White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders had another tantrum. She has had a good teacher, her boss Donald Trump. The press secretary was furious that the Democrats decided not to accept the president’s invitation to a negotiation luncheon, missing the entire point.
Trump hopes that just by saying so, he can create the reality that the Democrats are beginning to yield to his demand for a wall. Unfortunately for him, the party has never been that malleable. Plus, there was nothing to negotiate.
A high-level employee in the administration wrote an op-ed calling for POTUS to continue the government shutdown so long that people took other jobs to survive. That individual’s idea was that nearly 95 percent of government’s employees were lazy, undermining the president, and part of some resistance. Perhaps, this person was trying to curry favor with Trump. Perhaps, he was writing at the president’s request to give the commander-in-chief the excuse to starve the employees and manipulate the Democrats. Perhaps, both.
Earlier Trump said “a lot of the Democrats” were in “Puerto Rico celebrating something.” In fact, they were the Hispanic Caucus supporting those who were devastatingly hurt by Hurricane Maria:
‘So I’ve been here all weekend. A lot of the Democrats were in Puerto Rico, celebrating something. I don’t know, maybe they’re celebrating the shutdown. We have a very big crisis — a humanitarian crisis — on the border. Everybody knows it. They know it. And many of them are saying, “We agree with you.” Many of them are calling, and many of them are breaking.’
Then, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders provided a statement to PoliticusUSA referring to a “humanitarian” crisis, neglecting to say Trump caused it:
‘As Senator Schumer and Speaker Pelosi refuse to negotiate, President Donald J. Trump and his team are working hard to find solutions to solve the humanitarian and national security crisis at the border and reopen the government.’
Then, she sang the old song that Trump agreed to build the physical barriers” of “steel not concrete.” Never mind that was not something the Democrats had requested. She stated:
‘The President has a proposal on the table that includes additional technology at ports of entry, allows minors from Central America to seek asylum in their home country, and physical barriers between ports of entry made of steel instead of concrete.’
She explained that the president invited both Republicans and Democrats to lunch:
‘Today, the President offered both Democrats and Republicans the chance to meet for lunch at the White House. Unfortunately, no Democrats will attend. The President looks forward to having a working lunch with House Republicans to solve the border crisis and reopen the government. It’s time for the Democrats to come to the table and make a deal.’
None of the Democrats attended the luncheon. After all, neither House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) or Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) had anything to negotiate. Their point has been that a wall, any wall is expensive and not very effective.
After all, people can go over, under, and around them. Just this month, Homeland Security people found three tunnels dug by those shipping drugs into the U.S. from Mexico.
Thus far, Trump has removed 25 percent of the federal government. Not nearly enough of those employees remain to carry the work load. Some have been required to work without pay, and few if any of them can get a temporary job. Potential employers known they could return to work at any time, so they will not hire them.
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
