President Donald Trump wants a wall on the border to stop illegal aliens.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader (soon to be Speaker of the House) Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) don’t want a wall.
So when the three met in the Oval Office today to discuss a bill to keep the government going past December 21, President Trump again threatened to shut it down if Congress doesn’t give him what he wants.
And he offered a good reason: Improvements in the existing border barriers have stopped illegal immigrants from entering the country. In some sectors, he averred, the number has dropped almost 100 percent.
When the meeting ended, Pelosi questioned the president’s manhood.
Shouting Match
Trump permitted media access to the first part of the meeting where the three traded blows.
The president threatened to build the wall with the military on Twitter this morning, and began the meeting by describing the agreement with Democrats on a farm bill and criminal justice reform.
Then Trump moved to the wall. “It’s not an easy situation,” Trump said, “because the Democrats have a different view.”
As he did on Twitter this morning, Trump said that “tremendous amounts” of the wall and major renovations to border fencing are complete. As well, he said, the government has completed a major section of the wall near San Diego. “A lot of wall has been built, but we don’t talk about that,” he said.
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Trump said that “Illegal traffic” in the San Diego sector dropped 92 percent once the new wall was up. Elsewhere, new walls helped as well, he said. Illegal traffic dropped 95 percent in El Paso, 92 percent in Tucson, and 95-96 percent in Yuma, he said.
Trump also said border authorities had apprehended 10 terrorists at the border, a claim the White House, the Daily Beast averred, did not substantiate. But the webzine’s report admitted that government officials said terrorists have been caught at the border.
From there, the three argued about whether Trump, who enjoys a Republican majority in the House through Christmas recess, has the votes in the House to pass a spending bill with $5 billion for a wall. Trump said his bill can pass the House easily, but that he needs 10 Democrats in the Senate, so pushing it through the House now is a waste of time.
Both Democrats disputed his claim.
The two Democrats came in “good faith” as the “first branch of government,” Pelosi said, to negotiate a bill to keep the government open.
“We’re gonna keep it open if we have border security,” Trump interrupted. But, he continued, looking at Schumer, “if we don’t have good border security, Chuck, we’re not gonna keep it open.”
The high-decibel shouting match didn’t get much better when a reporter asked if border security was possible without a wall. Trump, of course said no. Schumer, citing “experts,” said yes. Earlier, Trump had said Israel’s border wall is 99 percent effective.
When Pelosi said they came to the White House to get agreement on meeting the “needs of the American people,” and observed that Democrats had taken the House, Trump reminded the putative House speaker that Republicans retained the Senate.
Then Schumer insulted voters in North Dakota and Indiana: “When the president brags that he won North Dakota and Indiana he’s in real trouble,” the New York leftist said.
We need border security, Trump finally said. “If we don’t have border security, we’ll shut down the government. This country needs border security. The wall is part of border security.”
When Schumer claimed Trump wants to shut down the government, Trump at first said no, he doesn’t. But then he called Schumer’s bluff:
You want to put that on my … I’ll take it. You know what I’ll say? Yes, if we don’t get what we want, one way or the other, whether it’s through you, through a military, through anything you wanna call, I will shut down the government absolutely. And I am proud, and I’ll tell you what, I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck. Because the people of this country don’t want criminals and people that have lots of problems and drugs pouring into this country. So I will take the mantel, I will be the one to shut it down. I won’t blame you for it.
Pelosi: He Has Manhood Issues
In a Democratic caucus meeting afterward, for the second time, Pelosi personally insulted the president: “It’s like a manhood thing for him,” she said. “As if manhood could ever be associated with him.”
That’s time No. 2 Pelosi has said as much. “It happens to be like a manhood issue for the president, building a wall,” Pelosi said in October, “and I’m not interested in that.”
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) backed the president this morning. “Great job sticking to your guns on border security, Mr. President!” he tweeted. “Put DACA on the table and make them say NO to the Wall and DACA.”
DACA is the Obama administration amnesty program for illegal-alien children who entered the country before they turned 16.
Photo: AP Images
