I love how he describes it: “There’s a way to get what the President wants and do the least amount of damage to the country as possible." The implication being anything the D’s want would by definition damage the country.
I’m okay with making a deal that gives the money, under two conditions. We get a dream checklist of things we want in return, and detailed specifics as to how the money will be allocated and how the bidding/contracting process will proceed.
I’m convinced that is this money is allocated, the no-bid contract will go to “Trump’s Fabulous Beautiful Walls, LLC” Or, he has already promised a bunch of Mar-A-Lago members that they will get the contracts once the money comes through.
Republicans passed a tax bill that has blown the roof off the deficit. And then used that expansion of the deficit as a major talking point in their failed attempts to cut/abolish Medicaid. Medicare and SSI.
Yet as the deficit continues to expand (and will likely expand and even worse rates going forward; particularly if the economy slows even the slightest), mere months later, they are demanding that will spend BILLIONS more on a vanity project. A vanity project that they can’t explain why they haven’t spent the $2.5B already allocated to them, or what that additional $5.7B they are demanding will actually be spent on.
Graham seems to be driving at a deal to sweeten the pot enough for Democrats that they’d yield on the wall.
“There’s a way to get what the President wants and do the least amount of damage to the country as possible,” Graham told Politico. “The wall plus something else” for the Democrats.
Tsk, tsk Lindsey - the problem with being a trump boot-licker is that you’re no longer a “trusted agent” when it comes to serving the interests of the American people.
That, and the typical Republican response to any problem that makes them look bad is to decide it’s really not their fault, that anyone that disagrees ‘just doesn’t get it’, and that the best solution is a combination of Dem bashing and having the GOP and it’s minions repeat their talking points even more loudly.
Want to end trump’s blackmail over the wall? Get Pence, McConnell and company in the room to talk about the 25th Amendment - or Impeachment.
There are places on the border where a physical barrier makes sense – essentially, urban areas like San Diego/Tijuana, El Paso/Juarez, etc. I know that in the El Paso/Juarez area the physical barrier needs upgrading. I heard on NPR this morning the same is true in San Diego.
I wouldn’t object to giving Induhvidual One $3B with the money earmarked for steel bollard physical barriers in the San Diego and El Paso sectors. Given Induhvidual One’s penchant for lying, it might a good idea to earmark that money down to particular miles of barrier. I’d give him another $750M for refugee support.
And for that substantial concession, I’d require Induhvidual One to sign off on DACA. They could go back and look at the agreement they thought they had last year and reissue it.
But the exercise would illustrate that the tRump maladministration is utterly incapable of governing. You and I already know that, but there are some dead-enders out there who haven’t figured it out yet.
Y’all in the GOPhave a mercurial POTUSwho wants a “win”. The wall is secondary to the win. It is “i win, you lose” deal making. Compromise is for losers.
This shows even 2 years into Washington life trump does not understand the most basic concept of how our government’s kegislative branch was designed to work. He hasn’t got even the concept of “loyal opposition”. My grandson who is almost 10 yrs old already has got the idea from his 4th grade teacher. And he brought up the idea with me over Christmas.
So now it is Graham who shows by example how deals are made in DC. Trump should be deeply embarrassed.
Edit
Now trump is up against a real Speaker who doesn’t work for him and she, I think, relishes teaching trump some hard lessons.
I think it should involve more than DACA. Particularly the situation with Haitians and even Vietnamese who have been here for decades being threatened with deportation. And these have to be written into law so that the Liar-In -Chief can’t go back on his word.
I think Trump’s base is endeared to him BECAUSE he is incapable of governing, at least as governing is defined by capable, sane people. They LIKE the fact the government is inept and in chaos. It proves their theory Washington is dysfunctional, albeit in some warped way since their hero is the cause of it. They’d just as soon power and governance devolved to the states, if not their local neighborhood. They and Cletus and Jethro should be left alone, they can run everything just fine without the help of elitist outsiders.
No, this entire idea of pitching a fit and using government shut-downs to get what one side wants, has to end. Or else it will keep happening over and over, screwing up our democracy. The Dems in the House finally have the perfect case for demonstrating how ridiculous it is as a “negotiating” (hostage taking) tactic, with a demand on the other side that polls badly. No negotiation unless the government is opened, period.
I don’t care if Lindsey and the R Senators try to make some fan dance about DACA, or health care. It isn’t worth it, because it won’t be much, and it will just continue the cycle. That’s what this is all about. The shutdown nonsense has to end now. Trump pitching infantile fits about the wall is the perfect opportunity.
That’s the part that is talked about nearly enough. If you listen to the news you’d think that the one-time sum of $5.7 billion will get the wall built and we’re done. But it will take much much more, but we don’t know because they are quiet about the details (or, more likely, they have no idea what they even want).
