President Drumpf wants to shut down the government again in order to get his border wall. Right before Christmas. Oh boy, here we go again.
The Republicans were all ready to label it the “Shumer Shutdown” and blame it on the Democrats, but that plan was sabotaged when President-I-Have-No-filter-at-All announced in a public negotiation with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Shumer that he would be “proud” to shut down the government in order to get the $5 billion for his border wall that he’s insisting on.
Okay, forget about the fact that his administration hasn’t spent most of the money that’s already been appropriated for a border wall.
Okay, forget about the fact that every expert who knows anything about this has repeatedly opined that a border wall would be completely ineffective in keeping migrants from coming to the border.
Okay, forget about the fact that we’d be much better off helping the countries like Honduras and El Salvador and Guatemala — from which most of these poor refuges come — with their economic and political conditions, so that they wouldn’t produce so many refugees.
(I mean has anybody ever asked the question why we don’t have so many refugees from Panama or Costa Rica or even Nicaragua?)
As it happens, a government “shutdown” wouldn’t impact most of the government, because most of the government has already been funded for this year. And even for the portion that hasn’t been, there are always those public safety exceptions that apply to “essential employee” that assure that the TSA employees have to continue working, even if they’re not getting paid.
But this is the Republican way now. Politics by brinksmanship. My way or the highway. If I can’t get what I want, I’m taking my crayons and going home.
Oh, and, happy holidays!