Donald Trump has partially closed down the government and tossed 800,000 employees into a financial crisis just as a bargaining chip to get his medieval, memorial wall on the border between the U.S. and Mexico. House Speaker Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) knows that if she gives in to him, the president will use this technique every time he does not get something he wants. Being a mother of five and grandmother of nine has been good training for the most powerful woman in the country.
Asked if there will be a point at which Democrats need to compromise on the border wall, Pelosi argued that Democrats have already been compromising by bringing to the floor spending bills that were passed by Senate Republicans.
Pelosi stood with furloughed workers and said the White House keeps moving “the goalposts,” according to CNN:
‘Every time they come with a proposal, they walk away from it. Pretty soon these goalposts won’t even be in the stadium.’
On the Senate floor, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) had this to say about the Trump’s manufactured crisis:
‘In no way did the President’s speech last night make a persuasive or even a new case for an exorbitantly expensive border wall, a wall that the President guaranteed would be paid by Mexico,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Wednesday.’
Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) said the president’s speech was “completely inconsistent with reality.”
Trump argued:
‘Right now if I did something that was foolish like gave up on border security, the first ones that would hit me are my senators. They’d be angry at me. The second ones (to hit me) would be the House and the third ones would be, frankly, my base and a lot of Republicans out there and a lot of Democrats that want to see border security.’
POTUS called the last meeting with Pelosi and Schumer “a total waste of time” before he stormed out. Reporters asked him if any Republicans had offered alternatives. He responded:
‘A couple talked about strategy. A couple, but they’re with us all the way.’
Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) said:
‘All of us are discussing plans and possible compromises in ending the shutdown. That’s a common goal that everyone you saw talking there shares.’
Financial Services Committee Representative Patrick McHenry (R-NC) called it a “political stunt” and a “second week charade.”
Representative Steve Scalise (R-LA) claimed that Democrats saying it was a “fabricated crisis” were operating in a “denial of reality:”
‘It’s an insult to the families of all of those victims of crime (and) the opioid crisis, which is so real in almost every community in this country.’
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said they “don’t even want to talk about the problem:”
‘This is the challenge we have: Democrats who say, “I can’t talk about anything until the government is open.”‘
Of course, Trump could solve the problem by declaring a state of emergency, but that would likely end him in court, because it would be just one more stunt. There are three primary reasons for presidents using this strategy in the face of an imminent disaster, according to The Atlantic magazine:
- A military threat such as 911,
- A natural disaster which would also include an epidemic, and
- Civil unrest.
The vote was 240-188, with eight Republicans joining with Democrats to pass the bill. Now, it will have to go to the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) threatened to not bring it to a vote, and Trump threatened to veto it.
Still, the cracks in the Republican facade continued to widen.
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
