Trump prefers to call the government shutdown a strike by government employees. This, of course, defies all logic. The government was shut down because Trump has refused to sign a continuing resolution that would fund the government. Therefore, as required by law, federal employees have had to either work without pay or be furloughed until the shutdown is resolved. This is the truth. Yet this is a truth that Trump cannot handle, so instead he frames the problem as one where government employees are the bad faith actors, striking against the American people. And so, tonight, the Trump shutdown has tied with the previously longest government shutdown.
And of course Trump, the ever-ready con-man, pretends like he is amenable to any deal and that the Democrats are caught up in semantics about a wall. Trump says they can call the wall peaches for all he cares. It is worth reading the transcript of his address to the nation on the topic of the wall.
These are two pertinent paragraphs of Trump’s border wall speech:
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Finally, as part of an overall approach to border security, law enforcement professionals have requested $5.7 billion for a physical barrier. At the request of Democrats, it will be a steel barrier rather than a concrete wall. This barrier is absolutely critical to border security. It’s also what our professionals at the border want and need. This is just common sense.
The border wall would very quickly pay for itself. The cost of illegal drugs exceeds $500 billion a year — vastly more than the $5.7 billion we have requested from Congress. The wall will also be paid for, indirectly, by the great new trade deal we have made with Mexico.
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Source: Time Magazine
Notice how in the first paragraph, the con-artist plays the word “barrier” as being common-sense. Up to this point in the speech Trump appears to have backed down from his demand for a wall, even seeming to agree with Democrats that the barrier should be built of steel slats. But in the following sentence, he renames the barrier a “border wall”. This is the shell game played by countless con-artists: dress up something for something it is not. This is the con-game Trump plays on his base. Trump first appears to appeal to “common sense,” but he then immediately blows his dog whistle for his base. If anyone has any doubts about Trump’s feelings about his wall and how it will keep the untermenschen out, one only needs to listen to his son, Don Jr., explain how walls keep zoo animals in their place.
Fortunately, while this three ring circus that is the Trump presidency keeps spinning breathlessly out of control, the grown ups in the government appear to have been attently doing their jobs. According to the New York Times, the FBI has been investigating Trump after his firing of James Comey. The FBI suspected Trump might have been deeply compromised by Vladimir Putin. As many have pointed out, if it wasn’t for the chaos that encompasses daily life with Trump, such a story would have been unthinkable under any other president. Imagine what would have happened if Barack Obama had been under investigation by the FBI for any possible connection with Russians? Because he was seen to have been compromised by them? The hint of such a story would have thrown Republicans into conniptions and ensured Congressional inquiries into impeachment.
To be clear, the current manufactured crisis will likely end with Trump declaring a national emergency and demanding that the military build his stupid wall. After, when the Democrats put an end to the scheme through the courts, Trump will be able to point at the Democrats and tell his base that he tried everything he could, but for the Democrats. This is the way of the con-man. Nevertheless, the serious charges and investigations will continue against Trump and it is only a matter of time before justice is done. Whether it will take months or years, justice certainly appears to be headed to upend Trump’s world.