Tonight, Trump will be given free airtime by the television networks to vent his intolerant views on immigration. When Barack Obama tried to give a national speech on immigration, the same networks balked at the idea, claiming that the speech would have been too political. So, while Trump has cowed the main networks into submission, these same supposedly liberal mainstream media outlets have refused to give Democrats equal airtime to refute Trump.
There is no question that Trump’s shutdown speech will be all about the wall, and that talk about the wall is nothing else but talk about Trump’s re-election in 2020. The fact that only CNN is likely to carry the Democratic response is troubling because it means that Trump’s message to the American public will go unchallenged until at least the next news cycle.
The emperor has no clothes
At this moment in history, it is worth remembering Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of the emperor who had a magnificent suit of invisible fabric, that only those intelligent enough could appreciate it. Indeed, the story is much more about the extremes to which people will go in order not to appear foolish.
In the story, the prime minister goes to inspect the work of the weavers only to discover that there was nothing to be seen. But, he is assured by the treacherous weavers that the cloth was only visible to those who could appreciate true beauty and were worthy of their station in life. Those that could not appreciate the cloth were therefore unworthy of their jobs. This is Mike Pence demanding that Democrats fund the wall.
It is this exact same fear–the fear of not appearing loyal enough to Trump–that has Senate Republicans cowering in fear. The Senate must bring the funding the House has passed and force Trump to veto reopening the government.
The invisible wall
Leave it to Trump’s people to claim that the wall was indeed not a wall, but rather a metaphor for what the United States needs. It is incumbent on Democrats to remind the American people that Mexico was supposed to pay for the wall. That the wall was supposed to be solid and 30 feet high. Lest we forget, Trump is a con-artist and the con he keeps perpetuating on his gullible followers is that he will deliver for them a White supremacist’s dream through his wall.
And while many of his followers know they are being conned, they need to be reminded by consistent messaging from the Democratic party that the wall will never be built because a wall will not stop demographics. Nor will a wall impede people overstaying their visas, nor terrorists from taking airplanes into the United States.
Democrats must remain firm on the issue of improving border security (hiring more agents, improving fencing, etc.) while at the same time denying Trump his ticket to re-election.