President Trump is reportedly furious that his border wall is not fully funded. During a private meeting with members of the U.S. Senate, Trump was frustrated that funding for his $25 billion project had not been provided up front. The president also threatened to shut down the government to obtain the funds needed for this critical campaign promise (via Policy):
Trump on Monday, in a private meeting about the wall, raged at senators and his staffers about the $1.6 billion the Senate plans to send him this fall, according to two people familiar with the meeting. Trump wants the entire $25 billion up front and doesn’t understand why Congress is going to provide him with the funds piecemeal – even though that’s how the spending process usually works.
“The focus is on border security. And like all presidents, he wants it done now. But we are part of the legislative process, and it is slower and more deliberate,” said Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), who met with Trump.
The president said at the meeting that if Congress does not provide him with the resources needed to ensure border security, he will dissolve the government in September, according to one person familiar with the meeting. He didn’t give a specific number, but he is obsessed with receiving $25 billion at once.
GOP lawmakers are reluctant to shut down the government just weeks before the midterm elections.
Is this bad for the GOP? Oh yes, but let’s not forget that Trump’s agenda benefits the GOP, but also his core group of voters, who are not all Republicans. Trump has managed to navigate a tumultuous path with his base by leaning on GOP voters — 90 percent of whom voted for him in 2016 — and millions of Democrats and Independents, who liked his attitude. He was a change. He was different. And Hillary looked like the same senior movie, except it would cause more economic pain. Many Obama voters supported Trump; you won’t bury Clinton like Trump did in Ohio without facilitate from the other side of the aisle. If Trump is seen as urging both sides to check another action item off his agenda, he will be rewarded.
This is an straightforward element to understand. This is financing the wall, the wall that American special forces failed to climb. Obamacare was a high order. There are market factors to contend with, IRS code due to fresh taxes, regulations, etc. It was a mess. After nearly a decade of campaigning to repeal it, the GOP has failed. There are no such strings tied to the wall. In politics, if you promise a elementary thing, like building a wall, and you fail, you have to do something else. Trump is not like that. He will find a way to win.
Trump’s goal should not be to put his party, most of which agree with much of his platform, in a dire situation so close to midterms. Trump wants more GOP members elected, but that doesn’t mean he won’t get it done. He will do it.
The issue of immigration is one of the causes of division in the GOP, Democrats know it, which brings us to the nonsense discharge petition. It would allow the left to keep votes on immigration without the blessing of GOP leadership in the House of Representatives if it finds 218 signatories. This initiative lacked three votes, so we will vote on two bills that will probably not be adopted this week. Who brought Democrats so close to success in this attack? Well, that would be moderate Republicans.
