President Trump, in his rambling, wild ride of a rally in Phoenix Tuesday night suggested that he’d shut down the government, if he didn’t get funding for his border wall in an upcoming funding bill.
Crazy.
Why shut down our government for a wall that Mexico is paying for?
Oh, yeah.
House Speaker Paul Ryan must feel like a severely overworked babysitter, at this point.
Ryan responded to Trump’s veto promise during a press conference in Hillsboro, Ore., saying that Congress needed more time to complete the formal appropriations process to fund the border wall. Congress has passed legislation to fund border security improvements, including parts of the wall, but hasn’t allocated the full funding Trump’s request needs for the wall.
“There are very legitimate problems and concerns on the border that need to be addressed,” Ryan said, but “we’re going to need more time to complete our appropriations process, especially in the Senate.”
They’re going to need more time to convince Democrats that a border wall is a good investment of taxpayer funds (American taxpayers, not Mexican taxpayers).
Democrat lawmakers are fighting the notion, and promise to stand against any version of a spending bill that includes paying for the wall.
Said Trump:
“Build that wall. Now the obstructionist Democrats would like us not to do it, but believe me, if we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall,” Trump said Tuesday during a rally in Phoenix.
How exhausting.
Trump spent so much time trying to whip up the “us versus them” narrative, further inflaming tensions among neighbors, you have to wonder if he has ever really considered that maybe the best way to get your pet projects through isn’t to insult those you need to make it happen.
More of his inexperience on display.
“The president is employing a strategy that he thinks is effective for him,” Ryan said.
Well, being insulting and petty got him through the election, so, maybe he thinks he can just keep in that vein.
We’ll see how it works for him.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member