Government Shut Up

We don't need a Government shutdown. We need a Government shut up, specifically one member of government, President Donald Trump.

Tonight the President will address the American people about the border  "crisis". Yes, the Canadians are swarming into the U.S., threatening everything we hold dear, those godless Kanuks are out to destroy Mom, apple pie and the American way. We knew it was coming, they've been infiltrating us for decades with the first wave, their actors. Led by William Shatner, look it up, it's true, he's Canadian. We must stand firm.

Wait a minute, I'm being informed by my crackerjack fact checking team that it's not the Canadians it's the Mexicans. Carry on my Canadian brothers and sisters, you rock...send more actors, we love  'em.

It's actually our southern border with an unknown foreign land called Mexico. You may recall it from Donald Trump's hundreds of incoherent sentences beginning with his campaign for President announcement in 2015 . According to Trump these menacing Mexicans are swarming across our border to rape and pillage the oppressed white protestants of the shining kingdom of the U.S.A., some of the invaders are even taking the coveted agricultural and service industry jobs that are so beloved by the W.A.S.P.

While writing this President Trump spoke to the American people, or at least a paranoid portion of us. There was nothing dramatically new in his assertions that Mexican criminals are coming across the border in massive numbers to kill innocent Americans and seduce us with their narcotics, leaving us strung out and at the mercy of MS13. Trump muttered something about the border issue being about the soul. Predictably he blamed the Democrats for the government shutdown and their refusal to give him what he wants, specifically five and a half billion dollars toward building the "wall". Here's a short list of facts (even FOX News agrees). The shutdown began in December while the Republicans still controlled both the House and the Senate. For the first two years of his Presidency Trump's party had control of both Congressional chambers and he failed to get the funds for his wall, his own political party, the Republicans, said no, no, no. But now we are supposed to accept the President's assertions that the Democratic Party caused the shutdown and are standing in the way of protecting American lives. It's a lie. A majority of Democrats and Republicans in Congress support increasing border security but they want it done efficiently. This includes  some smart fencing, drones, more border patrol officers and the full use of security technology that we have at our disposal. In February 2018, Trump was offered bipartisan legislation including 25 billion dollars over five years for border security but the package also included a D.A.C.A. fix, he rejected it, in short he snatched defeat from the jaw of victory. His own ignorance and pig headedness cost him what he wanted. Illegal border crossings have been declining for ten years and are at a forty-five year low. According to the Trump Administration's own facts and figures, the majority of illegal drugs entering the U.S. come through ports of entry, not across the border in the middle of the night in the backpack of a desperate human being trying to find a better way of life. It is also a fact that crimes in the U.S. are more likely to be committed by native born Americans than by immigrants, no matter their citizenship status and by a wide margin.

All sovereign nations have the right and responsibility to have secure borders. What Donald Trump is doing has nothing to do with that. There should never be a government shutdown over anything, it's irresponsible and destructive and it's easily averted no matter what the political fight of the day is by simply passing a Continuing Resolution. Trump wants the shutdown because it's a diversion from his many problems and he believes the hype of his own "Art of the Deal" bullshit. On day one of the new Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi taking office she immediately brought Republican legislation to reopen the government that had already been passed by the Senate once, it passed the House under Pelosi and was sent back to the Senate for it's final vote but Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refuses to call the vote because Trump won't sign it. This has been McConnell's approach since day one of Trump's Presidency. McConnell is derelict in his duty to the American people and his role in the Senate. It doesn't matter if Trump won't sign it. Force him to veto it, that veto could certainly be overridden in the Senate. Every Democratic Senator would vote to overturn and if McConnell can't whip enough Republicans to join in, then he shouldn't be the Majority Leader. He knows well, that a government shutdown is counterproductive, but he is so afraid of Trump he won't act. He claims it just doesn't make sense to send legislation to the President if he won't agree to it. Funny how that didn't stop him when Barack Obama was President. The failure of Republican leaders to stand up to a bully is mind boggling.

Donald Trump promised not once, twice or just three times, but hundreds, that he would build a wall on the southern border and Mexico would pay for it, "believe me." Mexico said from day one of Trump's campaign that they would not. Former President of Mexico Vincente Fox put it succinctly, "build your own fucking wall". But still Trump is attempting through his word salad to suggest that new trade deals will pay for the wall, no they won't. The American taxpayer must foot the bill and it's nonsense. Border security, yes. The wall that Trump wants, no. Don't be mislead, he wants exactly what he said, a solid concrete wall along the entire border. First, it's too expensive. Second, it will require the seizure of hundreds of miles of privately owned land under imminent domain. Third, experts say it's not the way to go, the answer is using a specialized fence we are already using combined with high tech solutions. Trump simply can't let go of the "wall" because he's incapable of evolving and listening to those who know more than he does on any given issue. Therein is the problem because he doesn't believe anyone knows more than him, a fatal flaw in one that is supposed to be a leader.

President Trump, be a leader, end the shutdown and continue tilting at windmills if you must.