Whither the wall?
As presidents go, Trump is harder to predict than most.
Will he veto the continuing resolution budget bill? The Freedom Caucus will support him if he does:
…[W]e’re going to back you up if you veto this — back you up,” Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said. “If you veto this bill, we’ll be there. More importantly, the American people will be there. They’ll be there to support you. Let’s build the wall and make sure we do our job in Congress.”
Here’s a report timestamped 42 minutes ago (as I write this, anyway) saying Trump is “abruptly” threatening to veto it. I don’t see what’s so abupt about it, since he’s been threatening that sort of thing off and on for quite some time. Trump likes to keep his options open, you might say.
It would not surprise me if he doesn’t veto it and it would not surprise me if he does. How’s that for a definitive statement? Trump is indeed unpredictable and I believe that’s one of his strengths in fighting the Democrats and those Republicans who oppose him. As I wrote yesterday, however, Trump’s supporters will not like it if the wall doesn’t get built, and if he has any desire to be re-elected (and I think he does have that desire) he needs to find a solution.
Here’s a description of another possible approach from Trump to tackling the problem:
“It’s not a retreat, it’s actually a bigger attack,” said a Trump adviser,
The shutdown date OK’d in the Senate-passed legislation was pushed back to Feb. 8, after Trump is scheduled to give his State of the Union to a joint sitting of Congress. It is always the biggest speech of the year.
“The date after the State of the Union gives the president the biggest visible platform,” said another source familiar with the plan today. “This positions us to have the fight when we have the most visibility,” added the source.
Visibility is one thing, but results are what people want, and with the Democrats and Pelosi in control of the House there is little chance (IMHO) of getting any wall funding passed. I think this particular anonymous source is blowing smoke—but hey, as I said, Trump is unpredictable.
Then again, if the American people wanted the wall, why did they elect a Democratic House? My sense of it is that people don’t think that way when they vote. Most people are thinking locally—as in, “this person is nicer than that person, this person will get my district more perks than that person.” The entire picture—“if I vote for the Democrat then the Democrats might control the House and we can kiss the wall goodbye”—just isn’t that common a perspective.
The political class thinks in terms of national politics. The broad mass of the electorate thinks locally.
This reminds me of an incident I commented about during the primaries. Trump took his daughter to a closing on a golf course. Out of the blue, he says there is a material defect. He won’t close. He just made it up!
Trump knew the seller had to sell. Trump got a major price cut. Then he closed.
Trump planned this whole thing.
“Most people are thinking locally” rather than considering “the entire picture”
Which is perhaps why humanity is apparently incapable of wise self-governance… Considering “the entire picture” takes both maturity and an interest in ensuring that the fullest comprehension of the issues is obtained. Its lack of maturity, confirmed by the appeal that “bread and circuses” has for it. Humanity’s “mental laziness” demonstrated by its quick embrace of simplistic stereotypes.
Most people, whether on the right or the left, base their opinions upon childhood conditioning. The positions they support are the ones that resonate with that early conditioning.
Post Coolidge it has been a downhill, slippery slope ride into totalitarianism. As DC has grown ever more powerful, the power of the States has shriveled. This trend will not end well.
Cornhead’s anecdote reminds me why I always thought Trump was ethically challenged. At best, it was sharp practice; at worst, it relied on outright lying. (I don’t know, myself, whether there was a legit “material defect” or not.) And I’m well aware of the Vera Coking story, and of his opinion on Kelo. Although that opinion was perfectly well in line with librul/Proggie mainstream thought, and unfortunately in too much so-called “right-wing” thinking as well.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/12/18/tucker_carlson_we_cant_have_a_wall_because_democrats_say_it_is_too_expensive.html
“The estimated cost of a border wall is about $25 billion. That is estimated so let’s say it is twice that. That is still a tiny fraction of the price of the pointless stalemate we’re now waging in Afghanistan. That costs about $45 billion every year, not including the human cost. Compare that to $25 billion needed to restore sovereignty with the wall.
And yet this is strange, nobody in Washington seems to be upset about the price of the Afghanistan debacle. A lot of people here are getting rich on it and maybe that is the difference. You also hear endlessly, usually from people who live in gated communities, that walls just don’t work.
…
The left fears a border wall precisely because it would work, and could keep working long after President Trump leaves office. That is why, when pressed, invariably they fall back on their signature argument: racism! Border walls are racist!
It is just projection. Look around, who is angry, who is yelling, who is hysterical? The left. Permanent Washington and their servants in the media. They’re the ones who are terrified. They don’t want a real debate about immigration or a lot of other mindless policies they have been benefiting from for many years. They hate Trump for forcing a debate on immigration and they hate you for agreeing with him. “
One of the best points that I saw made in this debate was that most in Congress and the Obama Administration saw absolutely nothing wrong with giving the Iranians, not only access to some $150 billion in frozen assets, but also $1.8 billion in cash on a pallet or two.
No objections from the Democrats in Congress about this.
According to reports, we even acceded to the Iranian’s request, and made sure that the payout was composed of not only U.S. dollars, but also several other currencies.
This, of course, made the Iranian’s ability to disburse this money to various terrorist organizations easier, and harder to track.
Snow on Pine on December 21, 2018 at 10:23 am at 10:23 am said:
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Mr Trump should have sent some cash to Putin instead of just angling for some Facebook ads.
Apparently that’s okay with the Dems.