbling basic issues of funding time and time again. His increasingly simplistic view of the world has consequences.
Featured Image via YouTube screenshot
