Presidents address the nation from the Oval Office during *actual* crises, like the Cuban Missile Crisis, or after the September 11 attacks. How utterly embarrassing to have a president who uses it to throw a tantrum because the majority of Americans know this is a fake crisis, and don't support a wall Mexico is supposed to be paying for.
5
The traitor should have allowed Putin's speech writers write his speech since they had offered to and they're more experienced at writing for meglomaniacs... I guess they'll write his next speech... his "declaring a national emergency, I am the dictator" speech.
3
Trump has said that his upcoming "trip" to the southern border "will accomplish nothing". How correct he is, so why is he wasting millions more in taxpayer money to further show his ignorance and cowardice? WHY?
He has no real knowledge of what is going on - just his rehearsed speech or lies and misrepresentations. He is like a four-year-old visiting a nuclear reactor and asserting that only he knows how it really works. A "stable genius" he is not; neither stable nor intelligent, nor educated. He is a waddling hate-monger playing President - a terrible mistake of the first order.
No, I do not like him; no, I do not believe him; no, I do not respect him; and yes, he must be removed from power and held fully accountable for all of his obvious crimes of hatred, division and treason.
6
The choice is simple. Put a wall around the Statue of Liberty, or put one around Donald Trump.
1
Why does the news media even seriously cover what Trump says -- about anything? He's a liar. I don't believe anything he tells us, and I know a lot of people who share that very disturbing conclusion. God help us if and when there is a genuine emergency. How can we ever trust the word of a President whose record is so replete with distortions, untruths and outright lies?
2
Has anyone seen the pre-election Brown Horde that was going to invade us in November of 2018? You know the one filled with tattooed Brown Young Men? The Horde that we sent our warriors to stop before they over-ran our Border Towns. Isn't it odd that the day after the election The Brown Horde ran out of steam? Trump is truly wise in one aspect and that is a sucker is born every day. Can't Trump's base see they are being played the way you play a fiddle? How about all of the Coal Miners jobs he brought back or all the Soybeans rotting. Trump promised a lot of things and did little so why is he making a fool wall his Alamo?
3
Worst, most woefully wooden speech by a fake prez having his last hurrah at our expense. Miserable delivery of terribly “crafted” writing. Trump’s in way over his head and no amount of funny money will save him. Thanks, Republicans, for what you’ve wrought
3
“Mr. McConnell fired back… Maybe the Democratic Party… [is] dead-set on opposing this particular president on any issue, for any reason, just for the sake of opposing him.” ---- sounds familiar, huh, mitch? does “my number one priority is making sure president Obama’s a one-term president” ring a bell?
5
While many of you fixate on and merely repeat CNN talking points (e.g., "It's not a crisis!"), try reading this: http://thefederalist.com/2019/01/09/medias-angry-response-to-president-trumps-oval-office-speech-comes-up-short/?fbclid=IwAR1DUoUOcrG80cxHGewkd72hHDnCp21U9l-T6fwnxGIlYa0efvqNHtbdrkE
Show us your taxes then we’ll talk about a wall!!!
2
Wall is not Small if you will Recall. Cash for this Trash will cause a Crash. Ray Sipe
2
There are over 1 million ‘undocumented’ migrant children in our public school system...at a cost to American taxpayers of approximately $11,000 per student, per year.
Let’s do the math: 1 Million migrant children....x $11,000 per child per year....x 7-10 years = $77 Billion - $110 Billion
And that figure doesn’t include the hundreds of thousands of so-called ‘anchor’ children of illegal migrants who’re are now entitled to citizenship and welfare benefits.
Gee, I think we can afford the Wall.
1
Nancy and Chuck, try this: call it a "techno-wall."
Trump won't know the difference between "techno" and concrete or steel. Just make sure that the two billion allocated for this wall will purchase drones with night vision, sonar surveillance, devices for detecting humans crossing the Rio Grande, and such. It's a "'wall' by any other name, less expensive and far more efficient than concrete and steel, far less costly to install, repair, and replace in the future. Trump will save face with his base, and you will have taken responsibility for one immigration "problem" and can move on to real issues of consequence--like DACA.
3
I'm a lifelong Democrat and see no real value in a $5B border wall. BUT I also don't see what value there is to the DEMs to grandstand.
Maybe other Times readers can convince me.
Pelosi has said Trump will not get his wall, or words to that effect, effectively drawing a red line that DEMs cannot cross without "losing face". Trump has done the same in his campaign promise to build a wall. He too has drawn a red line.
I can see only 2 motivations behind the DEMs red line, which are NOT mutually exclusive.
1. Put Trump on the spot. Play a game of chicken with him, in the hopes that he knuckles under, thereby facing the 2020 election with a huge dent in his armor.
2. DEMs truly believe the $5B wall is wrong, a bad use of the money, etc.
The first is NOT what DEMs should be doing. This is disrupting the lives of Federal workers and many others with a shutdown purely for partisan politic advantage.
The second is fine in principle. But I question whether DEMs are taking too hard a line. This issue is huge for Trump. DEMs could leverage it to get a lot of other things in trade, legalization of Dreamers' status, more funding for other infrastructure projects, and other things unrelated to immigration, such as arts, education, healthcare, a promise (for what that is worth) to nominate Merrick Garland if another SCOTUS seat opens up...
$5B is a lot of money, but compared to a Federal budget of around $4 TRILLION dollars it's a drop in the bucket.
Someone convince me.
2
If he gets away with this he will feel free to ignore the indictments that are coming his way.
3
Actually, we need a wall separating the Don from honest folks.
3
It's a myth that Donald J. Trump is a master class negotiator. He slams his fist on the table and storms out of the room!
The lies he and his representatives tell are emblematic of a doomed presidency.
Last night's teleprompter speech was absurd. Meanwhile, so many families are suffering as Trump believes it's no big deal for them to not be paid!
He is out of touch, lacks empathy, and does not relate to average people. His 'populism' is another myth.
I relish his eventual resignation, impeachment or indictment.
2
President Trump in his prime time address offered numerous talking points that were not accurate or truthful. It seems to me the issue that the American public should demand their elected officials focus on is the much larger and devastating tragedy of the citizen on citizen crime of gun violence that far exceeds any border related crimes. I am surprised the media didn't pivot to this issue to counteract the divisive diversion and infinite hypocrisy of the President. To state the obvious, it is mind numbing that a President would be proud to shut down any fraction of the government.
If the boarder wall is such a national security risk as he claims. Why hasn't he put natural guard or us military in place to get it secure. That's what the national guard is for. Securing our home land.
1
Trump is only using the wall fight to distract his loyal base from the illegal Russian enterprise of his Administration.
No Wall Funding.
We support the Democrats.
1
Someone needs to inform Lindsay Graham that Donald Trump will be the end of the Republican Party. Years ago the GOP made the claim, "The Party of Lincoln" a cynical lie; it's only apropos that they now back that up with the Liar in Chief.
1
After declining for nearly two decades, the number of illegal border crossers begin to rise in 2016 and 2017. The number of illegal border crossers is still far from 2000 levels, but there is catch. Illegal border crossers appended in previous decades were nearly all Mexicans. They could all be returned to Mexico within a few days of their arrest. Despite their numbers, they did not overwhelm the detention system because they spent few days in custody.
Today, most illegal immigrants were Central Americans, most of whom claim asylum when apprehended crossing the border illegally. Many turn themselves in to the Border Patrol after crossing the border illegally. Unlike Mexicans, Central Americans cannot be immediately returned to their home countries. Unlike illegal immigrant of 2000, they are overwhelming Department of Homeland Security detention capabilities and have to be released into the interior. This is what the Trump administration refers to when it refers to the crisis on the border.
1
Sorry about your loss @Proud but have you ever thought about where those drugs come from? They say drugs come across the port of entry. But when you crack down on the ports of entry, where will the try next? Building a physical barrier is an integral part of stopping drugs and human trafficking. Chuck and Nancy (Chancy) are playing political poker trying to score against Trump. They are the ones responsible for the shutdown. The Immigration reform can has been kicked down the road for too long. Now is the time to act. Three things need to happen.
1. Streamline legal immigration. It shouldn't have to take 20 years to immigrate here.
2. Build a wall, fence, drones cameras ect. Physically stop illegal immigration, drug, human smuggling.
3. Provide pathway for legalization.
1
We're arguing over 0.01% of the federal budget.
The shutdown has already cost more than the $5 billion being fought over.
Just vote the money and reopen the government.
4
Just how could construction of thousands of miles of wall be an EMERGENCY measure? It takes months to years to build the wall. Can you think of other emergencies in your life that you would have months to years to resolve? By definition, that wouldn't be an emergency.
12
As for the wall it was one of Trump’s campaign promises and voters saw nothing wrong with it. What’s the big deal now? Is it because he belongs to the other political party? Looks that way. Partisan Pelosi needs something to use to inhibit progress and the wall is it.
If we are serious about preventing illegal immigration the wall, whether or not it will work as Trump believes, will at least send a message to those wanting to enter illegally that we need to be taken seriously. If we do not make a stand everyone in South America will eventually be here.
Now who owns the shutdown? In my opinion it’s Pelosi. Based on her past history, when Pelosi became Speaker it was clear we were headed for trouble. She and Harry Reid were once the biggest obstacles to progress now it looks like she has recruited Schumer to take Reid’s place. Poor ole Schumer now he’s under her spell. Give Trump the money and let’s move on.
5
@JCB Of course more than half of the voters saw everything wrong with it. And remember the promise was that Americans won't pay for it. Now that Trump wants us to pay for it, of course even more people see everything wrong with it.
Maybe because the majority of Americans did not vote for Trump and did see something wrong with it. Maybe because Trump promised Mexico would pay for it? The man is all lies and you get blindsighted by it.
@JCB
Sorry man, but your observations only scratch the surface and are rooted in your inability to view the opposing point of view in any light other than lame sexism.
Ms. Pelosi is on firm ground here, and she is not the person who is making the government shutdown contingent on a single issue, Trump is doing that in remarkably inept style.
Where would you like to go with the issue once monies are approved? Because $5 billion is likely a drop in the bucket once engineers actually figure out how to build it, resolve all the property rights issues, bid it, build it, etc.
And then what do we have? A monument to our collective stupidity, likely easily breached through pretty mundane means.
I see a lot of references to it being like the Berlin Wall, but longer...check out how many troops were assigned to patrolling that baby (about 50,000 specially trained East Germans), and it was only 90 miles long.
JCB, I am sorry but there is no way the wall makes a lick of sense.
2
Throughout the world governments and the countries I have never seen a government partially shut down just for a patty issue of a wall. What a shame? It only speaks how far down our country has fallen to serve its people which has so many important issues to tackle with. Remove hunger and poverty of the people in the country. If country is weaker inside it does not matter how strong its borders are it will fall-that is the lesson of history.I hope our leaders in WH and congress pay attention to this.
6
I heard that “the wall” was first conceived of by Trump campaign staff as a memory trick so Trump would remember to talk about immigration on the campaign trail. It wasn’t meant to be an actual solution to our immigration woes because it isn’t one... it’s a simplistic, expensive and ineffective answer to our problems and we already have many unconnected walls built at the border, especially wherever there are significant roads and cities. The big story here is how does a memory trick become the hill upon which Fox News, Trump and the GOP sacrifice the livelihoods of everyday government employees upon? It’s hard to see this as anything more than a continuation of the petulant and obstructionist playbook created by Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh back in the late 70’s and perfected by Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity at Fox News...for their own personal enrichment! It’s anti-American, anti-democratic, anti solution, anti-governing, and destroying our country. The ONLY people served by this awful behavior is the people behaving that way and it’s time to hold this lot of arrested development psychopaths accountable for the havoc they have created.
7
Let Democrats float the proposal that, yes, they will gladly fund the Trump Wall - as long as he remains on the other side of it!
2
@GARY nyc - It had occurred to me that maybe we could get Mexico to agree to pay for it if we can convince them it will keep Trump out of Mexico.
1
every person presenting themselves at the border, or entering otherwise, has doubts, fears, love, pain, ideas, compassion, will, resolve, and sweat. besides being brothers to our kind, there's much better uses for billions of dollars than a big concrete funnel for those people that cannot - at all - stop them showing up. the us gov actually did spend 1B in 2017 in aid to Central and South American countries. funds in that direction would be more effective, per dollar, to limit any supposed crises at the border.
5
Trump conducted a mass loyalty poll last night using 8 minutes of free public and cable television delivery sandwiched in between a mass before-and-after email appeal to his donor base for a small amount of money. Possibly Kellyanne Conway's idea. Single issue, high profile, small donation, mass audience. It may test the "my followers are so loyal I could shoot someone on 5th avenue" hypothesis. It was very clever.
4
These immigrants come to the U.S. primarily to escape problems in their native countries (Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama) which includes a stagnant economy, high levels of crime, political corruption and widespread drug use. There is a legal way to request a green card to enter the U.S., however unlawful mobs entry is not allowed. Shame and disgrace of all these central American countries and their governments who fail to feed their people, to give them medical care, good housing, and jobs.
Sorry that your country does not love you anymore. To find true love you need to find and walk on God’s Holy road which will one day open the gate to His Kingdom in Heaven. The road you are currently walking is man made and will only bring you tears and despair, darkness and regrets.
1
I don’t want to play host to millions of foreign nationals who’ve unilaterally decided that our sovereign borders and laws don’t apply to them. I don’t want to pay for their visits to the ER. I don’t want to pay for their children’s education. I don’t want to pay for their public assistance.
Illegal migrants are costing American taxpayers billions of dollars year after year. We’re going to need whatever it takes to effectively STOP this brazen exploitation of our citizenry once and for all.
4
Build the wall!!
As an American taxpayer where do I go to get free meals, free medical and free lodging at an American spa?? when I break the law.
4
These episodes of "Political Posturing" are tiring and pathetic. Why the President is not receiving the support he needs to save face by our Congress is absurd. If you don't want to give him the Wall then at least make him look good so that he can let it go.
Perhaps that airing last night will provide the stage for each side to tell the media they are doing what they are doing because their constituents have asked them to take whatever position they have at the moment "for the people."
There are far greater issues pressing this nation. Such as, Where is Congress relative to Healthcare funding? Have the flaws been fixed or at least being worked through at this time? And the list goes on.
1
Imagine an alternate universe where the Democratic response was given by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
I'll bet we'd all be having a different conversation this morning!
3
I would love to see the evidence the Trump Administration presents to a court to justify claiming a national emergency on the southern border to justify him using that excuse to build the wall. It would never pass muster.
6
Just a few short years ago career politician Chuck Schumer was for the southern border wall, so was Nancy, so was Hillary and so was Bill Clinton who gave state of the Union speeches talking about strengthening the southern border wall and border security to protect American jobs (that's why I voted for him). The only difference now is the very same folks are playing politics and don't want to give Trump a win when 5 Billion dollars means nothing and they know in their hearts that it's the right thing to do which is to secure the border.
4
Trump's wall is a colossal waste of tax payer funds (not trump's since he barely pays taxes). It WON'T work. This is all 'trump preservation syndrome' making up a fake crisis to distract from his other failings and to please his GULLIBLE base. Running the country isn't the same as starring in a moronic reality show or leading cheers at a red hat rally.
Just sayin.... Lock him up!
1
“How much more American blood must we shed before Congress does its job?” (Trump)
How much more American blood must be shed before
Trump leaves?
11
I watch this from afar, not being an American. I might judge things wrongly, but America until now has been the cultural leader of the Western world since 1945, I grew up in a country where the Constitution was based on the American model. In many ways, yours is my culture, but I am alarmed by the crack between the way America is governed, and what the Constitution says.
You have separation of Church and State, and a pledge to treat all religions equally. The other day when TNY reported that Pence started his discussion with Pelosi by praying, and so did she. Appeals to prayer have become as common place in American politics, and Congress, as American flags on the lapels of politicians. Everybody goes along with this because 'prayer' means Catholic or Protestant incantations. But America has Muslims, Jews, and many others. Do you want wailing walls and muezzins in Congress, or are American politics Christian only? If you are not going to honour the Constitutional obligation to separate Church from State, you either degrade the Constitution by not obeying it, or have to change it and become a faith-led state like Saudi Arabia.
This cultural clash between the Enlightenment values of the Constitution and what America has allowed itself to become is all over the current chaos. The result is Trump.
19
I think this episode symbolizes the problem in US politics. On the one hand we have a President who embellishes lies and reports them as if they are facts and on the other hand we have two wooden, uninspiring robots whose monotone response to the crisis would bore even the most energetic puppy.
I'm disturbed that the government can be shut down for any reason. If it were a school classroom, a shutdown would be equivalent to a teacher punishing the entire class for the actions of one or two students. It's a lousy way to run a classroom, and a shutdown is a lousy way to run a country. There should be a constitutional amendment banning the use of government shutdowns as a political tactic. It's a fundamental infringement of the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of the entire citizenry. Shutdowns jeopardize the livelihoods of millions of workers and government contractors. It's a cruel and unjust way to govern.
12
@Dan - absolutely agree. The government should not be shut down.
The President should have discretion over 0.01% of the budget.
Vote the money, build the wall and reopen the government.
1
PLEASE will someone point out that this figure of "1 in 3 women coming across the border have been sexually assaulted" (wherever that comes from) is in fact THE SAME as the figure for women students sexually assaulted on US university campuses? (from multiple studies, and the figures are higher for indigenous women and trans students)
6
@Julie Macfarlane,
Don't know about those who are sexually assaulted, but from the pictures, it looks like at least 1/3 is pregnant and ready to give birth to a little American, if she can get across the border.
1
So in shady Trump business world it pays NOT to pay workers - this is NOT so in the government, shutdown will not "save" any
money- somebody tell this to the president!
And to hear that to reopen the government McConnell needs to ALLOW a vote( but he does not) is another clear argument that Republicans do not care about American People.
9
At any point in our history will there ever be a reckoning of what US foreign policy does to the citizens of the countries we involve ourselves in, that sooner or later sets the course for so many people wanting to leave their own country?
4
Just a thought: let economists do a cost-benefit analysis on building seawalls to protect hurricane prone coastal areas from future storms versus a wall along the Mexican border (most is already there!) and I am sure you will be surprised.
Isn't that we way we should spend taxpayers money?
7
Enough! Congress, put together a proposal that includes money for border security; don't care about if it's a wall or not. And please stop playing with the American people when it comes to illegal immigration. We don't want illegal immigration and contrary to the talking heads in CA and NY, we do not appreciate or endorse open borders OR letting people into the country because they are looking for a 'better life.' PS Dems, I no longer believe you are interested in keeping illegal immigrants out, even though you say otherwise, but if you really care about the government shutdown, you will work towards a budget that includes border security.
8
Based on the Trump campaign’s sending out funding solicitations before and after last night’s “speech,” if I ran the networks I’d be sending the campaign a bill for the air time. I’m sure it would not be collectible, but it would make for a fun “fake news” story.
11
Trump is shaping up to be exactly what I thought he would become two years ago when he was elected, a politically incompetent, slogan tossing Mandarin. With every day that passes, he further retreats into the black hole of his own incompetence, attempting to flail and yell and conspiracy theorize his way into relevance. Sorry, Mr. Trump, those days have passed. You cannot extricate yourself out of a crisis of your own making, so God help us if there is an actual crisis which happens on your watch. The real danger now is that the United States effectively has no one in charge. The is not currently a functioning executive branch. Anyone with an iota of self-knowledge or concern about the country would have quit. I’m sure our enemies are watching.
We need to have a mechanism for a vote of no confidence written into our political system.
8
I guess I'm a jerk, but I just don't care about this issue. Not one single iota. $5 billion out of a $4.5 trillion dollar budget? Who cares whether you think the wall is effective or not, the point is, some people DO think it's effective. It's called politics and compromise. Democrats have supported walls and barriers before. They're only objecting now because they refuse to give him the political victory. This could be win-win, but they won't let it. Sure $5 billion is likely a waste, but I don't care. In exchange for the $5 billion, Trump would work with them on Dreamers and other illegals who desperately need a path citizenship. This is grandstanding at its worst.
8
Trump's plea “How much more American blood must we shed before Congress does its job?” This in reference to non existent migrants crossing the Mexican border through a place where no wall exists. I had to think about the very real American blood shed on American streets in alarming cases not at all by immigrants but home grown nut jobs with guns. Trump has no credibility. Everything coming out of his mouth is self serving. He cares nothing about border security or American blood for that matter.
11
We've had some pretty bad presidents in my time, but I can't think of anyone other than Trump who has put his own ego ahead of the welfare of the citizens. What he is doing to the federal employees is a disgrace.
13
Some thoughts about moral and humanitarian duty to the American people:
Remember that phrase truth justice and the American way? Truth should be immutable justice should be morally and ethically justified as for the American way it currently defies definition.
Donald Trump would rather build a wall and then have people looking to his misdeeds in connection with being elected president. So what if there was communication between the Trump campaign and the Russians. That doesn't matter does it? Of course it does.
So I ask, who is going to make sure that the hungry receive SNAP and the children do not suffer?
How are disabled and elderly going to work for their food stamp benefits?
Who is inspecting the food that we eat?
Who is there to help AMERICAN teenagers complete and substantiate questions on the FAFSA form for financial aid for college?
Who is going to make sure that air travel is safe?
Who is going to make sure that the weather is accurately forecast?
Without the weather forecasts many things to put at risk....far beyond wardrobe concerns....
Without the TSA agents to search luggage there is a good chance that something inappropriate could slip on to a commercial flight Not a good idea.
Scaring people that they might not have food to eat and have their benefits cut off?
You made promises you are a stinking liar. Mexico isn't paying for your wall. But I'll pay for your playpen. You're a bully and a nasty child who deserves confinement. You are a bully. You won't win
9
Build the wall. Stop illegal immigration. Deport all illegal immigrants and their children. End chain migration. Stay strong, President Trump. The people who elected you want perseverance on this issue. Do not cave to the Democrat party which is invested in illegal immigration and the big government dependency that it creates.
10
@paul You are mistaken on each and every issue you raised. He should honor the will of the majority of the nation which does not want the wall. For many of us, it is an emblem of racism and jingoism.
15
@paul after wall is built along the border then should also build walls around the airports? Most of them come through the airports and over stay thier Visas. You must be a Native American or a descendant of slaves. For only those two groups had no choice in where they lived
10
I was wondering how Trump can “stay,” strong, inasmuch as he never was. Is this some kind of code for, “No matter what, don’t let ‘em see your finances?”
6
The man who wants to be king repeatedly cries wolf.
The man who promotes false narratives and surrounds himself with yes men yet demands the trust of the American people. The man has sold the Brooklyn Bridge over and over and is seen perhaps as a great hustler out of nye. The circus has become tiresome; the reality of the descent from facts and the promotion of self promotional opinion is convoluted.
7
“Heart”?
“Soul”?
Who is he kidding?
9
Donald Trump is to the truth as Clark Kent is to Superman. You will never find them in the same room.
11
And Superman was an alien immigrant
Yes, Trump is attempting to legitimize racial hatred and unify his base, but The Wall and the shutdown is now a primarily huge media distraction.
Far more important than the so-called "Wall" is the revelation that Paul Manafort while Trump's campaign manager secretly shared polling data with the Russians and helped Russians target voters on social media in key states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. This enabled Trump to carry the Electoral College with a total of a mere 70,000 votes in those key states.
If Trump had not colluded with the Russian he would not have been elected, and "The Wall" would be meaningless ancient history. That is where we must focus our attention until Trump is impeached!
17
Odd that Trump and the GOP are seemingly unaware that "walls" erected for the purpose of keeping people out [or in] have never ever worked, never in history of the world.
8
Xenophobia is alive and well,
Thanks to the lies Don the Con likes to tell.
More crime caused by legals,
More chaos caused by beagles,
Stop putting asylum seekers in hell.
(And open the government.)
7
I think it’s funny that the data about violence in America shows that most of our violent crime comes from white males with extremist religious or racist views and yet we are constantly spending time and money blaming everyone but ourselves.
Also he’s trying to solve the solution of drug trafficking but the cartels don’t need to cross the border when they can just go under it with the drug smuggling tunnels. If we want to stop the cartels, we need to help their customers. We need to stop criminalizing addiction because the moment they get out of jail, they go straight back to the drugs. If we instead treated those users with recovery programs, then the cartels wouldn’t have the incentive to bring the drugs over. Because their customer base would drop.
10
The only reason the cartels exist in the first place is that our country has an insatiable demand for drugs.
The GOP is a fan of market-based solutions so your proposal should ring true with their point of view. But it won’t.
1
@Andrew Walters
Since the majority of people in the US are Caucasian, someone who did not understand statistics would think that most violent crimes comes from white males.
And that someone would be wrong.
BTW: I don't know about Idaho, but my state has a huge network of taxpayer-funded addiction treatment centers. Some offer outpatient treatment, many offer residential treatment. There's a residential treatment center about a mile from my home. There's another residential treatment center about 20 miles from my home.
The vast majority of the substance users (drugs and/or alcohol) who go through recovery programs return again and again and again.
I was disappointed that the NYT decided to publish details of an off the record discussion that the President had with news anchors. Although I cannot claim to be well versed in journalistic ethics, the publication of these confidential conversations seems to cross the line. The NYT may not have been a party to the off the record agreement, but the people who disclosed this information obviously were, otherwise editors would have dismissed the information as not reliable. The Administration rightly or wrongly is already suspicious of the media and the publication of an off the record discussion is only going to exacerbate tensions. Moreover this detail is not critical to the story, nor does it add any important detail. President Trump was dubious about the speech but his advisers convinced him to make his case directly to the American people through a televised address. That tidbit sheds no light on the address or the facts underlying the issue. Would the Times have made a similar decision if Nancy Pelosi or Hilary Clinton had a similar off the record conversation with news media? Someone should address this issue and explain the editors' decision to readers.
3
What happened was, a couple of Trump’s people blabbed. And it’s relevant because it shows that his Big Speech came Alibi Included.
Which, to be fair, is typical of the man.
2
Calling the wall "immoral" was a mistake. Followed to it's logical conclusion, it's as if she's suggesting tearing down the barriers we have.
In any case, it gives the Republicans an argument that they've already made, i.e. that she's saying that the barrier that's there is fine, but adding to it is "immoral". It sounds ridiculous, which is why she shouldn't have said it.
Calling it a "manufactured crisis" was little better. This is stilted language that subtracts from the message.
Pelosi and Schumer are poor communicators. Neither one is an inspiring speaker. Frustrating.
What I would have preferred was that she said, as was reported in the Times, that Trump's advisors suggested the wall so that Trump wouldn't forget to talk about immigration.
at his rallies. And, then, it turned out to be a good applause line.
It was never something that was well thought out as public policy.
The main problem with it is that it's a waste of money. There are much better ways to address real problems with border security.
Further, Trump's arguments about why we should build this ridiculous wall are mostly lies or distortions. He wants to scare everybody so that he can feel like a winner. But, a win for Trump is a loss for America.
Feel free to rewrite that -- my point is that the Democrats need a more inspiring speaker than Pelosi and Schumer.
5
Where is the push back on Trump's claim the Federal Workers who are not getting paid are supporting him? In what world are we living that a so called Billionaire like Trump can lie through his teeth and tell us workers not getting paid are with him. Federal workers are paid next to nothing in the first place are supporting not getting paid? At the same time when Trump's cabinet is getting a ten thousand dollar rise. That is so insulting to anybody who has to work for a living .Trump's millionaire and billionaire cabinet gets a raise while working folks are struggling to pay their rent? The Marie-Antoinette attitude is so condescending and insulting it is beyond the Pale. The Dems should be able to drive a truck this.
5
There are people not working because trump wants more money for a fence. The last time I checked you can walk through the woods on the northern border. Keeping people out of work is not the answer.
4
Mr. McConnell fired back, noting the 2006 legislation. “... Or maybe they are that dead-set on opposing this particular president on any issue, for any reason, just for the sake of opposing him.”
Sounds exactly like McConnell's plan during the entire Obama administration.
7
Had this speech been about gun violence in America, it would have garnered the attention of the nation. Illegal immigration has declined 81% over the last 20 years. The crisis is not at the border.
10
Efforts need to focus on McConnell. Needs to be held accountable for obstructing bills from going to the floor.
6
I sent a simple email to Trump at the White House this morning. I read: Forget the wall. Reopen the government.
I encourage every citizen to do the same. Keep your statement simple and short. He prefers them like that.
4
Trump's case for the wall at this point is like a kid reasoning with parents by saying I really want and need greater nutrition, but let's start with candy bars. Give me all the candy bars and I get to eat those first. Then, and only then, we can talk about vegetables, fruit, and anything else you think is more nutritious.
Interesting that the increasingly panicky Graham mentions only "our party". He's right. Not the Republican party, but a party of panicky elder men losing their grip....."our" party indeed.
3
The POTUS' various methods of communication are intended to minimize any opportunity others may have to ask questions concerning his statements and actions. Donald Trump is a poorly educated man who does not read, and his limited vocabulary is evident every time he opens his mouth, therefore his tweets, brief White House driveway comments while on his way somewhere, etc. Not for him a quarterly news conference of more than one hour with questions and answers after initial remarks. It further shields him and justifies his modus operandi to continually attack the MSM.
Trump will occasionally do a one-on-one with a member of the media, such as a network news anchor. One suspects that, Trump being Trump, he does not entirely give over control of such interviews, and the media must take what it can get.
Be that as it may, Truthless Donald knows how to do TV. And tweets. And he is forever aggressive, although, for some reason, lately he seems less obstreperously so.
2
I think the President’s talk of a border crisis reveals a surprising belief in climate change, as he is basically saying, ‘“The sky is falling, the sky is falling,..”
2
Allies of the president warned fellow Republicans to stand with Mr. Trump. “If we undercut the president, that’s the end of his presidency and the end of our party,” Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said on Fox News after the speech.
This is the most un-American thing I have heard for a very long time. Putting party and self preservation over the good of our country and it's citizens. Shame Senator Graham! And shame anyone who goes along with this.
5
Lies may work in the private world of Trump but the rest of us must deal with reality and lies make that difficult.
Border security is not the same as expensive fixed and unmonitored barriers. Trump thinks of his wall like a certain method to seal off the U.S. Humanity has tried walls in the past and they are means to delay movement not of preventing it. He’s doing a lot of harm with his unreasonable behaviors.
3
Hey Lindsay Graham. You may be right that undercutting Trump on this would mean the end of his presidency, but it would be the beginning, not the end, of the Republican Party
6
Much like the Wizard of Oz, Trump has very little backbone if he privatelyadmite photo-ops at the border are poontless but relies on the advice of Sara Huckabee Sanders and Kellyanne Conway.
How can a person so apparently unconscious even be named a Sanders.
Last evening, nothing but same old, same old from the Dishonest, Divisive, Faux president who has zero interest in anyone other than himself and the misguided souls who worship him.
More than 2 years into this sham presidency -- 2+ years of hell for us normal Americans -- this Monster continues to prove he's unfit to preside over the U.S., and worse: He's a Blight to our society and its cherished norms and mores.
Trump is a worm in the fabric.
7
The real "humanitarian crisis" is Trump cavalierly taking away government workers' paychecks with his extortion tactic of shutting down the government to get what he wants--$5.7 billion from taxpayer dollars for an unnecessary, unjustified, unworkable ugly 2,000 mile border wall.
Add this to all the other "humanitarian crises" Trump has created: separating children from their parents at the border, putting children in cages, pulling the rug out from under the Dreamers, Trump's treatment of women, asylum seekers....
A Trump crisis a day keeps democratic government at bay--and keeps Putin smiling.
Our "humanitarian crisis" is in the Oval Office.
5
Its tired. It doesnt work anymore - trump-a-rousing speechifying..whatever. I know nobody who watched it.
6
Ironic we are in the midst of a philosophical war over borders when 68% of Americans can't locate Canada on a world map. That's all of the Trump voters and a large portion of Democrats. As a simple starting point- Wouldn't it help to at least know where we are first? Or does that even matter? Sorry that was a stupid question.
3
Mr. Trump, the billionaire president, should probably donate some of his fortunes obtained by cheating others, including the taxman, to build his own wall. He could claim that Mexico paid for it, if he wishes, because he employs immigrants, legal or otherwise, in his golf courses and has probably stiffed them too.
5
But where is creepy McConnell the majority ? leader of the tenuously named Republican Party? Kissing up to Trump’s pay off did not pay off after all. Why? Why, because it not serve the American public who he never cared for anyway. He cared only for his so-called Party and his personal POWER. Now that he had given his Party to Trump what is left of his power? Nothing. He should resign NOW!
3
Pelosi and Schumer did offer a solution to the problem. Open the government!
The 'other' problem is not what is being discussed so far. If illegal migration is the topic, then the discussion can't start with the need for a wall as a foregone conclusion. Five billion dollars and change would go far in creating a system that would thwart individuals attempting to cross the southern border. There would even be money left to apply that system to the northern border, which is also porous, not to mention legal points of entry where the hardened criminals are operating.
Such a system would first involve greatly increased human power and training. It would also involve technology that would be close to 100% effective in detection. It could involve powerful non-lethal repellents such as sound waves. I am sure a system can be developed that detects nearly all stealthy approaches and also provides an unpleasant experience that is absolutely discouraging. Anyway; a thirty foot wall is easily surmountable. There would still need to be US agents on the (1000 miles) of ground to deal with individuals coming over the top. ..but as stated, none of this is receiving any focus within Trump's government. He has staked much of his political viability on his very stupid idea and now has no way out. It's exactly like in poker; going all in with a weak hand against an opponent that saw it coming all the way. Busted!
5
Of course Mr Trump is blaming his poor - and boring - Oval Office address on his communications aides. Besides the likelihood that these three aides, Ms Sanders, Ms Conway and Mr. Shine, could not, outside of this presidency, get a communications job even for a dog catcher in California, the decision to go on TV is more evidence that this president is incapable of making even simple decisions on his own.
4
The crisis on the border w/ Mexico is a crisis of conscience.
Yemen is truly suffering a humanitarian crisis unlike anything else on this planet and what is the US doing to help them?
What happened to fiscal responsibility ? What happened to “we are not putting debt on the shoulders of our children and grandchildren”
Why isn’t 5 million dollars being spent in the towns and cities that suffer a drug epidemic My daughter tried and tried to get into a rehab facility but died of an overdose because beds were not available for Medicaid patients Treatment that cost 30 to 50 K was available in private facilities that are totally unaffordable to addicts who have lost everything
Spend money on the violence of our cities ....youth killing each other .... spend money on educating the young people who will become our caretakers in the future
That’s how you make “america great again”. Not with a wall
112
@Proud I am so sorry for your loss.
3
@Proud
What you’re saying is that taxpayer money should be spent helping drug abusing citizens more than border citizens who fear for their safety? Why does the drug abuser have more value? There is personal responsibility involved in the life of the drug abuser. I’m sorry about your daughter, but your view is tainted.
2
@Meredith
Because our disadvantaged citizens are our legal and moral responsibility, while illegals are the legal and moral responsibility of their own people and nations. Americans have absorbed 100 million 3rd worlders since the 1960s, we've paid for them and done the heavy lifting for their native countries. Enough is enough.
4
We often hear from apologists for the myriad failings of the Donald Trump administration; therefore, their ideas should be taken with a grain of salt.
What I saw was a man struggling to be "presidential."
Trump's calm demeanor was a manufactured performance. His breathing was labored. Every time he inhaled, we heard rough inward sniffling. Is he on prescription medication? Or something else?
He failed to make his case because his case is full of holes. There is no border rush. There is no danger to the United States. If Central American immigrants are a danger to our society, then we're in deep trouble.
As for the shutdown, let's tell the truth about this repulsive act from this cruel and uncaring millionaire. His treatment of hardworking humans is the true threat to our democracy. What kind of horrible person uses men and women who work hard for a living, and have financial responsibilities, as pawns in his own hissy fit?
Trump is a selfish creep. Why the Federal employees are not protesting at the Capitol Building and around the White House is beyond me.
As for a second term, Trump is sealing his doom. He will not be re-elected. Always remember that Hillary Clinton's final vote tally was 65,844,610, compared to Trump's 62,979,636, with a difference of 2,864,974.
We may have gotten snookered in 2016, but in 2020, we'll be ready for him and his corrupt cronies and Russian pals. We will not be snookered again.
4
'“If we undercut the president, that’s the end of his presidency and the end of our party,” Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said on Fox News after the speech.'
No, Lindsey, it would be a new beginning of your party. The GOP needs to shed its battered woman syndrome, stand up to this abuser, and retake the party. And this is coming from someone who would love nothing more than to see the GOP die. STAND UP.
3
His appearance has nothing to do with immigration or the government shutdown. He is pandering to his base and letting them know that he is doing everything possible to fulfill a campaign promise. He is willing to do anything, even hold millions of federal employees as a bargaining chip. His base will blame the Democrats.
He may consider declaring a national emergency and reroute defense money to the wall. Another tactic to gratify his base. He knows that the decision will be challenged in court dozens of time over. This is simply preparation for 2020.
1
Curiouser and Curiouser...
Just 3 weeks ago Trump and Gang were the 'Front and Center' of all the news with more and more information from the investigating seeming to be revealed daily. Now govt shutdown about a wall that he was not able to get funded when all both the House and Senate were led by Republicans.
I don't really suppose that the Trump and Gang investigation ran out of news releases, but all's quiet on that front. Yet even that, the President of the USA is willing to 800,000 plus thousands of more out on the streets by cutting off funds. It's beginning to look like 2008 all over again. Guess Republicans and their supporters are all into S&M Economy.
President trump is blackmailing Democrats not offering to negotiate. He is betting Democrats will cave faced with the shut down's denial of essential human services, suffering and business and government chaos. Narcissist disorder meet sociopath.
Warning to Democrats. The fact checkers have spoken.
Rewarding bullies with anything less than a bloody nose is counter productive. Republicans and trump need to know that they will be held responsible for all of the evil their idiotic wall spawns --to the point of seriously jeopardizing their chances in 2020.
The President should address the real crisis in this country; put his energy towards ending gun violence and domestic terrorism. This is where our citizens are dying, this is where the American dream vanishes, our children killed, and our communities shattered. Take on the NRA Mr. Trump and be a true American Hero.
3
@Eric Kessler - Talk to the courts.
Stop-and-frisk was taking illegal guns off the street and reducing crime in NYC.
Then a liberal judge stopped it, and crime is coming back.
Enforce the gun laws we have today before agitating for new ones.
I so believe in the innate goodness of the American people that I think if the news outlets, NY Times, television, everyone, went down to the countries in SA these people are fleeing, and showed the circumstances of their lives, the American public would be ready, and willing to help them and to see that a static, inert wall is NOT the answer. Kindness, and expediting asylum claims IS!
Please NY Times at least think about what the visuals of slums, etc and your excellent reporters could say.
35
@Sandra:
You have a kind heart....but first we need to look at our slums and the breathtaking situation of the rural poor in the U.S.
Do you want unlimited immigration, emptying out the slums of Central and South America? Think about what that would entail for the U.S.
6
@RLiss: Glad that you have so much faith in the 'goodness' of the American people. There is STILL a large swath of the American population that are catheted to Trump and his abhorrent policies. That is not an example of goodness or common sense.
5
@Sandra
Have you seen the living situations in USA inner cities? In many cities, they are terrible. Have you seen the data on murders in USA inner cities? In some of our cities, the murder rates are higher than in Central American countries.
Perhaps people in Chicago who live in the deadly neighborhoods could form caravans to the mayor's house, to the state capitol, to the nation's capitol, and demand relief. Murders in Chicago in 2018:
Shot & Killed: 495
Shot & Wounded: 2467
Total Shot: 2962
Total Homicides: 589
Murder rates for Baltimore, Washington D. C., New Orleans, St. Louis, and Oakland are extremely high.
Why shouldn't we worry more about Americans, who have been here for generations, who are poor, need help, and many of whom live in neighborhoods where a night without a murder is the exception.
3
Meanwhile, Congress should pass a bill to loan federal workers 80% of their pay. Why should our dedicated civil servants be made to suffer?
1
@Michael
Dedicated civil servants? Some, yes; others, no.
I bought children's clothing from a 'dedicated civil servant' using her @irs.gov address.
"If we undercut the president, that’s the end of his presidency and the end of our party,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina..."
Well, then the president should have not picked this issue on which to stand his ground (a wall as only solution to border problems). It is not "undercutting" to fail to support a bad or wasteful idea, and to propose alternatives. There is a reality beside partisan politics.
4
I would like to see our Congress and all the President's top cabinet members tied into the none payment same as our federal workers. These federal workers are the ones who serve our country daily.
If that happens, I don't think we will ever see a protacted budget fight like this again.
I think Congress figured out the 5.7 billion dollars is just the tip of the iceberge on a 200 plus billion capital project that we do not need. This money could better use elsewhere. Mr. President, I thought Mexico was paying for the wall?
2
In one minute of congressional testimony moments ago, a federal correctional officers' representative brought it all home: prison guards are the lowest paid law enforcement officers in the federal system but guard against the most dangerous criminals other state officers may experience once, if ever, in their careers. Many federal officers are veterans who enter the system at grades 5 or 6. Federal prisons are already woefully understaffed, with cooks filling in for guards. If guards are killed or injured due to this shutdown, their blood will be on the hands of those in Congress who insist on shutting down the government for a border wall, particularly when the most imminent threat comes from within our country and our own federal prisons. "Stop playing chicken with the lives of our federal correctional officers." APPLAUSE.
2
Trump is using the wall to distract from the many investigations of his business practices, misdeeds of the campaign and misuse of his position of as president. Trump sees criminals everywhere, but he does not have to look outside the walls of the White House. He is the subject of approximately 17 investigations. The Country will not resolve any of the pressing issues of the day until he is relocated from within the walls of the White House to the within the walls of the courts then to whatever walls come after that.
1
Dems, just 3 points:
1. Trump and his GOP have adopted as canon Reagan's admonition that "government is not the solution ...government is the problem." A government shutdown to them is no mere political tactic, a trying means to a worthy end. It is a welcomed disruption of the status quo and a rebuke to disloyal civil servants who are "mostly Democrats" anyway.
2. The factual basis for the purported emergency has shifted with nearly every statement by the President and White House officials. National security at stake? First 4,000 suspected terrorists were detained at the border--until there were only 6. But 1 is too many! Except that 91 were detained at the Northern border, and no wall has been proposed there. Thousands and thousands of illegal border crossings? Border crossings have declined. But too many immigrants are seeking asylum and are overwhelming the system! Asylum seekers must-by definition-surrender at the border. Again, they voluntarily stop and surrender at the border. How does a wall fix this?
3. What was done to solve this "crisis" in the first 2 years of the Trump presidency, when the GOP controlled the House and Senate. Nada. Trump's actual priorities: Repeal the ACA and, failing at that, cripple it; Pass a massive tax cut for the wealthy and corporations; seat Supreme Court justices; play lots of golf. The true crisis is the one faced by Trump's 2020 campaign. The billions for the Wall are a campaign contribution that he demands all taxpayers to pay.
As a candidate, Trump with Steve Bannon had provided some details for funding the wall on Mexican Border. Those details need to be unearthed and put to use to placate Trump's core supporter.
From my memory: A new tax on reparations from US to Mexico transactions was going to bring Mexican government to US on its knees and offer to fund the building of the wall. EASY negotiations according to Trump and Bannon.
Stiffing American federal workers was never part of the revealed negotiations strategy. Easy.
1
I may have missed it, but does anyone know if Mexico has been invoiced for this first 5.6 billion dollar installment payment for the wall (probably engineering and prototype work)? Shouldn't someone from the Mexican treasury accounts payable department have a seat at the table in Washington? With favorable terms, I'd think they'd be more than willing to pay for it. Like when you're at Best Buy and considering that $3,000, 75" Samsung OLED, you're like "whoa, a lot of coin", but spread out over six months, interest free it looks a lot more doable. I'm sure it's much the same for Mexico. "Sure, amigo, 25 billion spread over six months, yeah we can swing that."
They could not tell us the truth about invading Iraq, why should we trust them on immigration. The Republican Party has no credibility.
Republicans had two years with control of the house and senate. The real crisis was trumps inability to get this funded 2 years ago.
When will his supporters learn he is not a an effective leader!
Carrots, not sticks.
Republicans hate government. Republicans want to eliminate government. Republicans want to cut government spending. Republicans want to privatize government.
When the government shuts down, therefore, the default response of the American people naturally is to lay blame at the feet of Republicans. It's not rocket science.
So, rather than shutting down the government as a way of getting his coveted wall funded and built (sticks), the president should be offering something Democrats want in exchange for the wall (carrots).
Democrats have long shown a desire and a willingness to work with Mr. Trump on infrastructure. If the president slipped in a $5 billion request for border wall funding into an overall, say, $100 or even $500 billion major infrastructure proposal, how long would it take before cracks started appearing in the Democrats' unified front?
My hunch is not very long. And nothing has to get shut down in the meantime.
Trumps "sniffing" or "snurking" as if to dislodge some built up secretions at the back of his nasal passage is merely a nervous tic he is unable to suppress when forced to read words written down for him. His squint-eyed and pinched facial features were as expressionless as mannequin's head.
While he may have influenced a phrase here and there, he did not pen a single sentence in his monotonous recitation. He reminded me of my high school English classes where every student was required to stand up at the front of the room and recite a minimum of 20 lines from a Shakespeare play. Hamlet's soliloquy was a passage almost universally chosen because it met the 20-line requirement with a couple of lines to spare. The recitations were as monotone and dispirited as was Trump's performance last night, and about as useful as a tool to generate interest in Shakespeare's works as Trump's blathering was to initiate a real dialog toward the resolution of this issue.
I think we could double our immigration and it would be great for our economy. The people who are willing to walk 1,000 miles with their children are not coming here to just sit. These are courageous people who are willing to sacrifice to achieve their dream of living in our country. Put the money at the border into immigration judges and job placement for these asylum seekers. We need a more enlightened immigration policy that gives a short path to citizenship for DACA participants and easier access to citizenship for all. The jingoism needs to be replaced with humanitarianism. Don't build the wall.
1
One phrase of Trump's statement last night did indeed that catch my attention and stood out for me that I'll paraphrase: "This (the border situation) is a crisis of heart and soul". In reflecting on these nuanced (and seemingly unconscious) words I am left to wonder if this is a man who unwittingly cries out for what any narcissist or sociopath has no experience of within himself, namely, a heart and a soul. Perhaps some personal "truth" is unconsciously emerging through Trump's own words?
I turned off the television. If Trump's lips are moving, he is lying and I refuse to participate in his charade. This is a vanity project, not a thoughtful and deliberate process to address our border security needs. Networks play right into this by giving him free airtime. By the way, "The Daily Mail" in Britain said that before hand Trump's campaign was using the speech as a fundraising tool - donate $5 before the broadcast at 9 pm!!!
1
Am I the only one who has noticed that this has become a show stopper only once the Democrats regained the majority in the House? President Trump had a majority in the House and Senate for two years, and as memory serves, he was unable to generate any enthusiasm or urgency for a border wall then, why is now so critical?
3
What’s getting radio play is Trump’s statement that immigration hurts African-Americans and Hispanics. He is trying to win new converts, and this approach assumes that he has secured his base and also neared a ceiling on non-minority supporters. The Democratic leadership must address this immediately and show that the party stands up for common-sense immigration policy/border security while also fighting for and protecting opportunities for the working and middle class. This is sort of about a wall, but realistically it’s more about piercing the unity of the Democratic Party for Trump.
From our perspective here in Canada, Trump exagerated many issues in his speech last night. Many of his words revolved around emotions, especially fear rather than good, weighed and balanced judgement with use of logic on issues.
The U.S. has seen much better presidents. Much better.
The entire "wall" concept is offensive to Mexico, Mexicans, and to people of compassion and conscience in the U.S. and everywhere. However, the debate is playing out at the level of symbol and fantasy. The fact that Trump shuts the government over a symbol is fascinating. But the layers of absurdity and hypocrisy are mind-boggling and make it hard to address in the real world. One solution would be for the dems to pass a house bill to fund the govt and agree that government employees will build a wall once funds have been transferred to meet payroll and expenses from the government of Mexico. Trump said the US would build a wall and Mexico would pay for it. This would put his absurd fantasy that his deal making skills are supreme to the test. Knowing that it will never happen, the dispute will simply go away - back to the fantasy land in which it truly resides. The conservative psyche - wall as symbol of strength and protection - can remain in their collective psyche. And then the real world of government, solving problems, paying employees, can continue.
President Obama's border guard expert was reported yesterday saying "walls work". This is not Trump's wall but the American people's wall which will be there long after Trump is gone. The Democrats want open borders, no security and sanctuary cities. They crave lawlessness.
3
@P McGrath I think you have to support that last remark.
"crave lawlessness" - really?
Trump asked for $5.7 billion for 234 miles of wall. What about the other 1700 miles? Trump has created a phony crisis over border security and a government shutdown over 234 miles of wall.
Simple Reality:
Majority of Americans do not support the border.
McConnell and Republicans (House & Senate over the last two years and now) do not have the votes (notice Mitch is absent from any of this...)
By the way...if the wall was/is so important, why didn’t Mitch and Paul get passed over the last two years when Republicans had Congress and the WH?
The resolution to immigration issues is not just a wall, but rather a whole package of actions, as was passed by both parties in many different legislative packages the last two years.
The wall is outdated tech and system, far too limited in scope to address the complexities and 2019 realities of this issue.
We, the people, should get in the phones and tell our Congressional Reps (House and Senate) to pass the legislation packages approved on 12/19/18 or the new 6 bills passed by the House on 1/3/19; open the government and debate immigration and Border/Homeland security independently.
In other words, govern!!
2
The biggest con job our society has pulled is convincing the middle class to focus their anger on the less fortunate while the upper class steals us blind. Let's get angry at the poor person that steals $100.00 or illegally gets $200.00 in food stamps while our Govt issued pork belly contracts for military equipment and infrastructure are settled with a wink and a nod for $100 of millions more than is actually needed and surprisingly our elected representatives retire to nice cushy jobs with the companies they issue contract to. Wake up folks, most of the real theft is happening above you and not below.
3
I am struck by the lame response of the democrats and why on earth they would frame the wall as immoral. it probably is and as someone born in Germany I am very much against walls but it's also a waste of money. and that argument would work much better with people concerned with managing immigration more closely.
1
All the dishonesty and dysfunction the GOP has become, on display in one speech.
The special platform of a Presidential address has now, like everything Trump touches, been devalued. God forbid there should be a real crisis while this guy is in office.
This so called speech only high lights all the more that Trump has no real concern for the nation and its people. His only real concern is remaining in the center of attention and getting the headlines. This ego-centered freak must be impeached without delay. He is ruining this country and hundreds of thousand lives.
I wonder how long he went after his speech before calling Sean up and asking "How did I do?".
I wonder how long it took to check his Rush Limbaugh feeds to know if he did well among his handlers at FOX News?
I just want to make sure that Trump fans understand 1200 miles of the border is a river with International treaties. Part of that border is a National Park.
And ALL of that border has oceans as bookends. You cannot seal an ocean.
After seeing his "performance" last night, I sure would like spend an evening playing seven-card stud with Trump. He would raise every bluff to the max rather than show a busted straight. And this despite the fact that all the cards which might fill that straight were already showing in the other player's hands.
Even better -- and extending the metaphor -- there's no doubt that there'd be one or two suckers at the table (which we'll call his "base") who would be taken in by all that the bluffing. But that just means more winning for the rest of the players capable of looking at the actual up-cards, doing the hard math and calculating the real odds. There's a lot of money to be made in that situation.
19
Ah, Mitch, the ultimate hypocrite:
Mr. McConnell fired back...“Maybe the Democratic Party ...[is] dead-set on opposing this particular president on any issue, for any reason, just for the sake of opposing him.”
Hmmm, where have we seen precisely that behavior in a politician recently...one who unabashedly proclaimed that behavior to be his job when Obama took office....hmmm.
Traitor.
5
It is pointless to discuss the content of the speech--or anything he says. Far more interesting is the question, "Why does he have such problems breathing through his nose?" Time after time, he makes a disgusting nasal sound that makes me want to think "coke nose." In fact, a lot of his behavior resembles that displayed by heavy cocaine users. Is he a cocaine user? I don't know and am certainly not making that claim. But he spent many years clubbin' in NYC, so maybe someone knows
The open border is driving drug deaths, child exploitation, sex trafficking and gang killings. The only winners are the drug cartels and the Democratic party. It's clear neither care about the American people.
1
@Jon Galt
Please tell me where this mythological open birder is? How about we focus on real threats to the American people. Criminals in the Oval Office.
1
I'd rather watch Stormy Daniels fold laundry than see Don the Con lie, dissemble, and misleading assert his bigoted, ignorant and misanthropic opinions to the nation. In fact, I did.
2
Why did you not print one word of what Bernie Sanders had to say ? The Times continues to curry favor with corporate Democrats.
2
Donald Trump and his family of freeloaders avoid paying taxes but Trump has the gall to demand tax payers pay for his wall. Why do none of the Trump supporters not care about this????!!!
3
Hey Trump when you take away people's pay checks they couldn't care less about your "humanitarian" crisis.
44
“If we undercut the president, that’s the end of his presidency and the end of our party,” Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said on Fox News after the speech.
Right. Graham could not have been more clear and honest. Neither border security nor the consequences of the soon to be longest shutdown in United States history are important enough for the republican leaders to do the right thing. No matter what they are willing to stand and fight over this really stupid issue.
6
Both sides grow up and compromise. Seriously, it's not that hard. Fund part of the wall and see if it helps border patrol. If it does, fund some more. If it doesn't stop. Seriously...grow up.
15
@Jerome
Let’s have Trump start using E-Verify at all of his businesses. Then we can talk about a wall.
12
One side is already grown up. Please, Democrats, continue to be the adults in the room and do not give in to the petulant child in the White House. Let him kick and scream and yell and hold his breath. He will eventually tire and need a nap. If you give in on this, expect to see the tantrum repeated for the next useless toy he wants for himself and his red hat gang.
19
@Jerome: "Both sides grow-up"? I believe that the Dems are the grown-ups here. Curious why you fail to notice that. Trump isn't interested in a 'compromise'---it is his border wall, meaning 'my way or the highway'. He has zero capacity to compromise or negotiate. Megalomaniacs don't have the capacity for compromise.
11
Hopefully Graham is right that this will end the GOPs grasp on power. Declaring a national emergency would fit right into Trump's ridiculous stunt. McConnell's abdication of influence is almost as bad as Trump's gov't shutdown gambit.
2
1. For whom does McConnell work? The people of Ky ? Not that we can see. The people of the United States? Mmmmmm........nope, doesn’t look like it. Trump? YEP!
2. McConnell seems to forget that he made 1 promise during Obama’s presidency, the make him a 1 term president. That didn’t happen. His 1 & only mission during Obama’s 2nd term was to block everything our President Obama proposed even as it hurt the American people. McConnnell would not bring to the floor Obama’s Supreme Court nominees . If a Dem had won the presidency instead of Trump, McConnell said he would keep the seats infilled until a republican was president. What laws is McConnell breaking as he obviously is not working for the American citizens ? He’s salary and superior health care are paid with our tax money, but he’s not working for us. Is he too, a member of the Putin fan club?
3
Congratulations to Sen. Schumer for keeping a straight face while flip-flopping on the necessity of a physical structure at our southern border. He wins the Chameleon Prize for politics over principle.
Trump's hatred for and of the poor and those with little to no means or resources sticks out to most of us like a sore thumb. Where does this hatred in him originate ? It comes from living his entire life with a father and a family that went to vast extremes to teach him that the poor are to be used and abused, financially, emotionally, since they are viewed as, not only slackers and takers, but vast drains on their federal, state and local tax responsibilities. The Trump family- wasn't having any of it.
Fast forward to our current GOP extremist political abyss. Trump and his lazy tax avoiding base are 'all in' on the wall and that includes McConnell and his entire tax avoiding GOP'ers. Problem is, we refuse to buy in to his racist, Latino's-are-terrorists propaganda he's selling to cover for his true personal hatred of these poor and downtrodden people.
Instead of 'the wall', why isn't he negotiating with the leaders of Honduras, Guatamala, San Salvador to help solve their problems? Because they also know Trump is an instigator, manipulator, hater of Latino people, culture and history.
When and where will it ever end.
1
The networks got played into giving Trump free prime air time for a campaign speech aimed at his base and loaded with dog whistles. That’s all this foolishness was.
3
“If we undercut the president, that’s the end of his presidency and the end of our party,” Senator Graham will soon amend that comment to, "undercutting the president will be the salvation of our party".
The lifelong swindler who insists a wall will give us security is the same stable genius who suggested the solution to the California wildfires was to follow the Finnish example of raking the forest floor. . . . . This is also the man who just lectured the White House staff on how the Soviet Union was justified in invading Afghanistan, completely rewriting history and abandoning U.S. foreign policy of the past 40 years.
Meanwhile there are hundreds of thousands of federal employees not getting a paycheck who may soon begin to panic. Unlike the immigrant children being kept in cages they're not a thousand miles away, most are right in D.C., too close to be ignored or forgotten.
Senator Graham et. al. of the GOP need to realize that Donald has veered off on a bizarre course all his own, one they need not and should not follow. Follow the examples of former Generals Kelly and Mattis and walk.
3
A woman who's son was murdered by an illegal immigrant was interviewed a couple months ago on television and was asked if she thought the Democrats cared about all the Americans who are being murdered or killed by illegal immigrants in drunk driving accidents. She said, "No, they just step right over their bodies."
Pelosi and Schumer proved how right she was. In their response to President Trump's address, they didn't even mention the thousands of American citizens who have been killed by illegal immigrants. Apparently they could care less.
@dgbu
Thousands more are killed by white men with guns should we deport all white men? Apparently republicans don’t care that people are dying ever day by men.
1
We spend $45 BILLION PER YEAR in Afghanistan...but Democrats can’t cough up a fraction of that to secure our own sovereign borders?
1
For once, I agree with Trump. His speech was pointless. He interrupted the evenings of tens of millions of Americans without good reason.
The border wall is nonsense. Most drugs come through legal ports of entry. Most migrants are not criminals. Etc.
Instead of holding our federal employees and everyone who depends on them hostage, he needs to stop the government shutdown and negotiate in good faith.
Democrats gave him more than one plan. Trump agreed to more than one, but then backed off when one or another media personality mocked him. This is not a presidency. It is a travesty.
1
This was such a lame, last ditch stunt that spoke only to the core of Trump people in Red America. By inserting the word “humanitarian” into his nine minute hostage video (yes, it was as sincere as that) Trump-whisperers tried to claim, absurdly, a shift, a presidential gesture.
Unfortunately, neither Democrat first responders, Schumer and Pelosi, spoke plainly, calling this what it was—a stunt and a President at war with his country.
1
If we had a real President instead of FAKE one, he might recognize a true national emergency -- like the 38,000-40,000 gun deaths a year in the US. According to gunviolencearchive.org, in just the first 9 days of 2019, there have already been over 1100 shooting incidents, resulting in 325 deaths. And those figures don't include around 22,000 suicides a year. Every year we lose more people to gun violence than there are names on the Vietnam Memorial. And we were in that war from the time I started kindergarten right through my high school graduation. We've had nearly two generations of traumatized kids and their families. At what point will these numbers come to be seen as a national emergency? When will people stop voting against their own best interests, and demand a President and a Congress with the stones to take on this issue?
6
The real crisis is the President is a liar who is looking for a crisis to hide behind. He is willing to make up a crisis. What is to stop him from allowing a real crisis?
2
Trump's listless performance offers me no solace. he is a golfer and that's about as deep as his strategy thinking goes. To him this is a lay-up shot onto the green from where he thinks he can two-putt.
1) Drag out the shutdown and then; 2)Declare a national emergency.
Be prepared for the worst, America.
4
Now this "President" has intentionally violated, with fakery and repetitive lies, yet another presidential norm and tradition, only using an Oval Office Address to the American public for authentically grave, serious issues facing the country. Impeach, Convict, Remove; Indict, Convict, Jail! And Soon!
3
Same story, different day, bigger megaphone: "I. Me. Big. Win. Lie. Try to ide the Russian situation that will bring me down." And more of the same. Even Fox News called him out on his cavalcade of lies last night, pointing us to one more trumpist term: "Sad."
1
Blimps. Drones. Sensors. Cameras.
What do all of these have in common? They don’t actually stop illegal immigration.
We’ve already invested billions in these border security technologies.
What has been the result?
Tens of millions illegal immigrants simply walking across the border.
So, if not a physical border fence, then what is the solution? The same tired old “technology”? Or maybe just giving up completely?
I normally listen to the POTUS when he talks live but with Trump I turn it off. He lies so much and it’s too embarrassing to watch him struggle being coherent.
2
What we saw was a 9 minute infomercial with fundraising pitches- propaganda aired by big media for ratings. Shame on those who broadcast this and continue to give time to this sickness.
2
Latest Trump stunt that bombed. Trump is planning to leave air traffic controllers and the TSA unpaid for years? Yeah right. During the next two weeks the Republicans in the Senate are going to panic.
70
'“If we undercut the president, that’s the end of his presidency and the end of our party,” Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said on Fox News after the speech.'
"...the end of our party"? What party? The GOP is no longer a political party; it's a cult. Political parties in America work from a basic set of agreed upon principles; democracy, the rule of law, no man is above the law. In their grasp for power the GOP has thrown all that under the bus for party over country and power over principles. That's NOT a valid political party in America; that's a cult.
116
@rls. More like a rotting corpse. Time to bury it and yes, end this presidency. Could this be the breaking point that frees us from this zombie apocalypse of an administration?
9
“It’s not going to change a damn thing, but I’m still doing it,” Mr. Trump said of the border visit, according to one of the people, who was in the room. The trip was merely a photo opportunity, he said. “But,” he added, gesturing at his communications aides Bill Shine, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kellyanne Conway, “these people behind you say it’s worth it.”
LOL, Trump is such a weakling, afraid to take responsibility for his own decisions, setting up others to take the fall if what he is doing doesn't work, making it clear it will be their fault not his. Of course if by some miracle the ploy worked, he would call it the greatest speech ever made by any President and declare a personal victory.
What if Bill, Sarah and Kellyanne (the brain trust?) told him the best thing he could do to get his wall would be to take a nationally televised pie in the face, would he do that? And if he did it, would he call it the greatest pie-in-the-face ever taken by a president? Answer to the first question is probably no, answer to second is definitely yes.
5
Mr. Trump, maybe you should think twice about visiting Federal employees that aren't being paid. Just a thought.
8
Lindsay Grahm is afraid he will get primaried in the 2020 elections so he pivots with the political winds. . Does he realize how craven he looks? How obsequious? And weak? His behavior assures a primary challenge. What a pathetic figure.
7
his team cant buy a decent chair for $5000 .so we will mostly likely get something like a picket fence fore that kind of money..its still less them then the last family in the white house spent on vactions
And now, a brief word form the Kremlin.
"If we undercut the president, that’s the end of his presidency and the end of our party,” Senator (Comrade) Lindsey Graham
8
The crisis is that this country's run by a Russian quisling who is now threatening to declare a state of emergency.
6
“If we undercut the president, that’s the end of his presidency and the end of our party.”
From your lips to god's ear, Mitch.
Undercut away!
7
@Sixofone
I think that was Lindsey Graham.
5
Paul Manafort shared polling data with Kremlin-tied Russian operatives.
4
All and all it's just more lies about the wall.
3
‘How can you have any security if ya don’t eat‘ cha meat?!?!!’
1
I find it telling that the fate of the Grand Old Party is in the small hands of a self confessed sex offender.
10
@James Carlisle Bill Clinton changed parties? Does this mean Hillary, his cover-up artist in chief changed parties too.
‘’Humanitarian crisis’’?? The one of his own making. As for the drug crisis, it wasn’t smuggled into the country but rather a product of America’s failures to deal with opioids and their dispensation. The latter is quite complex and there is a Times article that sheds light on the issue at hand.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/us/west-virginia-opioids.html
Needless to say, the wall won’t fix the ‘opioid’ issue or the humanitarian crisis.
One wonders why the incessant need to fund a wall (by the taxpayers) that was supposed to be paid for by Mexico? Unless of course some of his campaign contributors or cronies (read: future contributors) are waiting with bated breath for the govt. money to flow into their coffers. Already, the so-called ‘humanitarian crisis’ has funnelled loads of govt. money to those contractors, responsible for the upkeep of the detention centres, all with direct or indirect links to the Republican Party or the Cabinet.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/04/us/migrant-families-contractors-campaign-contributions.amp.html
Holding the government hostage and putting the livelihoods of some many LEGAL AMERICANS and public servants at risk for the sake of so-called illegals. How American?!
Expecting those occupying the WH or the Republican Party to read and respect the Constitution is foolish, but so is watching those who hang onto his every word despite him blatantly violating the US constitution!
Time to wake up, America!
7
Long past time for President Pelosi.
6
Manafort better scramble , time is running out if he doesn't want to die in prison .
1
Let’s assume, or the sake of argument, that we really *are* about to be overwhelmed by a civilization-ending deluge of disease ridden terrorists carrying backpacks full of illegal drugs raping and killing their way across our southern border. The wall is *still* a really DUMB idea...
3
I'm a lifelong Democrat and see no real value in a $5B border wall. BUT I also don't see what value there is to the DEMs to grandstand this issue. Maybe other Times readers can convince me.
Rep. Pelosi has said Trump will not get his wall, or words to that effect, effectively drawing a red line that DEMs cannot cross without "losing face". Trump has done the same in his campaign promise to build a wall. He too has drawn a red line.
I can see only 2 motivations behind the DEMs red line, which are NOT mutually exclusive.
1. Put Trump on the spot. Play a game of chicken with him, in the hopes that he knuckles under, thereby facing the 2020 election with a huge dent in his armor.
2. DEMs truly believe the $5B wall is wrong, a bad use of the money, etc.
The first is NOT what DEMs should be doing. This is disrupting the lives of Federal workers and many others with a shutdown purely for partisan politic advantage.
The second is fine in principle. But I question whether DEMs are taking too hard a line. This issue is for Trump. DEMs could leverage it to get a lot of other things in trade, legalization of Dreamers' status, more funding for other infrastructure projects, and other things unrelated to immigration, such as arts, education, healthcare, a promise (for what that is worth) to nominate Merrick Garland if another SCOTUS seat opens up...
$5B is a lot of money, but compared to a Federal budget of around $4 TRILLION dollars it's a drop in the bucket.
Someone convince me.
6
@J Jencks,
It is the latino vote, but I would never say the words that James Carville applied to the economy.
“$5 billion is not a lot compared to $4 trillion, so we should go ahead and spend it.”
That’s exactly the thinking that got our budget and deficit so high.
1
@J Jencks - Small correction to the above. In the 2nd to last paragraph I meant to write, "This issue is HUGE for Trump."
At some point, the Trotskyite left and its media apparatchiks are going to have to come to grips with the fact that Trump won the election - and won it by promising to secure the border.
Defying the will of the American people has been a losing playbook for two years running.
4
The GOP lost 40 seats in the house
1
Trump lost the election by 3-million votes, yet slipped in with 70,000 votes spread over 3-states via the Electoral College: thus no mandate. Also, do we have to remind you the Republicans lost 40-seats in the House? Third, Republicans had full control of the gov for 3-years. You're arguing with your own confusion.
1
@Marcion Sinope
At the same time, it should be pointed out (as Nancy Pelosi recently did to Donald Trump), that Democrats just won a big election in the House. Their constituents have priorities, too.
1
I had better things to do last night. I taught a friend how to knit socks while knitting a pair of warm wool socks to send to a Syrian refuge camp. No TV where we were working. That was a much more productive use of my time.
5
Does anyone else get sick and tired of these events that are planned more like ad campaigns than government working on and explaining policies that benefit the people of this country? The discussion appears to be more about what to do to get my way rather than what to do to help our country.
4
As good as the Oval Office can be for a backdrop, the Democratic staging was bad. Two people squeezed behind a podium, with a bunch of American flags crammed in the background to make the point that the Democrats are, you know, really are on the side of the citizenry of the U.S., as opposed to Guatemala, for example. If you accept the point that Mr. Trump is the reality show President, you must compete with him on those grounds, including good set design. With all those people on the Democrat's side in Hollywood, or on Broadway, they can't do better than that?
2
Somehow I don’t think set decoration is the biggest issue here. Just a thought.
1
@David Godinez
The president is so vain, he had a "soap opera" filter on his camera to make him look better.
That, combined with the fact he's the president who cried wolf, won't work on rational Americans.
The current humanitarian crisis at the border is caused by Trump's inhumane policies which have nothing to do with a wall, our borders are not and have not under Democratic or Republican administrations been "open" for nearly a hundred years nor is anyone suggesting they should be but the solution to the real problem of assessing who should and who should not be allowed to enter our country will not be solved by throwing away our hard earned tax money on a ineffective, hugely wasteful wall whose real message is "brown people not wanted here."
2
@hazel18 They are not "Trump policies" he is merely enforcing the laws that have been on the books for years.
You don't like the law, call your reps and senators and have them change the law.
E VERIFY! That's the easy solution to at least half the problem. Shumer, Pelosi, and Trump NEVER mention it. In my opinion they are all doing the bidding of wealthy business people.
3
More tired Trump theater. It was the same old same old from him. The networks must be wondering why they gave him even the 10 minutes.
Democrats came to work in the House just a few days ago, and they've hit the ground running
Trump's been in office how long? The GOP has been stuck for years with few exceptions punctuated by chaos, contempt for anyone disagreeing with them, and wrecking ball tactics, and crises of their own making: the shutdown, the lies, the lack of preparation in international dealings, the handing over of agencies to lobbyists and industry insiders, and obvious corruption
3
Trump weakens his case by making border security about crime and drugs. By demonizing the migrants as a group, Trump elicits sympathy for them and opposition to his proposals. He should be saying that no country can withstand an uncontrolled influx of millions of people with its way of life and prosperity intact and that measures must be taken to ensure the effective enforcement of immigration laws. Furthermore, if some existing laws prevent effective border control, then those laws must be changed. I believe that most Americans, even Democrats, would agree if they could get past their visceral distaste for Trump, himself.
Trump also hurts his case by making it about the border wall. Like most of us, he jumps to a solution before he comes to an adequate understanding of the problem.
2
Why don't the GOP and their base join hands and make a human wall across the border. At least I/we'll get an actual count of the base numbers and how strongly they feel about patriotic duty?
6
I'd be interested in the rationale of each network who aired this address for doing so. The influx of terrorists through the southern border, by the DHS own report to congress, is de minimus (six in six months). This issue is not an issue. This crisis is not a crisis. Americans benefit when their tax dollars are spent for good cause and a long view. Such is not the case here.
4
@Robin,
Six, or the twelve that I have about can do a lot of damage; it only takes one evil person to commit the unthinkable.
Particularly creative was his attempt to blame the opioid epidemic on Mexican drug smugglers, when the fast majority of opioids are manufactured in the USA.
7
What to do, what to do? How can we possibly reconcile these competing visions of border security, the wall versus the non-wall, Dreamers, DACA, gangs, drugs... oh, what can we do?
Well, for starters, we could stop pretending this reality show is about border security or immigration policy. That whole thing last night looked more like an episode from Judge Judy than a presentation of serious, reasonable policy proposals. This is no more about border security and immigration than The Apprentice was about effective management style.
This is about 2 things: Thing One is Trump's re-election. His surprisingly accurate --- since he's so rarely accurate about anything --- understanding that if he doesn't get that wall built he'll be back in both the private sector and the cross hairs of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District. Thing Two is the Democrats' salivating over that possibility.
On this basis, Trump knows that keeping the government shut down until just after the 2020 election is no more damaging to his re-election chances than completely caving in and giving up on his wall dream this afternoon. Dem's, on the other hand, need do nothing more than point to the funding bills they've passed that McConnell won't bring to the floor because Trump won't bless them.
Either way, neither side is serious about resolving the border issue. But, both are deadly serious about the 2020 election, and they've got the bodies to prove it.
Watching Mr. Trump speaking slowly, and softly, the words of Stephen Miller, was quite upsetting.
7
Trump literally began the broadcast with with the words, "My fellow Americans, tonight I am misspeaking to you...."
Might well have been the most factual thing Trump has said on the wall or anything else.
5
@C. Whiting
He really did say that.
Why hurt Americans with a shutdown just because Mexico won't pay for a wall? Besides, the issue is not the wall, it's who is going to pay for the wall. If Mexico paid for the wall like Trump promised, there would be no shutdown.
2
This article missed the best point Trump made - if Dems are so opposed to a wall ... why do they all have fences around their own homes?
3
@kz - This is why Trump loves the poorly educated, because they can't tell the difference between a suburban home and a large country with complex economic issues.
3
It was documented in emails to his supporters before and after this low energy speech, that this was merely a campaign speech. Why present this scam as if it was about anything but raising money for the tRump pence crime families.
tRump's government closing still goes on. Millions of Americans being punished.
Open the government. Depose the so-called kings.
2
"If you build it, they will stop coming." Field of [Donald's] Dreams
4
Trumps speech last night boils down to inciting fear to persuade the public to agree with his wall idea. He should be solidly called out on this approach. Shame on him for the continuatiion of planting the seeds of hate. Now he wants us to suspect any person with brown skin and an accent could prey on us at any moment. Truly despicable.
3
"Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky ... said he would not put any bill on the floor without Mr. Trump’s explicit support."
Oh those Republicans: First they put party over country, now they are putting whatever stupid, wasteful, expensive thing a deranged, desperate president wants over country and party.
Read the Constitution, Senator McConnell. There will be a quiz. Hint: read up on the independence of the legislative branch from the executive branch and checks and balances.
McConnell has long been a big part of the problem in this country moving forward, and I can't think of a time he was part of the solution.
3
Get smart Congress!
Remove the incentive (jobs) for immigrants to come here illegally.
If illegals cannot get work, they will not cross the border.
Thus, the simplest and most inexpensive way to solve 80% of illegal immigration: E-Verify
Make every employer enforce E-Verify.
Exact large fines (revenue) for those who do not.
Dinosaur Don's idiotic wall is a ego driven 4th century solution to a 21st century problem.
.
3
If employers can’t hire illegals here, they will either go out of business or move shop out of the country. In both scenarios, the illegal worker follows the jobs.
Let’s ignore Trump.
We should ask the experts what they think of building a border wall.
The National Border Patrol Council, the largest union of Border Patrol agents have repeatedly and emphatically described a border wall as necessary and effective in securing the borders. Here is the latest:
https://bpunion.org/featured/op-ed-by-nbpc-president-brandon-judd-trumps-wall-is-the-best-way-to-end-the-humanitarian-crisis-on-our-southern-border/
We shouldn’t build a wall because Trump wants it. We should build a wall because the dedicated and expert public servants tasked with defending our border want it.
Just trust the experts.
2
Since Nancy and Chuck think a wall is immoral should we tear down the seven hundred miles of wall we already have standing. Sounds like that is what they want. I could not believe their response it was embarrassing. Accusing the President of a temper tantrum was another crazy remark.
4
@Ricardoh The wall we have is the wall we need. The immoral part of Trump's proposal is to build walls that we don't need or won't work with money that could be used to solve other problems like smugglers who bring the bulk of drugs into the country hidden in vehicles.
Did you ever see a castle with a mote? Those guys are still in there safe, right? Or did I miss something?
1
You might have noticed that they stopped building castles like that more than 500 years ago because they were no longer effective.
This idea that a barrier with steel slats allows the border guards to be able to see the Mexican side of the border, it also allows illegal aliens and drug smugglers to see exactly where the border guards patrol. It works both ways. Just another ridiculous reason for 2000 miles of a barrier, however it's constructed.
The majority of the American people do not want that stupid wall. The democrats are reflecting the wishes of the majority and Trump and the republicans are trying to keep their base happy.
The networks should have said no to trump! Nine minutes of propaganda. The nine minutes, nine minutes of lies, was all racist, fear, hate, politics. There is no crisis. The Fake Crisis created by trump, Fox News, and Putin's political/psychological warfare to divide Americans!
Gaw. As someone with lots of friends and family starting to really hurt from this shutdown, please call your GOP lawmakers and demand satellites and drones and get this crap done with.
Wall advocates, grow up and accept 5B for real technology like drones. Dems aren't withholding funding because they want people to come steal your jobs, they just want something that will work and be humane. This is flipping ridiculous and shame on Kentucky Mitch for his unabashed party over country.
24
@Michael,
Hey Michael, I am starting to believe Mitch is a great politician; I'd vote for Him!
Nancy and Chuck don't know how to govern; all emotion, no strategy.
I didn't watch him, not much point in listening to this profuse liar.
25
This guy is going to go down in history as "The Great Divider".
9
So Dems shouldn’t oppose Trump “just because,” but Republicans could oppose anything “Obama” for 8 years and that was ok? Give me a break!!
29
Why don't you just build the wall. You promised it. I voted for you. No go build it!
3
@Chris Anderson
There will be no wall. But there’s a Go-fund-me for the suckers who think there will.
1
@Chris Anderson
He promised Mexico would pay.
Now go get the money! Then build it.
3
Because it’s stupid, pointless and expensive. Give your head a shake. The Donald is the worst president your country has ever had and is destroying everything good your country used to stand for.
1
I cant believe the number of comments that back POTUS' Wacky Wall and parrot the cries of "danger." Facts don't count! the last weeks of claims by POTUS and company have been debunked as misleading, hyperbole, and outright lies. Strip that away and what's left?
Two things stick with me: more real "terrorists" were caught coming across our northern border than our southern border in 2018 (45 to 6) and two refugee children have died in American custody since this manufactured crises started.
All you folks who who believe in the great Wacky Wall please help me get my head around those facts!
8
"All these poor over populated countries will not stop having more children"
Oh Yes - it is "Their" fault for sure. The "POOR, over populated countries" who won't stop having kids.
Have you bothered to look around at our country ? At the growing hordes of homeless people ? Poor people ? In our own country ? Have you noticed that we never slow down the relentless birthing of more and more humans everyday. In this, the "compassionate" country where you are loved right up until that moment you are born, and from there on it is "Get outta my face". "Get away from me". Etc Etc ...
Oh YA - it's all their fault
16
Do all you republicans really want to go down with this nothing of a man?
Surely, most of you can see what a loser he is.
The Trump family is enriching itself. They are robbing this country blind.
Donald Trump is a puppet of the murderer and dictator, Vladimir Putin.
To you republicans congress men and women: defend the Constitution, defend the rule of law or get out the way. You're about to get run over.
14
The republicans are trying to mask the stupidity of the wall by calling it border security.
WRONG
All Americans favor border security. The wall is a stupid, wasteful idea.
Do not make disingenuous deflections. We see through it.
14
Most disgraceful U.S. speech since drunken Vice President Andrew Jackson Inauguration Day bilge.
6
@Sean
I meant Andrew Johnson.
2
@Sean
Matters not. Most American don't know who either of them was.
The only crisis in our country is that the person who is president is so inept and ignorant it’s truly mind boggling!
14
Trump's desperate move to enlist public support, bypassing the Congress and the established institutions, to justify his border wall funding demand can impress his anti-immigrantion raw political base but can hardly convince the general public that is well familiar now about how Trump blows off the reality out of proportion with his theatrics and melodrama every now and then. Thus the manufactured national crisis situation over his fancied border wall is unlikely ro impress the thinking sections of public specially when the other side of the reality is presented by the Democrats duly backed by the facts. Moreover, the shutdown induced public grievances too will shape the public reaction to the Trump caused troubles and impasse.
4
Where was Trump’s declared compassion for the federal workers in a tight spot? I didn’t hear any concern even one of the hundreds of thousands of them—not a shred.
12
Mitch McConnell on the Democrats:
“Or maybe they’re just making it up as they go along. Or maybe they are that dead-set on opposing this particular president on any issue, for any reason, just for the sake of opposing him.”
Hmmmnn, just like the McConnell-led Republicans opposed Obama on every turn, even when he favored actions they previously approved.
The ultimate hypocrisy, and par for the course for Slimeball #1, who doesn't care about our country or our values.
He just cares about Mitch and his billionaire Paymasters.
17
"misleading assertions"
These are lies. When is the NYTimes going to learn english?
10
What part do people who CHOOSE to use drugs play in this debate?
Mandatory drug testing should start TODAY for people accepting government benefits.
If you use drugs, you're on your own. Why do taxpayers have to support millions and millions of dollars in "programs", Narcan, and benefits to people who will NOT give up drugs?
Please no sob stories about addiction. Everyone knows how addictive heroin and opiates are..
Stop paying benefits to drug users and use that money to build the stupid wall. Yes some may perish, but I don't use drugs, why must my tax dollars from a lifetime of working while louts use drugs pay for this stupid wall?
BooHoo poor drug abusers. WAKE UP!!!!!
3
@Ignatz - Yeah, coming from the party that put a drinker like Kavanaugh on SCOTUS that's pretty rich.
1
@Ignatz
I'm a nurse, with more than 25 years of experience in cardiac care in a hospital.
I have a relative who takes care of drug addicts in a residential treatment center. She is waiting for retirement or another job. She tells me the first question most of the drug addicts ask is "Where do I sign up for a check?".
2
Funny, I feel the same about support payments to non-family farms.
3
McConnell said:“Or maybe they are that dead-set on opposing this particular president on any issue, for any reason, just for the sake of opposing him.”
Gee, Senator, didn’t you invent this tactic the day Obama was sworn into office? It's practically a direct quote of your statement of your opposition to Obama.
The reason Democrats are opposed to this current president is because he is a lying incompetent immoral man with a malignant personality who has no consistent policy agendas. He is corrupting the American political system and is loyal only to his own ego.
Now you, Senator McConnell, why was it you opposed President Obama from day one? Was it as simple as Kentucky racism or was it your adoration of power?
26
Here is an idea. Since Trump is so rich, let him pay for the wall and then let Mexico reimburse him.
16
When will this 5th grader be removed from office? And his enablers who pretend to great things need a sharp and vocal reprimand from constituents. This is ridiculous.
6
'“The only thing that is immoral is the politicians to do nothing and continue to allow more innocent people to be so horribly victimized,” [Trump] said.'
This is why Democratic legislators are standing up to Trump. The irony burns, yet it is completely lost on the man who said it.
12
@Jacob Sommer
Democrates need to stop obstructing. They are supposed to represent the a.erican people. Not foriegn nationals. Yhey have their own government to represent them.
If the southern border is a crisis for the country, why didn't Trump push through funding for the wall when the R's were in control of Congress?
18
@www
Too busy with tax cuts, Kavanaugh's nomination and prison reform?
1
The reality TV show in prime time was brief and presidential. As always the divided states of America continues to remain divided. over the border security on one side and porous border ignoring the crisis that has resulted from decades of porous border. The president articulated his part very well and shared some statistics to support his side of the argument for a crisis that needs emergency attention and a miniscule fraction of the trillions of budget with obviously a lot of waste and pork.
Chuck and Nancy response was more of a Chuckle and Nonsense highly partisan and politically desperate appearance. Thank god neither will ever become president. Nancy had know business to interupt, disregard and ridicule secretary of Health and Human services Ms Kirstjen Neilsen when she was trying to present THE FACTS to partisan Pelosi. Sec Nielsen is not partisan and cannot make artificial numbers at what is happening in the border or in Pelosi's home state of California where a police officer who immigrated from Fiji was gunned down by an illegal criminal migrant.
From an independent's point view I agrees that both sides escalated the budget battle over border security and by doing so the president has declared his reelection bid in 2020 on the same unresolved issue of illegal migrants that won him the 2016 electoral college election. The Chuck and Nancy response was a failure to get the undocumented migrant issue off the 2020 presidential election cycle. The Chuckle is on Dems
3
@Girish Kotwal
The democrats are on the wrong side of this issue, which explains the looks on Senator Schumer's and Speaker Pelosi's faces. Would you want to try to convince Americans that a problem they can very well see with their own two eyes isn't really one? Not an enviable position.
3
Wait, don’t 100 people in the US due EACH DAY as a result of gun violence?
Trump's argument is an extension to the failed War on Drugs. Which, btw, is funded 100% by Americans buying drugs. Perhaps, then, the problem resides on this side of the wall.
8
Not an escalation, he is looking for a way out.
5
Mr. T.'s shedding crocodile tears over humanitarian issues at the border reminds me of his whining about birds dying in wind turbines. From anyone else, credible. From him -- about as credible as clean coal.
9
@John Chatterton
Dang! I just changed the carbuerator in my new Buick to burn coal!!! Now what do I do?
1
i bet serious gun control would reduce the immoral carnage we suffer far more than a wall
7
“Mexican Hiking Holidays” is a new entrepreneurial opportunity.
It will be a new type of travel company. It will organize tours in which people from anywhere in the world can fly into Mexico and take a bus to a point close to the U.S. border without a wall.
They will then be guided by professional tour guides who will hike with them to the border, where they will take one step across and request asylum to the first U.S. Border Patrol agent to arrive. The tour company may actually call ahead to inform the Border Patrol.
The participants will then enjoy the second phase of their holiday, a minimum two-year stay in the U.S., complete with free food, housing, education, and medical care.
This isn’t a completely new idea. Human smugglers have already demonstrated proof of concept.
The difference is that Mexican Hiking Holidays will be completely above-board and focus on the safety of the participants.
If properly marketed, it will also open up free entry into the U.S. for anyone in the world. Their tagline will be, "One Step Will Change Your Life".
If no wall is built, Mexican Hiking Holidays are coming.
Guaranteed.
6
I understand your concern and I probably won't be able to change your mind but many of the places that you're talking about a hike are just giant deserts and certainly no picnic. and the places where people picked up and stored by ICE for years while they're waiting for court dates to decide their asylum status are also no picnic. yes there are ways into this country, but it's hard and dangerous and awful and you would not do it unless your own country was even more dangerous and unpleasant. And we have seen the number of immigrants trying to get in to this country through our southern border go down for the past ten years... even still about 50,000 people try and cross our southern border through the deserts of Arizona and Texas and I recognize that as a large number... but a wall ain't gonna do the trick... and it's about 70billion to build and another 200m every year just to maintain. it's just not a good economic solution to the problem
Lotta anger in my heart right now.
Two focal points for that anger.
(1) The President's "base."
Long before Mr. Trump appeared on the scene, some right winger made the following pronouncement:
"Compromise is when you agree with me."
I detest PIGHEADED men, New York Times. I detest that attitude--"My way or the highway." I think it wrong.
I would point out to this eminent person (the name escapes me): the United States of America was FOUNDED by men (only men, I'm afraid) who were not afraid to compromise. Eyes fixed upon that bright and shining goal, a UNITED STATES OF AMERICA--
--they compromised fit to beat the band. They compromised right and left. Up and down. All over the barn.
They gave us--in their wisdom--the country we now have.
A country being loudly, ostentatiously RUINED by such persons as the "Freedom Caucus." The Limbaugh's. The Coulter's. The people that EXPLODED with indignation when Mr. Trump SEEMED to be wavering on this cockamamie WALL stuff.
And yes! In more ways than one, they DROVE him to the wall, didn't they. And here we are.
(2) Mr. Trump himself.
Friends--allies--well-wishers dropping away like leaves in autumn. Leaving what? that bare, leafless trunk of a presidency swaying in every gust--
--but his FIRST duty was always to his COUNTRY--
--not his fans. Such as they are.
He should have "manned up"--as my son always puts it.
He didn't.
And here we are.
10
Both sides including the Dems are not doing their job by refusing to negotiate and get to a compromise and reopen government. .They are BOTH terrible and not doing their job and both getting paid while civil servants go to work at at TSA coast guard and elsewhere and not getting paid. That is disgraceful. Federal workers are barred by terms of employment for working elsewhere and at risk of not having food! Yes they live ed paycheck to paycheck many do!!!
3
@jenniferrose. Both sides? Seriously? Trump shut down the government. Did you not see him say he would proudly do it? Carry that mantel? Not blame anyone else?
It would have been reopened already but trumps enabling toady, Mitch McConnel refuses to bring a bill to a vote that both democrats and Republicans have already passed and has the backing to override any trump veto.
Shutting down the government and border security should have absolutely nothing to do with eachother and the only reason they do now is because our incompetent, petulant child of a president didn't get his way. So like all his many other failures, he makes sure that others will suffer for it.
There are currently only two people keeping the government shut down, trump and mcconnel and neither of them is a democrat.
Trump wants his wall. What has he offered Democrats that they want in return?
Nothing ... unless you are willing to admit that the Democrats want the government working and Trump doesn’t.
1
This "president" is a terrifyingly dangerous combination of ego, hubris, delusion, fecklessness, greed and cruelty. To capitulate to him now, only sets the country up for his next tantrum of demands. What will he require next? Will it be holding America hostage over the threat of nuclear destruction? Give in and it will never end.
This is why we don't negotiate with terrorists.
Hey, Mitch, is this the legacy you want?
9
This presidency is a national crisis. The sooner we build four walls around him, the better.
9
@AVTNYC. I'll settle for Steele slats!
Much as I am a fan of NYT and so NOT a fan of President Trump, this attitude of 'everything Trump says is false' is not good for democracy, more specifically for respected institutions that are aligned (however notionally in this increasingly polarised world) to uncovering the truth. People who seek all the facts before reaching an opinion will have nowhere to turn to. Much as President Trump is bound to 'spin' or downright deny the truth, this NYT attitude of 'everything he says is false' must stop, you are much more respected and will long outlast Trump.
5
@SargeT
You can't blame the New York Times, because Donald Trump is a habitual liar and virtually lies every time he opens his mouth, they are just doing their job.
I think your gripe is with and should be voiced at Donald Trump and his surrogates who have made lying their calling cards.
9
@SargeT
Go to Google. Type in this phrase "Donald Trump lie counter" or "Donald Trump fact checker" and see for yourself how often what Trump says is false. No one says everything he says is false, but what he says is false often enough that no one can trust him to be truthful.
Just like the boy who cried wolf.
One of the writers below insists that we “liberals“ should state a specific number of immigrants that should be allowed into the country. I reply that they are asking the wrong question. What the real question is is do these immigrants help or hurt this country. It is well been shown that first generation immigrants will perform the work that Americans will not and thereby help the country considerably. The second generation immigrants become full participating members of our society who pay taxes and do not become a burden on our country whatsoever.
7
@Lloyd Marks - Yep. The family that runs my nail salon put three kids through college and all of them earn a good living and pay plenty in taxes.
The business employees half a dozen people and provides jobs.
1
First gen immigrants do the work Americans wont at less than minimum wage.
For sake of argument, if there were no 1st gen illegals here, Americans would be doing those jobs because *someone* would have to do them; the difference though would be that theyd get paid a good wage.
Which is bad for businesses and corporations who prefer cheap illegal labor to paying Americans a good wage.
Illegals are good for CEOs and bad for thr average poor American.
Youre also conflating immigrants and Illegal immigrants. Most of America likes legal immigrants. We want them to keep coming in. The wall doesnt stop legal immigration and Trump isn't interested in stopping legal immigration.
The whole conversation here is about illegal immigration. By talking about 1st generation immigrants you're moving the goalposts and including legal immigrants. Legal immigrants are the topic here.
Consider this statement by Lindsey Graham for just another minute:
“If we undercut the president, that’s the end of his presidency and the end of our party.” Graham has essentially admitted what all of us know -- that there is no longer a Republican party, and that we are under one man rule in this country.
There have been many times in our history when either party voted against a president of their party in office, and never once did either party believe that to do so would be the end of them. This is a first. And a very frightening first.
From Graham's statement, there is no doubt that Republicans are no longer exercising independent agency on behalf of their constituents, but rather, simply following the orders of their "leader". Then why have a Republican party at all at this point? They are all now just Trump's personal servants. Simply let Democrats fight it out with the most unfit man who has ever sat in the Oval Office. The people will then decide who should win.
Mind you, this is no guarantee that the Democrats would win. The vast majority of Republicans see no problem with Trump's authoritarian actions, and have in prior polls said that they would support him if he cancelled national elections.
But if this happens, and it very likely could, the rest of us would have to face reality -- that we are quite plainly living in a dictatorship. The only unknown at this point is what the rest of us are prepared to do to take back our country.
17
Nothing in Trump's speech struck me as new. The only new thing is the intensity of the temper tantrum he's been throwing over one item in one issue. The Republicans are enabling him rather than asking him to grow up.
And who pays the price for this tantrum? All of us, but particularly federal employees in closed agencies, farmers, home buyers, small business owners, and in the end national security.
5
I'm starting to think that Mitch McConnell needs to be removed for the good of the country, he knows nothing but obstructionism.
I'm listening to his speaking on the floor now, and it's like he's reading comments given to him by Donald Trump, but not dealing with the reality of the situation.
I would hope his Senate Colleagues can find a way to force him to bring the bills to the floor that Nancy Pelosi has sent up to the Senate, that were already approved by the Republican's.
7
Nothing was escalated. The speech made it very clear that we don’t have a national security crisis on the border.
6
There is this inaccurate notion that the heroin drug problem in the US is the product of swarthy Mexicans coming into the walless US and tempting vulnerable, innocent souls. It may make for an easy stereotype and Hollywood script but this notion is a false narrative. The present heroin problem in the US was started largely by doctors and the pharmaceutical industry over-prescribing opioids. Patients then turn to heroin to get their fix. Read Drug Dealer MD by a Stanford doctor. The world is complex and the villains my be wearing white lab coats or doning suits and ties.
11
The only way I would approve of this wall is if the president and his senate republican friends were kept behind it on the other side...
9
The world has learned a hard lesson these last three years: bad publicity is better than no publicity and bad publicity can be more attractive than good publicity.
The media made President Obama as the illusion of progressive change for the people. The media unmade President Obama as an impractical ineffectual idealist.
The media did the same with Bernie Sanders.
In sharp contrast, the media created President Donald Trump as a bigot whose every word is gold for the media. Now the media is having such a very difficult time unmaking President Donald Trump, one wonders if they really want to unmake President Trump.
3
@Lawrence Chanin - You make some good points but the media didn't make Trump a bigot, he is a bigot and always has been.
1
"OK America! I'm going to take all of you to an expensive, luxury dinner and the beauty part is- Mexico is going to pay for it! .. Hold on a sec - This just in..... We are still going to an expensive dinner but you'll have to pay for- but Mexico will give you an IOU! At least I'm pretty sure they will .. I mean they may not but I think they will- even if they don't it's going to be a fantastic meal and I think it will work out great even if it doesn't. So essentially Mexico in one form or another will pay for our wonderful meal."
4
Apparently the wall will pay for itself from the drugs that will no longer be smuggled in where it currently isn't. This is an opportunity for an entrepreneurial president: anybody who pays for the wall will get a share of the benefits from the reduced quantity being smuggled hereafter. Viva the free market!
NYC mayor wants to give illegal aliens free healthcare.
This helps to re-elect Trump.
10
@R. R. - So where is the great health care Trump promised? Where's the infrastructure? Hatred for the "other" put Trump in office but it hasn't done a darn thing for his supporters.
McConnell's malfeasance continues to astonish- he swore an oath to serve the United States, not one Donald Trump. Not long ago a compromise bill that offered a path to citizenship for "Dreamers" and others was blocked by Republicans. Pelosi should dust that legislation off and pass it in the House. By that time perhaps enough Republican senators will have found their loyalty to the USA and help, despite McConnell's machinations. Not long ago we watched in horror as ISIS destroyed world heritage sites in their ignorant, hate filled rampage. Trump and the GOP are presiding over a vandalism of our nation. Stop them, please!
8
I am still waiting for the Times to tell us what we should do about regaining control over our borders, if a wall is a stupid idea. How do you propose we reprioritize immigration vs migration? Do you agree with our laws or do you think they must be waived?
Trump is not a smooth talking, inspirational speaker, but last night, he shone in comparision to the odd optics of Pelosi and Schumer sharing one podium and taking turns speaking in a stiff and scripted way - while not giving a solution to the problem, which they claim is manufactured. A bit silly. Problem? What problem? Look away, there's nothing to see, is not a response.
53
@me The Ds seem to be following the same strategy the Rs used under Obama - just undermine Trump and his agenda. Hard to blame the Ds though. Not sure why anyone would expect them to behave any differently after being on the receiving end of 6 years of successful obstruction.
19
@me....The answer is simple and a lot less expensive. No one will come here illegally if they can't work, and no one who is here illegally will stay if they can't work. The government needs to issue bio-identity social security cards to every U.S. citizens, and bio-identity cards (green cards) to every non-citizen who enters the country to work legally. They would work much like your chip visa card - you put it in a reader along with your finger print or iris scan. Every employer would be required to verify the bio-identity card of anyone he hires with strict penalties for failure. End of 99% of the problem. And yes, the wall is really dumb because it is being used by Trump as a political symbol and it won't work.
37
@me Trump lied about everything. There's plenty to do to safeguard our borders from the entry of drugs, terrorists and the undocumented, but none of the solutions involve a wall. Drugs enter the country through legal means, mostly, big corporations control who they hire and their salaries, and major crimes are committed by American citizens. Central and South Americans are not a priority.
38
All these words about a possible wall...
I wish a more “bi-partisan” disclosures from you guys at the NYT. Trump is in charge from 2 years. We had for 8 years Obama (D), 4 Years G.W. Bush (R), 8 years Clinton (D), 4 years G. H.W. Bush (R)
So far from the act of 2006, more than 649 miles of wall were built and under they respective presidency and I don’t recall all these rumors, complaints, rivers of ink dispersed to criticized a proposal that other Presidents accomplished with funds and the silent cooperation of the media. All of the media.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Fence_Act_of_2006
The link tells the whole story.
If you really want that the people will recognize the bona fide of what you write and to cut once and for all the “fake news” nickname that the NYT has, I think that this is the moment to show it and to recall what you wrote, told and criticized at the time being.
If you have something in you archives...of course...
5
A lot of Trump supporters are saying he was “presidential” last night because he managed to go a whole nine minutes without calling neo-Nazis “very fine people.” However, the rest of Trump’s supporters are really angry that he DIDN’T praise neo-Nazis in his speech. Maybe he will today.
7
Wait, wait Trump's 3rd wife violated the terms of tourist visa and Melania's parents( the father has a criminal record) become citizens despite her husband's hostility towards chain migration.
17
Trump claims he is worth more than 10 billion dollars worth. If he is all that concerned about the Americans, may be he spend half his wealth and build the wall single handedly, the real manhood.
5
We've been had.
I do not think he will be impeached.
Diversion strategy works.
His base doesn't buy me, ye, and that is the way it is.
DJT is the master of schlock.
I regret being without much hope because he turns political economics
upside down.
2
“Or maybe they are that dead-set on opposing this particular president on any issue, for any reason, just for the sake of opposing him.”
Hey Mitch....Obama!
6
President Limbaugh-Colter loses again
10
“It’s not going to change a damn thing, but I’m still doing it,” Mr. Trump said of the border visit, according to one of the people, who was in the room. The trip was merely a photo opportunity, he said. “But,” he added, gesturing at his communications aides Bill Shine, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kellyanne Conway, “these people behind you say it’s worth it.”
In other words, Trump doesn't even believe in his political stunt and manufactured "crisis" and has "pre-thrown" these three under the bus for its failure.
6
From historian Jon Meacham on Twitter: "America should “build a wall of steel, a wall as high as Heaven" against the flow of immigrants.--Georgia Gov. Clifford Walker, at a 1924 convention of the Ku Klux Klan, then a powerful force at a time of strain for the white working class. #PastIsPrologue"
15
Trump's speech merely foreplay to him declaring a national emergency after a couple of days.
6
So according to the President the lack of a wall is responsible for widespread carnage. A crisis. And we must act now.
Oh. Ok. Let’s build the barrier in return for legal residency for the Dreamers. AND - since this is all about security and ending carnage - the comprehensive gun control demanded by 90% of Americans.
12
“It’s not going to change a damn thing, but I’m still doing it,” Mr. Trump said of the border visit, according to one of the people, who was in the room. The trip was merely a photo opportunity, he said. “But,” he added, gesturing at his communications aides Bill Shine, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kellyanne Conway, “these people behind you say it’s worth it.”
President Truman: The buck stops here.
President Trump: The buck starts here.
3
From the article: Allies of the president warned fellow Republicans to stand with Mr. Trump. “If we undercut the president, that’s the end of his presidency and the end of our party,” Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said on Fox News after the speech.
That ship has sailed. Let’s not take the country down with you.
18
What's being missed in this border wall debate is Trump ISN'T fighting for a wall. What's he's defending is the cornerstone theme of his candidacy and now presidency: FEAR. Fear of other (races, criminals, drugs, rape...etc.) He won his presidency by pedaling fear of NONEXISTENT problems!
That's what he's defending, that's what's at the heart of where we are. He's still pedaling it, forcing it down America's throat. No matter how many times he says it, it doesn't make it true. There IS no immigration/illegal crisis other than what the Trump administration has created. Wise up America! This is who and what you voted for. Do NOT let fear be your guide!
16
Here we are, 2 years later with the left still not over the Trump election win. It's amazing how anyone can call 50% of the country stupid?
3
@Cromwell
First, the left has gotten over the election. We’re dealing with the problem we have now, which is a manifestly unfit president who has a manufactured a crisis to stir up his base and distract from his very serious legal troubles. Second, 50% of the country does not support him, more like 25%, if that.
"Heroin coming into the US comes in the country thru legal entry. Most of the fentanyl is coming in from China." - source BBC.
11
"Or maybe they are that dead-set on opposing this particular president on any issue, for any reason, just for the sake of opposing him.” - Mitch McConnell
Wow, Mitch, have you forgotten about Merrick Garland?
19
And Mitch's pledge to make Barack Obama a one term President.
3
Drug deaths are BAD!
Build the Wall, drug deaths will plummet.
We can all deplore drug deaths, but saying the wall will address this is like saying lowering speed limits to 35 MPH on the freeways will stop auto deaths.
ICE has arrested criminals coming across the border.
The criminal offense is crossing the border.
Build the Wall!
Illegal aliens come in at airports, not across the Mexican border.
Build the Wall!
1
@Claudia
I agree.. and let Mexico pay for it, just like Trump bray-promised thoughout his campaign.
1
@Claudia Huh? Say what???
1
The American people can have a big impact on this by contacting their federal representatives. It's never been easier, and a one sentence email will suffice. Here's an example:
"Please add me to the list of constituents who would like the federal government to re-open while negotiations about border security continue."
9
Or maybe they are that dead-set on opposing this particular president on any issue, for any reason, just for the sake of opposing him.”
Who would ever act that way in doing the work put forward by a duly elected president?
8
There's a scene in "A Christmas Story" where Ralphie waits and waits for his Little Orphan Annie Secret Decoder Pin to come in the mail. Finally it does, and the first message he decodes turns out to be a "lousy" Ovaltine commercial.
What American got from Donald Trump last night was just a campaign or rally screed, an even lousier commercial.
11
Lindsey Graham has it backwards. Standing against the president and contributing to the end of his presidency is NOT the end of the Republican party. It could signal a rebirth if the old timers do not abort it.
Funny how Republicans were so interested in running for the presidential nomination in 2016 - seeing themselves as opponents of Democrats - but not now in opposition to the fascist dictator who overturned their party and is destroying the USA with his egomaniacal narcissism and contempt for checks and balances or any governmental process or authority.
I wish Republicans would get it together and nominate another candidate for 2020. If Trump is impeached, they may need to. Even if their candidate loses to the democrats, the nation wins by not having this evil sociopath as our head of state, and the Republican party survives to represent their constituents another day.
8
"That makes five Republican senators who have expressed such a position ..."
By my count three of these are women.
Just saying ...
5
Let's not ignore the elephant in the room...
The sniffing and dilated pupils were so distracting! According to someone he worked with on the Apprentice, Trump had a habit of crushing and snorting Adderall:
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-snorted-adderall-apprentice-tom-arnold-noel-casler-1257787
It appears Trump has been able to continue his habit in the White House. This is relevant not just because we need a president with full faculties, but also because Trump claims immigrants are the source of drugs flowing into the country, and one reason he keeps threatening to close the border.
3
How many?
How many people should the USA absorb every year?
Come on now, you pro-open-borders types:
Cough up a number --
a hard number;
How many people every year?
Total, overall -- all categories combined.
You can't manage to cough up a hard number?
And then actually take whatever measures are needed
to seriously enforce that number?
That makes you de facto pro-open-borders,
whatever your pious disingenuous protestations to the contrary.
My proposed number:
one million per year --
total, combined, overall.
Already, every year, we are granting
one million "green" cards,
the right to legal permanent residence,
already more generous than any other country grants.
Problem is, that's not good enough
for millions of illegal aliens -- and their "advocates":
At least 10 milliion people (the low estimate)
or maybe 20 million (the high estimate)
are now already here illegally,
and the pro-open-borders crowd
want to legalize their "status",
which, of course, will encourage even more to come illegally.
Well over 7 billion people in the world,
rapidly closing in on 8 billion.
The USA has 330 million people.
That's plenty.
How many more do you want?
You want us to be as grotesquely over crowded as India?
Bangladesh? Indonesia? Nigeria?
No?
Then let's have a total overall combined limit on immigration,
and enforce it -- seriously.
Divide it up however you want --
"merit", "work","family", "asylum" --
whatever --
just so long as it all fits into the overall combined limit.
7
@sam finn
I live in a small rural WHITE W. PA town.
ALL the drug dealers, addicts, and third time DWI's are WHITE, AMERICAN BORN, CHRISTIANS who mostly voted for Trump. ( From the daily newspaper who prints a "police blotter" so people can keep up with being nosey about thier neighbors).
They don't work. They don't contribute. They collect government benefits, and have children they can't afford.
If a factory opened tomorrow right in thier front yard, they would not ( and could not, due to education or lack thereof) apply.
There are NO "immigrants" or even black people where I live. Yet they get all the blame for conditions, and people wait for Trump to save them instead of working to make thier own lives better on thier own. BooHoo they cry...I don't have a job because of immigrants, Mexicans, blacks, Jews, you name it.
It's ruralia. NO ONE is going to build a big beautiful steel mill or open a coal mine in this town. It's over. All that are left are the people who are clinging to 1950, and the high school dropouts who marry, propagate, and teach thier unfortunate children to fear "the other" while they light up another bowl.
The few who resist this and graduate to colleges don't come back. Ever.
I'm SERIOUS. I retired here, because it is pretty and cheap. I create no jobs. I live on a pension. But I do read and watch and observe the locals. It's sad, and it's probably repeated nationwide.
3
Why do we need a quota ? Why not take as many as we are able to process ? Why can’t it be a controlled process like filing for Social Security ? There’s no quota on how many people get SSA benefits each year.
1
@sam finn
Most Americans agree on controlling immigration and curbing illegal immigration.
The wall is the issue. It is an ineffective, stupid, wasteful idea. Taxpayers are against this.
Do not deflect from this.
1
Immigrants have built this country. They take work no one else wants. Slaughter houses, migrant field workers slaving in punishing sun, dirty work no one wants, hard work no one else wants. Trump has made them a target and a manufactured whipping boy. He has blamed them for the ills of this country. We need to look hard at ourselves for the ills of this country and stop blaming someone else.Trump does this all the time for everything. Pay attention and you will see this. Migrants are just the biggest example of this cop out.
9
All these poor over populated countries will not stop having more children. There will be waves upon waves of people trying to get in. The illegal compete with our poor for jobs and keep the wages low. And no they don’t take the jobs nobody wants. They take the jobs nobody wants at the wage offered. If not for the illegals the wage would go up until the position is filled. Our poor has to compete with them for housing too.
The left wants to keep our poor poor. Can’t have them making good money and living in a nice place. That means they may even pay income tax and vote republican.
3
@Jim
Even Jesus knew the "poor" would always be with us.
Name ONE COUNTRY that has no "poor".
Just an aside, when Shumur and Nancy Pelosi decide to retire from politics, I hear Quaker Oats is looking for new models for their containers. I agree with their opinion on this topic but they are as stiff as a concrete wall in their speech delivery
2
Trump is not the only villain in this whole matter. As a matter of fact,, Mitch McConnell is THE MOST CORRUPT PERSON IN WASHINGTON!! Lets send the senate out the door, big paychecks for zero work.....hey, why bother to even come in? Unless he hears otherwise from Trump, there will be no work for them for months.....or even years anyway.
10
I thought he was about to chant 'build the wall' and 'lock her up'.
3
Shame on the networks for continuing to act like little more than abused dogs, licking the hand that beats them. Since when does the media broadcast, free of charge, political campaign ads? Especially for a man who has continuously slandered and libeled them?
4
Trump's propaganda about the wall is just that propaganda.
Immigrants seeking asylum isn't the same type of threat as terrorist flying planes into the world trade towers.
The only thing we have to fear here is Trump himself.
6
Trump is a golfer. This looked like an approach shot onto the green.
He can now say he made an attempt, then sink the putt in a national emergency declaration.
Fore!
1
Since Trump used this TV time as a fundraiser, the networks should be sending a bill today to the RNC and the Trump Campaign Committee seeking reimbursement for the air time.
Further proof of the fact that Trump is a grifting lying conman.
8
Mr Trump
How many more Americans have to die from guns before Congress do something
Many more Americans die from gun violence than by immigrants
7
"...The trip was merely a photo opportunity, he said. “But,” he added, gesturing at his communications aides Bill Shine, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kellyanne Conway, “these people behind you say it’s worth it.”
This pretty much sums it up. A useless photo op on our Southern border is all the policy support he can muster for his useless wall. Good grief. And when the "most powerful Clown er, I mean man, in the world is relying on the fabrication firm of Shine, Sanders and Conway to guide him, the masters of "alternative facts", the Sultans of Spin, you know we're in biiiiig trouble. Save us, we're drowning...
6
NYT, here we go again with your coverage of misinformation. The Dems have not "dug in". The Dems passed the exact bill that the Senate passed before Christmas and the Senate now refuses to vote on it again. This is the Trump-McConnell shutdown!
9
It's rather generous to call an endless stream of lies and absurd exaggerations a National Address, this is after all the Trump presidency. People learned nothing from this mess, it was 'Down the Elevator They're Sending Us Their Rapists' here we go again.
7
When liberals align themselves with big Agra and other companies that hire illegals and bring in cheap visa workers, something is wrong. These are the same “liberals” who suddenly agree with the Neocons and want us to remain indefinitely in Syria and Afghanistan. These same liberals have been beating the drums over fake charges of Russian collusion and have no problem with the CIA and the FBI spying on us. Something is wrong, Who is orchestrating this twisted madness?
6
@Edward
Yes, liberals have done a 180 on almost every position since Trump was elected. I'm surprised they're not protesting the First Step Act. It's one of the most significant pieces of legislation in near history and they've gone radio silent.
2
@Edward Sean Hannity? Rush Limbaugh? Ann Coulter? Laura Ingraham?
1
@Edward
Last I looked, we were still a democracy, and the process of gaining consensus is frequently messy...so despite your attempt to portray all the maddening issues you cite as being “orchestrated” somehow, I suppose that is code for the “deep state” or some other conspiratorial goings on behind some federal magic curtain.
Here’s what’s maddening to this voter, and you don’t have to label me as anything other than “concerned tax payer” - why does the chief executive believe he can manage US by fiat, instead of working with Congress? The recently approved budget shrank federal tax base considerably, and now every citizen will be called on to make serious decisions about how the pie is cut up in future.
Frankly, in addition to the wall being fundamentally at odds with our nation’s principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, I don’t want to fund a wall separating us from our neighbors; it is very likely many of us will feel that money is better spent elsewhere, and that decision based on whatever consensus may be reached by Congress and the executive branch, not by some maddening, torturous process cooked up by President Trump.
1
Here's an idea on how to save billions building the wall. Take all those desperate people who are trying to escape poverty and violence in their home countries, the ones in the Caravans and put them to work building the wall, they can work for citizenship, pay them a minimum wage, they will do it happily, then have all those Trump supporters send their children down to the border to help, this will be people putting their money where there mouth is, they will also work for minimum wage and put in a few months, getting valuable construction experience and getting to know people from those impoverished lands, people they will find for the most part who are religious and hard working, people who believe in family and doing what's right, it will be a great eye opener for the children of Trump supporters. We will get a wall, on the cheap, and everybody will be happy except for the greedy government contractors who are already to fleece the American people with Trumps blessing.
Problems solved.
2
The Democrats wanted the wall once upon a time. Chuck Schumer and President Obama both stressed the need to prevent illegals from entering our country. They said this was very important for our nation. Why the change of mind? It is because President Trump wants this wall and they are determined not to give it to him. Nancy Pelosi has vowed not to give him any money.
The Democrats do not want him to succeed in the promise he made to the American people. They do not want him to succeed in anything. Remember he was not supposed to win and he fooled them all. He won!
President Trump will get his wall eventually. He is just as determined as the Democrats are but the difference is that he will win. The wall will be built.
5
@WPLMMT A wall is a monument to racism and xenophobia. From historian Jon Meacham on Twitter: "America should “build a wall of steel, a wall as high as Heaven" against the flow of immigrants.--Georgia Gov. Clifford Walker, at a 1924 convention of the Ku Klux Klan, then a powerful force at a time of strain for the white working class. #PastIsPrologue"
2
Nice try. The “promise he made to the American people” was that Mexico would pay for it.
It’s not just Trump who lies constantly, his supporters do too.
2
@WPLMMT
Trump didn't win the election; Hillary Clinton did - by nearly three million votes.
1
The usual rhetoric. The usual blame game. The continuation in the weakening of the US Presidency by Donald Trump. Sad, very sad.
3
Didn't work. And Trump reduced his credibility even further, if that was possible. He's now a study in failure. Sad.
4
If president Trump wants to use the defense budget to build the wall, I'd say "go ahead." Anyway, we spend too much on the defense with 200+ oversea military bases, regular and irregular military exercises, and all the unnecessary none-of-our business wars. If the military money can actually do some good for the border security of the country, why not. At least it is spent in the domestic purpose.
1
The best things about the President's speech last night were the things it DIDN'T say. It didn't claim authority to defy Art I., Sec 9 (7) of the Constitution and divert Defense Dept funds to build a wall. It also didn't regurgitate the fake statistics the VP Pence, Sarah Huckleberry-Sanders and others are spouting to justify the wall. The worst thing about the speech was the gratuitous and partisan attack on "the Democrats" in Congress --- something that Speaker Pelosi and Sen. Schumer matched with equal spite.
Rep. Will Hurd (R-San Antonio TX) has put forward an array of proposals to address the overall immigration and drug issues, as opposed to the mere "Wall," that very likely could garner bipartisan enthusiasm in the Congress. But his ideas aren't likely to get traction so long as the government is shut down.
To: Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi
Re: Proposal for Trump’s Wall
Dear Speaker Pelosi and Senator Schumer,
Why not offer Trump a “wall” down payment AFTER he releases his tax returns and AFTER he reimburses the US government the hundreds of millions — if not billions of dollars — he and his business organization have cheated from the American tax payers? The amount of the down payment should be equal to the sum recovered.
4
Could it be that the disabling of the federal government is to the advantage of Trump and the GOP? Perhaps now that the democrats in the house will start enquiries, if personnel are laid off as inessential, no one can access Trump records and enquiries will be a non issue.
1
If there are any conspiracy enthusiasts like myself out there I would like to offer a conspiracy theory about what is happening with the wall. It goes back to Muller. The final act is about to unfold. His report is said to be coming out in the next month or so. Trump knows how devastating that will be because only he and Muller truly know what he has done. I have thought that Trump is extorting the American people to build the wall but now I believe it is not for that purpose. Last night he hardened his position about the wall and the government shutdown. He will keep the government shut until Muller's report comes out. After the report, he will be either impeached and/or indicted. In his mind, being the "great dealmaker" that he is, this will provide him the leverage to make a deal to resign with immunity at which point the government can reopen.
If it comes to that, I certainly hope that he does not get immunity. His actions deserve the full light of day.
4
Since a wall immoral (somehow) why aren't the Democrats clamoring to tear down the various walls and fences that are currently there on the border?
Maybe start with the one near Tijuana?
Nancy should pass a bill in the House to do just that.
5
I have a suggestion for both parties in a single word: compromise. Defined as "Do your job!"
3
But where is creepy Mcconnell the majority leader of the so-called Republican Party? Kissing up to
Trump didn’t pay off did it? Why? It was not done to
serve the people. McConnell has never cared about the citizens he pledged to serve. He has only thought of the Party and his power. Now that he has given the Party to Trump what is there left of his power?. He should resign.
3
Since his followers believe everything he says, why doesn't Trump just assert that the wall has been built (thanks, Mexicans!) and then open the government. He could even show a picture of the Game of Thrones wall and claim it's his. Problem solved.
6
Well, I think Trump has finally hit a wall if you will excuse the allusion. He is running out of space literally to support his lying. That this would happen was always obvious to me from the start. However, what really shocks me is that 40% of the American population still share in the paranoia of his alternate universe. I keep asking myself what kind of culture could produce such an enormous number of vulnerable people like this. It is truly frightening!
7
Practically everyday since 1/20/2017, I have read comments that begin with : “It's amazing this President thinks he can continue to get away with lying to the American people...”.
I often wonder the same thing. Yet, he gets away with it, over and over. What is it going to take for the Republican leaders to stand up to him?
5
I just wish Trump would be as concerned about Russian interference in American democracy as he is about the threat of poor brown people from the south.
The press has to get their eyes back on the ball... or at least cover more than one story at a time.
1
Perhaps someone can redirect him back to a less harmful issue like ranting against kneeling players in the NFL. The wrong people have this buffoon's ear
I may have become a Democrat even though I believe in many Republican values as they state them. You see, the Republicans do not follow their stated values (we won't get into that). The Democrats lie out their posteriors but, generally, follow their professed agendas. Too bad we don't have a truly honest party to displace them both.
Would I ever vote for Hillary? Negative. She broke laws I spent a lifetime protecting.
Would I vote for Pelosi (or Schumer) even if one of them ran against Trump (who will never get my vote)? Negative. They are divisive and obdurate in being so. They, like Trump, have no concern for the American people. Just look at their actions.
I admit I am lost in the flotsam of filthy American politics. Where do I go from here?
1
@Angelsea
"Would I ever vote for Hillary? Negative. She broke laws I spent a lifetime protecting."
Hillary Clinton has been investigated more than any other political figure in modern history, with the exception being Richard Nixon. The numerous, lengthy, taxpayer-funded wastes of money that were conducted by various Republican know-nothings did not prove any wrongdoing on Hillary Clinton's part. Please state what laws she broke, in detail. Apparently you have information that nobody else has, or you think you do.
Before Americans can evaluate Trumps address and the Democrats rebuttal, one would have to view social media, as the news media, and Cable news networks, are predictable. Especially the power houses, the NYT, Washington Post, MSNBC, CNN and Fox News. Americans will have to decide if illegal Immigration is or is not a major problem. After so many years of doing little or nothing about it it may indicate it is not a problem.
2
@Dan Green
The elephant in the room is the absence of fact checking of the democrats' claim there isn't a "crisis" at the border.
2
Imagine… the chagrins of political deceit has always been around; it’s just morphed to an obtuse point of outrageous duplicity on steroids these days. The cost of assimilating immigrants into America; has produced a divided American culture of toxic death and destruction for any and all to see, aside those seeking a liberal vote.
Imagine… watching the antics of our politically correct wastrels; is like watching the adventures of spiteful imps, or infected courtesans courting the whims of ignorance with their cunning promises of a disease free romp in the hay based on their feinted friendship.
Imagine… ostracizing our politically correct wunderkinds; seems so trite. But it comes with the reality of knowing the alarming death rate of Police Offers and American citizens is on a frightening up-tic as a result of obtuse promises of free health care for any and all willing to break American Laws by our politically correct harlots.
Imagine… a sanctuary for any and all, not adhering to the laws of La-la-Land. Or the alarming worries or cost of playful imps or courtesans not spreading or infecting their playmates with a fair share of their frightful whims. Talk about the moral complexities of clear and present danger’s gone the way of chagrin realities.
Mr. Trump's Oval Office address to the nation is best described with a well known two syllable obscenity. And it turns out that he had the same insight but went ahead with it and the Texas border trip anyway. Notwithstanding that his insight is improving, he ought to quit and start making money on his memoirs and TV appearances recounting his experiences.
1
Watching Schumer and Pelosi looking so much like the couple in the famous painting " American Gothic" with their unblinking response was so entertaining that it made watching the whole thing worthwhile.
4
TRUMP: A typically canned speech that by his own prior assertion he did not want to give. He should have headed to his own intuition. As for the manufactured shut down, he unequivocally owns it — by his own assertion no less. Our POTUS is a serial rabble rouser incapable of having an honest, genuine conversation with the American people.
PELOSI & SCHUMER: Deer in the headlights. Whatever possessed them to present in such a stilted fashion. One would conclude they in front of firing squad.
The same flimflam regurgitated endlessly. Seems the best we can do is inane fact checking while the insanity of our DC governance just grinds on.
The American endemic political crisis is first and foremost a crisis of desperately wanting for capable and principled leadership on both sides of the head-butting Red-Blue divide.
2
This was nothing more than a fundraiser for Trump. Immediately following his free network advertisement he blasted his followers with requests for donations, not for the wall but for himself.
3
Dear President Trump:
Regarding the border Wall to keep out refugees, please remember that there are always two sides to the same coin, as Brian Bilston has uniquely pointed out in his 2016 poem, Refugees. According to the World Economic Forum, Bilston is described as the unofficial ‘Poet Laureate of Twitter'. Mr. President, as a Twitter aficionado, you should read Bilston’s unusual, unique and timely poem, “Refugees”, below.
Thank you. Bob Scro
Refugees
Brian Bilston
They have no need of our help
So do not tell me
These haggard faces could belong to you or me
Should life have dealt a different hand
We need to see them for who they really are
Chancers and scroungers
Layabouts and loungers
With bombs up their sleeves
Cut-throats and thieves
They are not
Welcome here
We should make them
Go back to where they came from
They cannot
Share our food
Share our homes
Share our countries
Instead let us
Build a wall to keep them out
It is not okay to say
These are people just like us
A place should only belong to those who are born there
Do not be so stupid to think that
The world can be looked at another way
(now read from bottom to top)
5
Understanding this speech will depend on how it is walked back by the White House in the days after. We have no way of knowing until the advisers and cabinet members have a chance to correct Trump's language, and until he starts his Tweeting which will be unconstrained, unlike the speech. Nothing he says can ever be taken at face value. It's always modified, altered, clarified and explained after the fact. So, we should know in the next few days what Trump really meant in this speech.
1
Trump delivers a 9-minute infomercial.
An infomercial concocted by him and his confidants.
An infomercial that they have no confidence will work.
An infomercial filled with untruths, alternate facts, lies and misstatements.
An infomercial to be followed by photo-ops. (Remember the paper towel photo ops in PR?)
Donald Trump....The Worst President Ever!
7
@Howard Levine
It was the most amount of non-commercial time FOX news would give him....even they know Trump's base has a short attention span and would change the channel.
All you have to do to see where stick-in-the-mud Mitch McConnell's priorities lie is glance at the statistics about the state he has helped govern since the mid-1980s. By any measure, Kentucky is a mess*. It is poor, unhealthy, under-employed, non-competitive, poorly educated, addicted, and despairing. While Mitch has been off playing tactician, his state has continued to sink. McConnell is a heartless, cold, ruthless man who is out for himself. Maybe the chickens are finally coming home to roost.
* Kentucky:
/ #46 in Educational attainment..
/ #46 in Poverty.
/ #43 in Employment.
/ #43 in Medicare quality.
But #5 in receipt of federal subsidies & #1 in obstructionist politicians ............
22
Don’t be surprised if a declaration of a national emergency is dual purposed to not only pertain to funding from the Department of Defense budget for a wall but also for temporarily providing paychecks to government employees. There’s an emergency to be found somewhere even if by one’s own doing.
3
Do all Republicans agree with Trump? If not, why are they silent.
No worries.
The Koch Brothers and Profit First Republicans are only staying quiet for now.
But if they ever feel that their access to cheap labor is threatened, they will speak up loudly in defense of open borders.
8
@John I'm neither party as I think they are both at fault but I believe we need to correct the situation at the border and physical barriers can help direct the flow. I support the President and think he should do whatever is in his power to end the stalemate. I would guess that 5 billion $ or more are being wasted over the fight alone. Imagine all the hours of time spent churning this story across our population.
2
Could someone please point me to an article (or articles) explaining which budget items would be cut to create the contested billions, or would the money come from a new tax?
4
If Mr. Trump genuinely cared about dealing with the humanitarian crises in the U.S., he would focus on sensible measures to reduce gun violence. It would be better for him to use the power of his office to deal with a real problem.
5
"If you take CNN's approval rating number and party identification and break it up into segments of the total population, only 20% of the US population over the age of 18 are Republicans who approve of Trump."
This is a quote from CNN's website of September of last year.
800.000 American workers are directly affected by the government shutdown. If you factor in family members of these folks, businesses whose revenues have significantly been affected by lack of trade, you would probably come up with a figure close to ten percent of the American population.
So Trump is punishing ten percent of the American populace to please his twenty percent who agree with his policies. This is amazingly cruel and ultimately, I would think, self-defeating. I would assume that part of the ten percent are also part of the twenty percent, who would finally get a clue as to the true nature of the man they have been supporting.
3
While the NYT reports that Senator Bernie Sanders also responded to the President's speech, I'm curious as to why no quotes were provided from that excellent speech, nor was any link to that response provided, while both a quote from and a link to Representative Hakeem Jeffries' comments were given. Most major media outlets reported on Sen. Sanders' speech separately. NYT chose not to cover it.
7
@Sarah O
There are bigger problems to deal with right now that whether or not Bernie Sanders supporters are catered to by The New York Times.
I suspect there’s far more public support for spending $5.7 billion on measures to reduce gun violence in the US.
Even NRA-captured members of Congress have constituents who recognize a public health epidemic when they see one, and want the federal government to take measures to protect families from gun violence.
It’s tragic that Americans will continue to suffer because of a powerful minority has a stranglehold on lawmakers.
8
Mr. Trump's intentional factual inaccuracies and disingenuous references to security and humanitarian "crisis" were only exceeded by the tepidness of Ms. Pelosi's and Mr. Schumer's response.
The Democratic Party's upper-hand in the debate over the manufactured "border crisis" with Mr. Trump is due more to his glaring unforced errors of publicly assuming responsibility for the partial federal government shutdown and flip-flop abandoning of the bipartisan Senate CR (continuing resolution) to fund government operations until February 2019 than Democrats' counter arguments.
Instead of rehashing Mr. Trump's deliberate misstatments and logical inconsistencies Speaker Ms. Pelosi and Minority Leader Mr. Schumer should temporarily suspend all meetings/debate with Mr. Trump and the GOP until he releases the 800,000 federal employees and the millions of U.S. citizens being directly and indirectly being held financial hostage. Border security for all cannot be secured by deliberately putting other Americans under threat of financial dislocation and devastation. The taking of hostages is not theaction of a "great" nation.
Speaker Pelosi and Senate Leader Schumer should tell "pharaoh" at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to let our fellow Americans go.
4
There’s too much emphasis on Trump. It’s the Republican Party that is doubling down on this. I will remember it once they try to win back my vote again.
8
After reading this, it becomes even more clear why good people won't work for this president. He threw his own team under the bus BEFORE following through on their recommendations. Conversely, had the address been cheered throughout the nation, he would have taken all the credit. How convenient and totally predictable. Now (and yet again), it isn't his fault.
All I can ask is that he not waste taxpayer dollars by flying down to the southern border...why compound the mistake even further?
5
I don't understand why Mexico is not at the table with the president and Congress on this issue. It seems to me that America is debating which kind of Band-Aid to use and no one is addressing the issues that are forcing Mexicans to flee their country.
The Wall is a political stunt and Democrats are correct on this one: re-open the government and then address the thorny issues of immigration and nationalism that divide the U.S. No one said democracy was easy.
3
Mexicans are not fleeing their country. The great majority of them much prefer to live here in these sunny and friendly lands, as do I. The ones that go north do so for the opportunity to make money and are generally homesick. That is why the rate is higher at the border going south than it is crossing north. Everything that Trump says is a lie and the media enables him by providing a cartoon portrait of a complex country. We have plenty of problems, crime and violence and poverty of our own in the US.
1
While a small part of this whole farce is about a campaign promise, the main reason for this wall tantrum is to divert attention away from and obstruct the investigation that is closing in on the Stable Genius.
The SNL parody of Its a Wonderful Life hit the nail on the head: "Every time a bell rings someone quits or goes to jail."
3
Democratic leaders are standing on principle.
They would rather shut down the government than actually secure the border.
4
@John
Democrats are in favor of border security.
Democrats are against stupidity that is, building a wall. Democrats are against wasting tax payers money just to fulfill a “promise “ made by an unintelligent man to illiterate people to get elected.
The American people are against stupidity and wastefulness.
3
@John Incorrect. "Democrats" are all-for immigration reform. In 2013 they produced a bipartisan Senate bill that passed with Democrat support, was a sure signature from the President, would have passed the House, until Boehner refused to bring it to a vote. They have produced several bipartisan bills in the past two years that would fund the government, and would include funds for border security.
"Democrats" did not shut down the government. The President has refused to agree to any of the bipartisan bills or CRs that do not include an unsubstantiated cost for the single worst idea in the history of international relations. With that refusal on the part of the president, the non-military government funding is no longer authorized.
Reopening it will take two branches working together.
@John
Democrats have fought every measure Trump has attempted at the border. This, combined their very vocal animus towards ICE and support for sanctuary cities, it's hard to argue otherwise.
1
It never fails to astonish, this President of the US. Now we learn that it takes a team of aides to push him to even given the appearance of doing his job.
3
I am confused. The government is partially shutdown because Trump is demanding funding for his wall, but wasn't Mexico supposed to pay for this wall? If I were the Dems I would be running ads replaying Trump's empty boasts about Mexico paying for this wall.
7
In my experience, effective leaders can use mistakes to move change forward. Unfortunately, we do not have effective leadership at multiple levels in Washington. Instead of trying to negotiate a deal and actually achieve improved immigration policies, he has doubled down on what is essentially a meme. And others who should know better (Mike Pence?!?) squirm while trying to defend him.
1
Mr. Trump says:
"This is about whether we fulfill our sacred duty to the American citizens we serve.”
He also says that this is ... "a crisis of the heart and a crisis of the soul..."
It appears that Mr. Trump has recently found religion.
3
@Patrick MacDonald Trump has no heart or soul and no religion.
1
The American people can have a big impact on this by contacting their federal representatives. It's never been easier, and a one sentence email will suffice. Here is an example:
"Please add me to the list of constituents who would like the federal government to re-open while negotiations about border security continue."
President Trump, you asked that US citizens weigh in on "the wall".
My answer:
* No Tax Money for a wall or any type physical barrier on the Southern Border.
* No Emergency Powers If you invoke them the congress should remind them.
* Comprehensive Immigration reform including a path to citizenship for "the Dreamers" and long term undocumented immigrants. (amnesty)
* No further brinksmanship by either the POTUS or Congress concerning passing US Government Budgets. Pass all budgets on time and for full budgetary periods.
1
The President did not break any new ground last night. He was just as confusing as he was before. It was pathetic to see that the leader of the Free-world could not suggest one good reason for his “wall” that he championed at every election-meet since his primary with his base. He created the problem, and he cannot get out of it. At the end of his nine-minute speech, the poll indicates people are now surer that the President is responsible for the whole debacle, which he is unable to solve.
And this is patently unacceptable to the people who are suffering – not just 800,000 federal workers, but all of us in one way or another. We need a solution that addresses not just the border down South, but addresses the root cause of migration problem from the Central Americas.
We are living at a time when “Virtual Reality” is often more convincing - ask Giuliani. Perhaps, a slightly bigger package than 5.6 bn dollars could be designed bilaterally that takes care of the whole notion of border security and offered to the Congress and to the President as a “Virtual Wall” with a view to placate both the public and the President. Along with it, let the Congress seriously outline an investment package for Central Americas that would create real jobs for all – offering a win-win solution for the people who cannot see anything outside violence in their countries, and USA – getting out of “banana republic” type of solutions there.
That might work.
4
A taxpayer-funded campaign fundraiser. The only thing surprising to me was the absence of a bottle of "Trump" water on the desk in front of him.
4
the wall would also have a terrible environmental impact on wildlife. Why no mention of this anywhere?
6
Please correct me if I am wrong. I think we need 60 votes to pass the CR and with 5 Republicans implying they support that we are still short of 60 votes.
“Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.”
Robert Frost’s question is a good one. Seems to me all of Trump’s arguments for a wall have been refuted by facts. There is no immigrant crisis, and the immigration problems we do have will not be addressed by a wall of concrete, steel or layered stones. And why a wall on the southern edge of our property and not on its 5,500 mile northern edge? If we are to become a gated country, shouldn’t we wall off all our neighbors?
So, perhaps we really do need to ask what Trump and his followers are “walling in?” For a possible answer look at the NYT article that included pictures of all the newly elected “freshmen” members of Congress. Compare the Democrat side to the Republican side. The answer I get is “good fences make good white male privilege.”
2
All we saw last night was a pathetic old man saying absolutely nothing.
Donald Trump is well past his expiration date. He needs to be removed.
He's by far the most incompetent, useless and hateful president this country has ever had.
It's time to go, Donald.
8
Today trump wants a border wall. What will he want tomorrow, a border wall lined with minefields?
Why not build a moat and fill it with crocodiles? Or erect turrets from which hot oil can be dumped on all the thugs and criminals disguised as children?
The Great Wall in China is no more than a tourist attraction. Is this what trump wants?
Maybe he will get some tips when he meets the North Korean leader this year.
3
I suggest that the Democrats let President Trump have his wall but with the caveats that it not be funded by either any reduction in spending elsewhere or by any increase in the deficit. Instead, they should insist that it be funded by a new, and here comes the most hated word in the English language, the three letter t-word. The Democrats in the house should pass a bill to build the wall but simultaneously to fund it with either a new t— on incomes over $1 million or on estates. Let us find out whether President Trump really thinks this is a national emergency. If it is an emergency, he should sign and then face the fate that Bush 41 faced in 1992.
11
A Federal employee here enjoying a vacation that I will be paid for; I hope the rugged individualists in Montana enjoy supplementing my eastern skiing.
Bottom Line Up Front: $5B-ish will not build a wall that Trump or his supporters envision.
$2B: Land acquisition and associated legal fights over eminent domain for at LEAST two years. The wall is linear with buffer land, so acreage required on each side.
$1B: Design cost to geotechnically characterize 1,000 miles of soils to ensure the wall will stand or need structural modifications.
$1B: Fend off legal challenges that will take 3 years to conclude.
$2B: The five-year window on appropriated construction funds just closed, so that money is returned to the treasury for re-programming elsewhere and wall-construction contracts are descoped or terminated for convenience (T-for-C).
Reset the clock.
Well, at least we'll know what the border soils are like without a wall and we may get up disconnected sections where a patch-work of land owners quickly sold their land rights. Don't expect anything contiguous.
Now wasn't that fun.
By the way, here is the "credit card" interest for this deficit spending: $1B
Please fix bridges instead. Off to the slopes - thank you tax payers!
8
@Buffalo Fred
Enjoy. I'm jealous now.
I'd be careful with the mockery though. There are some mean spirited folk out there who might start a push to not provide back pay.
2
This is not a joke! By shutting down our government
we're declaring to the nation and the world, that the
United States can no longer function. That's not a
good move my friends, not a good move at all.
I know the majority of us want to do what's right
and good, for all our us. Now is the time to show
support for our Congressional Representatives
who are trying to reopen the government, and get
paychecks to the workers who've done their jobs.
The shutdown is causing a ripple effect throughout
the nation, with one of the most alarming aspects
being airport security. Morale is being unnecessarily
undermined, because we're telling those in charge
of our aviation security that we don't value the job
they do enough to pay them. 9/11 didn't occur
because our Southern Border didn't have an wall.
4
I couldn't watch it.......too many lies I wouldn't know what to believe. From what I have read, the Speechwriter should be fired. These are most definitely not Trump's words and were the exact opposite of his style and rhetoric. This is a waste of time and my heart goes out to the Federal Workers who will suffer without pay. I hope all 800,000 of them March on Washington.
7
And a wall worked so well for Hadrian and the Chinese emperor!
3
I don't understand why you are calling last night's flat recitation of stale and ugly falsehoods an "escalation" of Trump's border wall fight. It was a cynical pitch for campaign contributions, highlighted by the begging emails that went out to his supporters before and immediately after the speech, nothing more and nothing less. Please--tell it like it is!
8
For Trump this no longer about the Wall. It is about diversion from the Russian connection, including colluding with Putin to get elected.
He needs not only to be impeached, but also imprisoned just like any other traitor.
5
I didn’t watch. What’s the point of giving airtime to a serial liar, a corrupt narcissist? He says the same untrue things every time. Now reading about his speech and all the hullabaloo surrounding it, I’m reminded of Melania’s jacket “I don’t really care, do you?”
Open the government back up and let those who do care about real issues get some actual work done. This focus on a con man’s antics is holding us back. Mueller’s investation needs to be protected. The country must plan to vote Trump out in 2020 and work to repair the damage to our democracy, our society and our international relations.
6
Why not forget the wall and build a moat and fill it with sharks. That idea is just as Looney Tune as building a Great Wall around our southern border. Will not when people planning on coming hear about The Great Trump Wall getting built just make them plan on coming sooner? We Americans can't build Hi-Speed Rail but we going to build a two thousand mile wall? Getting to JFK airport has been like running The Iditarod since I was a child. Yet we want to build a two thousand mile wall to nowhere across our border. Our infrastructure is in the basement but we want a wall? The logic of it all escapes me.
5
Trump's real goals: Big fight about the wall, you won't notice that there is no longer a federal government and you won't notice Mueller or Rosenstein. Mission accomplished.
5
Why are Americans afraid of Donald Trump? I don't, in all of my over 70 years, remember such fear of a president. We the People aren't happy with the current situation and the legislature can both pass a spending bill and override a presidential veto. Yet, McConnell acts like Trump is a dictator who must pre-approve all bills before they come to the floor of the Senate - WHY?
Republicans were apoplectic at the slightest breach of decorum on the part of Obama and we're more than willing to override a veto if one happened and they never accorded Obama the right to pre-approve legislation before it hit the floor.
The president is our servant-in-chief, not our dictator. Trump and his administration are unraveling, his rhetoric is bordering on paranoia.
Right now two things seem logical - the 25th Amendment and President Pence.
7
@George N. Wells
I agree except for the Pence part. He scares the hell out of me.
1
President Trump said that Mexico will pay for the wall "indirectly." How quaint. I can see it now. So when you stay at a Trump facility you can pay by cash, check, credit care or "indirectly." The Mexicans have outsmarted him. He cannot make them pay for the wall. So in the kind of behavior associated with a bully, he "kicks the dog" and shuts down the government. Based on the mailings and advertising, this is not about national security. It is the kick-off for the Trump re-election campaign.
1
trump said nothing new, and he failed to provide a reasonable case for funding his wall. Even before his speech, he blamed this lame event on his staff. No surprise here.
Meanwhile, the trump shutdown continues.
We have a home grown and exacerbated gun crisis in this country. If he was to do something more than posture for his deplorable base with this wall nonsense than he would do something about the gun slaughters we Americans have to face every year.
As I see it, the guns and Republicans are the two crisis we Americans have to face each and every day.
3
It's odd how Trump is enamored by Russia, North Korea and Israel - All countries with a history of very serious security walls, and much more serious human rights violations, (ie murder rates for political crimes, etc)
1
Once again, this makes no sense...I know, not much of this presidency has...but still. This is basic logic: If national security is the issue, and it's been proven that most "terrorists" (or at least those from the same nations that known terrorists are from) are caught at AIRPORTS, then they the heck are TSA employees NOT being paid? All because of fabricated "terrorists" coming across the border...which isn't happening because time and again it's been proven that they are coming through airports. So where is the national security in stopping TSA funding so a wall that won't even impact the manufactured crisis can be built...and let's be honest. It will just be torn down or become dilapidated as future generations realize just how damaging it has become. All things change...even walls are temporary. Alas, who really looks at the long game of how decisions today impact our great grandchildren tomorrow.
2
The Times can spare three paragraphs to quoting statistics about the Oval Office but they can't dedicate one sentence to explaining the gist of Bernie Sanders response?
I'll save you the trouble of searching for the video. He focused on everyday hardships of the government shutdown and pivoted to climate change as a true crisis. The talk was short and blunt as is Bernie's wont.
And while political, most people suppose the response was coordinated with Schumer and Pelosi but targeted at a different audience. The official response was targeting the Beltway crowd while Bernie was trying to reach average Americans. The contrast between statements does seem conveniently staged.
In any event, Trump is right for once. The whole show didn't make any difference. Most Americans view the wall as completely nonsensical. They are beginning to scratch their heads as to why the government is still shutdown over such a ridiculous topic.
Trump's only accomplishment last night was hurting the economy more as networks had to abandon ad revenue at the last minute to accommodate multiple speeches on his behalf. What were his ratings last night by the way? I for one didn't watch. I really don't care what the President has to say for himself. I don't have enough respect for the man.
2
This is all about Mr. Trump's ego. He made a foolish campaign promise that he has been unable to fulfill, and he wants the American taxpayer to bail him out just like his father did for him so many times. Mr. Trump, the American taxpayer is not your father. It's time to put on your big boy pants and face your failures.
He makes lurid mention of crimes committed by several illegal immigrants, but no mention of the guy who killed all those people in Las Vegas. Of course he wasn't an illegal immigrant -- just a good old American with a perfectly legal arsenal.
2
He always says “Congress must do its job.” But their job is not to rubber stamp the president’s ideological wishes. He views Congress not as another branch of a democratic government but as department in his company.
Seen today on another great website: "It's not "the" government, it's "our" government. Well said.
1
Nothing is true with Trump. At least most of what he says are lies. So what is true about KAC, Shine, and Huckabee? You'd think it would be important to interview them and ask if the "wall" is really their baby, or did Trump just push them under the bus?
Of course, of the three of them I don't think you'd get a straight answer. KAC is a huge waste of time, 100% of the time. She is the Queen Bee of lying. Huckabee, who knows why she's mealy-mouthing around pretending to believe in Trump. Shine, well he probably is the wizard of oz, pulling the strings of the right wing media and challenging Trump to be a man.
I'd love to know how those three felt when Trump drove over them.
The government shutdown is cowardice. Trump and Congress should suspend their pay.
Yesterday we awoke to the Times and other news sources telling us that the President was about to declare a 'NATIONAL EMERGENCY' on the broadcast. That 'breathless' approach of predicting rather than reporting the news seems never-ending. No wonder you consider what he says as lies, but you are guilty of the same almost daily. Hold yourself accountable for what you publish as well. It's getting old.
3
When Trump tries to look sincere, he looks pathetic.
6
“If we undercut the president, that’s the end of his presidency and the end of our party,” Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina.
Sen. Graham, I used to think you were one of the more bright Republicans, but now I realize that you're as dim as the rest.
Trump has already undercut your precious Republican Party. It's already over for all intents and purposes. In 2020, even your buddy Mitch will be in a dogfight to keep his seat. In case you hadn't noticed, Kentucky has one of the highest levels of SNAP recipients. And they ain't all of "them" people. Most of them are 'your" people.
7
nice try Donny ....American voters rejected him and his wall by almost 3,000,000 votes. He should not shut down the Gov't over a policy which the voters decisively rejected
5
I see little mention from anyone -- especially Trump -- that thousands of those immigrants on the Mexico side of the border right now are already fleeing the humanitarian disasters of gang-ruled provinces in which people can be bullied into gang-service unwillingly, under pain of torture, death, and murder of other family members.
Many of those people are fleeing for their very lives, not coming here just to pick our damned vegetables.
5
Emails were sent to his base both before and after the speech requesting $5 donations to help fund his racist wall. In small print at the bottom was the MAGA 2020 Foundation label. What a thief Trump clearly is.
21
Perhaps Donald will settle for a bigger wall around the white house?
8
“Bill Shine, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kellyanne Conway, these people behind you say it’s worth it.” There you have it. 3 unelected staffers are running the country, the most prominent being Bill Shine and his cohorts at Fox RT. But one wonders why Stephen Miller wasn’t there. He is the most outrageous racist bigot of them all. I suspect he was too busy writing the speech. His evil preoccupation drives the lies he inserts into the speeches on immigration and the wall. While Trump is the most dangerous man in America, Miller comes a close second.
8
At nearly every pause in his speech I expected to hear "call now to make your donations" that will support building the wall. "for (TBD) low easy payments of (TBD) billion dollars, YOU can save America from the mayhem and destruction" that comes from not having a big beautiful wall next to a river. "Only you can help protect or children from" people with brown skin.
It was, at best, an infomercial for a product few people want by a celebrity spokesman few people trust
7
Didn't Trump looked like Humpty-Dumpty sitting on the 'wall ' ?--
5
@SR. AMERICA
McConnell looks like a Trump psychophant who fell off his horse.
But nobody wants to tell Trump that The 5.6 Billions Dollars Great Wall at the Mexican border can be climbed over with a rope and a grapple?
6
It's amazing this President thinks he can continue to get away with lying to the American people. Tired of the lies and his staff interpreting his lies into something else. Proving, this WH is a non-functioning, lying, deceitful leader of our government.
6
'His promise to erect a “big, beautiful wall” along the border became perhaps the most memorable promise on the campaign trail this fall'
I seem to recall a second part of his signature campaign issue. How can the Times just leave that off?
Commit journalism, dang it!
3
This buffoon has had two years with a Republican controlled congress and House.
Has Trumps base already forgotten this? Did they ever know/realize this?
What a god awful embarrassment - I’m ashamed this clown can all himself president. What a national disgrace.
The worst part is that he’ll never truly know what a deplorable human being he is. He’ll continue thinking he gods gift to the works until the day he dies.
I wish nothing but the misery he’s heaped onto this country, and the world, in the last two years for the rest of this life.
Not my president.
8
If this petulant man-child is allowed to get away with this government shutdown stunt to get his wall, look forward to him using it again and again, including implementing his idiotic “SPACE FORCE!”. Do not enable him to get away with this awful tactic now- or ever!
5
Push on McConnell. Start a boycott on Kansas-made products. #boycottmcconnell #boycottkansas
2
Kentucky?
1
@Observer He's the Senator from Kentucky.
1
@Julius - You're right! I corrected it a minute later and both were published. No more commenting before cofffee. #SORRYKANSAS!
1
A whole lot of nothing spoken by a whole lot of nothing.
4
I have NEVER heard Trump claim any genuine sympathy - if any expressed at all - for the following victims of violence or "crisis of heart" - and this is to name only a few:
Has he expressed sympathy for Heather Heyer?*
Clementa C. Pinkney?**
Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd?**
Suzie Jackson?**
Ethel Lee Lance?**
Depayne Middleton-Doctor?**
Tywanza Sanders?**
Daniel L. Simmons?**
Sharonda Coleman-Singleton?**
Myra Thompson?**
*A young woman murdered by a white supremacist in Charlottesville, WV during a filth-driven nationalist rally,
for having the audacity to be against racial prejudice.
**Murdered by a white supremacist named Dylann Roof.
Trump not only sided with the nationalists, he has recently just come right out and proclaimed himself one.
He is a national disgrace, and so is Mitch McConnell for obstructing 2/3rds majority legislation that would have over-ridden this obscene birther's spectacle.
6
Push McConnell- boycott Kentucky-made products. #boycottmcconnell #boycottkentucky #boycottbourbon (sorry!)
19
@Observer
*BuyBluebird or Wigle (Don't be sorry! Buy from a Distillery in Pennsylvania).
1
@Observer You do not have to boycott bourbon. There are a lot of good NY bourbons. Personally I am enjoying a bottle of Hudson Baby Bourbon. I also really like what Black Dirt is producing but their bourbon is harder to find.
1
@mess Visitors up this way love Litchfield Distillery's (CT) Bourbons, and Berkshire Mountain Distllers (MA) is popular too, so, good point!
On the use of emergency powers under Hitler:
"After the February 27, 1933, Reichstag fire, an attack blamed on the communists, Adolf Hitler declared a state of emergency using Article 48, and then had President von Hindenburg sign the Reichstag Fire Decree, which suspended the Weimar Constitution for the whole duration of the Third Reich: the Weimar Constitution was never actually repealed by Nazi Germany, but "indefinitely suspended". After the prohibition of the Communist Party of Germany on March 1, 1933,[citation needed] the Nazi Party was free to vote in the March 23, 1933 Enabling Act, which enabled Chancellor Adolf Hitler and his cabinet to enact laws without the participation of the Reichstag. These two laws implemented the Gleichschaltung, the Nazis' institution of totalitarianism."
This may be where we are headed under the current totalitarian in the White House.
46
@Jordan Davies your comments remind me of Godwin’s Law.
@Karen
Yes Karen I get your point. Reading through a description of Godwin's Law obviously one must be extremely careful in comparing or mentioning the Nazis or Hitler or his policies to another leader such as ours. When is it appropriate or necessary is the question. Thanks.
In an article today Julie Hirschfeld Davis
points out that the Dems are trying to move attention away from the Wall and toward the distress caused by the shutdown. Unfortunately, that is the wrong emphasis.
Increasing awareness of the severity of the shutdown simply adds pressure to cave into Trump’s demands for a $5.7 billion contribution toward his $25 billion boondoggle.
Instead, the Dems should be directing attention to his use of a shutdown to take over the role of Congress in decision making. If Trump succeeds in bending Congress to his whim by using a shutdown or otherwise inflicting pain upon the populace, Trump will have succeeded in taking over all the reigns of government and made himself emperor.
43
@John Brews ..✅✅ Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is the problem here. Trump is not bending Congress. McConnell -- one man, sent to the Senate from Kentucky, one of our least well-educated states (look it up) -- is bending Congress for him.
Kentucky can vote in whomever they like. The rest of us can boycott Kentucky businesses until their elected representatives are recalled or voted out because of their undue willingness to hijack the nation.
It's all on Kentuckians right now.
1
I've enjoyed many highlights in my life. I climbed one of the Spanish Peaks; I shook hands with Lyndon Johnson; I watched a dear friend confront Pope John Paul II. And now I've heard the worst presidential address in American history.
35
you can help, down there in Louisville: with only a reported 30% approval rating in KY, McConnell is vulnerable. work to rid us of his partisan constipation. ask where and when he came by $26 mil. Trump has already begun to self-immolate but if you guys in KY don't do something about him, unpopular McConnell may last forever, foisting a minority, Republican government on all of us.
2
I don't know if they still do it on our tax forms, but I recall that there was place where you could donate a dollar or so toward Presidential elections, by checking yes or no in the appropriate box, and it wouldn't affect your refund. Maybe that should be considered for a southern fence or wall structure. let those who agree with trump donate that way. I wouldn't donate, but then I don't speak for every American.
12
Apparently not even Trump's GOP compatriots want this wall or they would have already allotted funds for it in midnight hour budgets before the Democrats took office. What was the purpose of going on TV anyway? Trump says he doesn't trust the media and he certainly doesn't listen to his advisers unless he wants to. The TV plea was unlikely to change anyone's mind and voters have no say in the matter anyway. It's up to the legislature and POTUS. It was just another ratings grab for Trump, another "Look at me; it's all about me, poor me, no one will listen to me" moment, I believe.
16
Are the Democrats the only ones disagreeing with Trump? Where are the rational and measured thinking Republicans in all this? Are there any? Silence is complicity.
23
Trump always escalates and likes a fight. He pays no attention to the costs. He only likes the limelight. He has a problem sympathizing with the government workers he makes work for nothing. He manufacturers crises and then blames them on someone else and escalates them. Do we really need this to continue? This behaviour is crippling, especially if it continues. Both parties should be busy working together to get on with the business of governing but Trump has turned it all into his grandstanding personal fight, played out in the limelight as much as possible, playing chicken with his distorted ideas. He is certainly out of touch with reality. Give us a break. Please.
9
Why do we have immigration and asylum laws…and even a border in the first place…if those laws and our border mean absolutely nothing?
The proposed $5 billion in question is an absolute pittance compared to the taxpayer dollars now being spent…WASTED…each and every year on illegal border-crossings…through our judicial and socioeconomic resources and infrastructure…which are already being overwhelmed at our southern border.
Will this absolutely "solve" the ongoing illegal border-crossing problem? NO. But an effective physical barrier (in connection with the necessary legal reforms to bolster the system) will at least mitigate the problem and discourage further abuse.
With that said, an effective physical barrier (in conjunction with the necessary legal reforms to eliminate ongoing abuse) would easily pay for itself, from the significant reduction in those related costs.
Will it completely cure the situation? NO. But it will at least mitigate the problem and discourage further abuse.
Finally, I see no contradiction whatsoever in having "sane, humane, bipartisan immigration policies" that are implemented and enforced LEGALLY and impartially...not through the "back door", so to speak. That's why we have laws and borders in the first place. There's nothing "inhumane" about having a legal, orderly process that winds up saving lives at both ends.
6
@Vcliburn You should look up the facts regarding illegal immigration over the southern border and compare that to those who overstay their visas. There is no real need for a border wall in the areas that do no already have one. The issue, as you state, is having bipartisan immigration policies, but so far both parties have failed to come together to do so. In the meantime, shutting down the government to try to get a wall is just blackmail, and in the end will not work.
@Vcliburn
Read the Mask of Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe.
It is an interesting insight on what happens when you attempt to wall yourself in from outside threats.
The wall is simple, which is why Trump likes it. A wall will not solve a complex problem.
Last night's addresses did nothing to change the landscape of the current political fracas or actually help the thousands of Americans, refugees, or immigrants affected by it. Neither side won any ground.
The real winners last night were the next generation of young, fresh faces in American politics. Between Mr. Trump's puffy, strained, and punctuation-blind reading of his statement and the stiff, stilted tableau of Speaker Pelosi and Senator Schumer, the need for an injection of energy and fresh perspective has never felt more pressing. The new left is replete with lively, passionate, and brilliant lawmakers. Democrats would be wise to begin putting them opposite Mr. Trump's halting bombast instead of their effective but tired leaders. The contrast will make their point for them: the next generation of American politics has arrived, whether or not Mr. Trump has noticed.
14
The President is giving farmers 12 Billion to bail them out for his trade war. Cut the payoffs back to 6.2 and use the balance as a down payment on the wall.
4
I had to read the transcript of Trump's address to make sure I had heard him correctly, because none of the pundits commenting afterwards seemed to have picked up on something he said that should have blown the whole thing out of the water.
Trump said "Our proposal was developed by law enforcement professionals and border agents at the Department of Homeland Security. These are the resources they have requested to properly perform their mission and keep America safe. In fact, safer than ever before."
Then, he went on to list many things that are indeed useful parts of better border security: "The proposal from homeland security includes cutting edge technology for detecting drugs, weapons, illegal contraband and many other things..." Etc.
But then he said this, and see if you pick up the problem: "Finally, as part of an overall approach to border security, law enforcement professionals have requested $5.7 billion for a physical barrier."
Get it? Trump has asked for $5.7 billion for border security before last night. Last night, he said that $5.7 billion is ONLY FOR PHYSICAL BARRIER. Essentially, we'll have to go fish for the funds to implement all the other fine improvements that would make much more sense.
This means Democrats are absolutely correct to hold fast against The Wall. If that truly represents what Trump's people have put forward for a deal, only Wall would happen - and $5.7B isn't enough for that. With a plaque somewhere saying "Built by Pres. Trump"
9
@Barry Williams Agreed. Perhaps it should also say "Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair."
My Dad whom I had always revered. brought us to this country years ago after waiting 5+ years for legal entree. I am now wondering if he was a bad dad for being such a stickler by following all the rules and coming here legally. If only he jumped the border with us so I could have gone to HS in America.
6
"“This is a choice between right and wrong, justice and injustice. This is about whether we fulfill our sacred duty to the American citizens we serve.”"
I'm tempted to call my lawmaker and tell him to impeach Trump for trying to destroy the US gonverment.
6
Trump said his administration is helping those affected by the government shutdown but he didn’t say what they are doing. Pelosi and Schumer didn’t mention this one sentence in Trump’s message and I haven’t read or heard of any media follow up on exactly what Trump meant when he said his administration is doing all it can to help Americans affected by the shutdown. NY Times? What was Trump talking about? What are the specifics? Was this just another Trump lie?
2
The Wall problem could be resolved so sensibly and easily. 1)Open the government. 2) Settle the wall. The Democrats are 100% right on this issue. and the procedural order.
Above all it is obvious that the shutdown belongs to lock stock and barrel to the Republican Party, since the President declared loudly his personal ownership of the shutdown on live TV. Thus he should resolve the matter. He created the monster and it is up to him to kill it.
His talk last night added no new information merely a repetition of lies and exaggerations. In fact he made matters worse by increasing the anger, not only of the majority of voters, but even that of some members of his own party.
3
The scariest part of all this is that I am seeing the same thing I warned sites about years ago before it became public. Hopefully the NYT is not complicit in what is blatantly an orchestrated attack of posts trying to sway public opinion. It is wrong when done by the right and it is wrong when done by the left. Even some of the most liberal people I know are fed up with illegal immigration and want border security along with enforcement of laws surrounding visas. So there seems to be a financing of attempts to counter that. There needs to be an investigation to follow the money. Who is behind this? Businesses wanting a continuing flow of illegal or cheap Visa workers? Cartels wanting porous borders and other entry points? The push against securing a nation is unnatural and smells of corruption. Even Pelosi and Schumer can't manufacture a good lie,which is rare for them.
3
@Hellen No one is safe!
Sure, Trump is responsible for starting this partial shut-down, but make no mistake, Senator Mitch McConnell is the one to blame for its continuation. I fail to understand how he can refuse to even allow a vote to re-open the government.
It's like a poker game where Trump is vowing to go all in before the hand even starts, so Mitch is refusing to even deal the cards.
Sure Trump is being disruptive, but it's the GOP's leadership that is preventing any progress on this matter. Will Trump veto a budget bill or is he bluffing? It's impossible to say if he never is presented with the option.
9
Do we need a wall? Do we not need a wall? What we need is to reopen the government and stop using US citizens as pawns in this political quagmire. What we need is for Mitch McConnell to stop using his position as Speaker to be a dictator and refusnik.
5
Maybe I am missing something here so I need some clarification. If we Americans pay for a twenty- foot wall what is to stop The Brown Horde from bringing a twenty- foot ladder? Is Trump planning on asking Mexico to ban ladders over a specified length? People willing to walk thousands of miles are going to be stopped from coming because they can't find a ladder? The lack of common sense in this whole thing is glaring. Building a wall around our southern border will only create a cottage industry in ladder building. Drug runners are willing to buy hi powered speed boats to bring in their wares but not willing to spring for a ladder? Really!
1
Neither Trump or Pelosi/Schumur will win any awards for speech giving and the reality is neither succeeded in moving the needle much. However Trumps talk about other Technologies ( tunnel detection, drones, border cross point technologies might give him a way out if the Dems can allow Trump to point to that as a success /victory for his promise to increase border security without overly embarrassing him about the wall. Trump has a huge ego and the way to negotiate with an ego is to give it a "honorable way" to retreat even if it is a surface illusion. As satisfying and tempting as it might be for some to finally turn the screws on Trump, the Dems should remember the more important part of their job which is to get Govt up and running again and rationally improve border security at the same time.
2
@Rob Wagner How many more people would be employed if Trump and his supporters in the government would come up with a plan for improved border security without building a Chinese wall that could not withstand an "enemy" today or a Berlin wall that crumbled after only 20 plus years.
2
oh, just promise him his damn bribe, then reneg as he always does. he will get what he wants, a win, and perhaps then we can move on with life unmolested by the psycho from Jamaica Estates. he may never even notice he didn't wind up with 5.7 bil/25 bil because he's so rich it's all just chump change to him, a wow factor for his rube audience, focusing all eyes on himself.
1
@Gaby Franze Agreed. Trump is looking for a monument with his name on it. Some fencing/wall is probably logical but technology is more effective both financially and efficient in keeping the illegal entries to a minimum. However as far as drugs and potential terrorist threats it would be better spent shoring up our defense systems in our ports and International airports. Maybe a Sea and Air wall?
1
Trump lies, lies, lies. And tries to scare people into following him for their protection. He's a one-trick pony who tried the same thing right before the Midterms and got his clock cleaned by the largest margin since Watergate. The networks got played AGAIN, just like during the whole 2016 campaign. Time for the NYT to call a liar a liar. And time for the 62% who hate all things Trump to call Mitch McConnell and the other 21 Repub Senators facing voters next year and demand they open the government-- or find a new line of work.
4
President Trump asked…… “How much more American blood must we shed before Congress does its job?”
I beg to ask President Trump…… How much more American blood will be shed before Congress does its job on violence in America, gun control, the environment, health care, drug epidemic both legal and illegal. Where is your concern Mr. President for the millions of Americans and their families which have died and fallen victim from America’s own domestic violence and issues.
Furthermore Mr. President….……Where is your concern for all of the Federal employees not getting paid and services not being provided to the American people?
The President called this a growing humanitarian and security crisis in addition to calling out alternative facts. If the situation was so dire and there is truly a crisis…… you would think the President would have spent more than 9 minutes in a prepared speech when addressing the Nation.
327
@A.A.F.
Trump has no concern for anyone but himself. This Vanity Wall debacle -- shutting down government, disrupting millions of lives -- is just a symptom of his narcissistic sociopathic personality. And the Republicans are his greatest enablers.
His presidency is a mistake, a nightmare, a slow moving train wreck.
31
Trump's "all the American blood shed" scare tactic is worse than phony.
10
@A.A.F. It isn’t the president’s job, but rather individual communities are responsible for building environments conducive for a high quality of life. Why would you want one man on Washington or even the entire gaggle of DC bureaucrats to be responsible for your community’s well-being? Violence and drug problems are a result of the collective do-nothingness of individual citizens. If you want your community to be safe and healthy do something in conjunction with the people in your neighborhood instead of blaming a politician in Washington.
My reactions to your speech, Mr. President: 1 Sit up straight, 2. Comb your hair, 3. Cut your hair, 4. Wear glasses if you must strain to see the crawl.
26
5. Don't lie
5
It really is impossible to ignore how physically undignified and buffoonish this president is. It was even worse in last month’s meeting with Sens. Schumer and Pelosi in the White House.
then, why bother to give a speech?
I wish Mr Trump would have had this amount of concern for Puerto Rico after the hurricane. Maybe he’ll throw some paper towels to the migrants at the border.
36
@Michele Faherty
He should also throw some paper towels at those that work their arses off without pay, so they can wipe away their tears not being able to pay their rent, put food on the table, etc., etc.
5
@Sarah
Maybe, we all could buy a roll of cheap paper towels and line the fence surrounding the White House with thousands of them in protest to his shutdown?
Think what you will about Bernie Sanders he attracts people by his clarity, straightforwardness, respectfulness, and armed with the right information to make this country better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MUNY7QPsWs
7
@Donald Green
I think he did the right thing by advising his fans to vote for Hillary to keep this monster from gaining this much power.
Say what you will, there are short-sighted self-involved narcissists on both sides of the aisle - and naivety can no longer be used as an excuse when it comes to the Bernie fans who don't consider the consequences of their petulant behavior.
Well, John the Baptist after torturing a thief
Looks up at his hero the Commander-in-Chief
Saying, “Tell me great hero, but please make it brief
Is there a hole for me to get sick in?”
4
I checked my letter two or three times before I pushed the "submit" button, but I still spelled "goose" as "gus". Sorry! Please don't point this out to my students.
2
What Trump meant to say yesterday about crimes committed by illegal immigrants is that we have plenty of criminals here who are US citizens - allowing non-citizen criminals into the country increases unemployment among criminals and depresses their wages of sin.
14
Honestly, not really looking for a wall. Would like more robust measures which can be in place at all entry points and, a working funded government would be good too. I do not see or feel an imminent crisis. I do fear the powers the president may impose on us though. Washington is the ste of the crisis. Not the borders.
17
If Delusional Donnie wants to deal with a security and humanitarian crisis in the U.S. of A. he should deal with gun violence and gun deaths. Since 1968, there have been 1,516,863 gun-related deaths on U.S. territory. Since the founding of the country in 1776, there have been 1,396,733 war deaths. In 2017 (the last year for which there are figures), almost 40,000 Americas died by the gun. The number of Americans killed by "illegal immigrants" each year is miniscule by comparison.
39
How strange that Trump can paint the dangers to our country of undocumented people by evoking the grief of those whose family members have been killed, while expressing no concern about the climate changes that have been snatching away homes and loved ones around the country. Nor does he show a sense of urgency
about combating the ravages of runaway gun violence in our country. What some Republicans paint as Democratic stubbornness and pure spite against Trump is rather outrage that money the country needs on many fronts could be thrown away on a "signature" project for the purpose of an egomaniac's self-glorification..
42
The Democrats are in denial in stating that there is no crisis. Unbelievable! There has been a crisis for the last thirty years and nobody has done a thing. Kudos for Trump for trying! I support President Trump!
8
@Merrie Sawyer..."Mexico will pay for it..." to "I will take this on myself" and when he sees no way out? "It's all THEIR fault!" Merrie...you sound like a good soul, however the majority sees through his façade. Best of luck to you.
3
@Merrie Sawyer: I’d have a bridge to sell you, were it not I am out of bridges. Too many takers among Trump supporters...
2
@Merrie Sawyer there are far higher priority crisis in the USA that need 5 billion: roads, bridges, highways & infrastructure to name 4 .....quit being so fearful & afraid !
Trump got himself on television, which is really all he cares about. "Look at me, listen to me, me, me, me.." is the only message he brings. This border wall fight has been about making up for his lonely Christmas. He's had to double down on the media grabbing ever since then. And, reporters dutifully scribble down every lie, every distortion, every "misstatement," while 800,000+ families wonder how they'll pay the bills. Nothing about Trump's border wall shutdown has anything to do with improvements to our immigration system or securing our borders. It's just all about Trump, listening to the sound of his own voice.
13
The biggest and most evil lies in President Trump’s speech were not his facts but his cause-and-effect arguments that building the wall will make all the problems he talked about go away.
The best example is drugs. He listed statistics about drug deaths, and then he argued that to stop these deaths we need to build his wall. But here's the big lie—his wall would do little if anything to slow down drug trafficking. Many of our drugs come by other routes, and most of those coming across the Mexican border come via legal crossings.
Yet even if a wall helped a bit it doesn’t matter. If he knew anything about drugs, drug users, and the drug economy, he would know that the users will continue to find a way to get their drugs, and their dealers will continue to fund a way to get their drugs to them. What we’ve found in our 30-plus year “war on drugs” is that the solution must come through reducing demand, not supply.
Hey, here’s an idea—if we have $5 billion in loose cash, let’s funnel that money into drug treatment. If we spend $50,000 on one person’s rehab, $5 billion dollars would support 100,000 people! Now, THAT might actually be something that would reduce drug deaths.
13
@Jerry Schulz - I hate Trump as much as any other sentient being, but I really question the accuracy of the claim that most drugs come in through legal ports of entry. I question it because I don't understand how this could even be mathematically estimated, it seems like just a logical guess. After all, any drugs that successfully make it into the country are by definition never intercepted, making their travel route unknown to the authorities. It seems like one of those self-perpetuating "facts" that everyone knows and doesn't question. I understand if people say that most seized drugs are seized at legal ports of entry, that's provable. But it's also more likely that drugs are seized at those locations because that's where most of the security is.
2
@Jerry Schulz
Funny how you say dealers will find a way in, even with a wall. Your argument is exactly what conservatives use against gun control - Guns in the hands of bad people will still find a way into society. You reject the gun argument, but allow it to fit into your view against the wall. Hypocrisy at its finest.
1
@Meredith, it is our own DEA that reports how the seizures are at legal crossing points and not the areas in between that a wall would span. As a recent USA Today report commented, "...fences did not stop the drug smuggling. With a near-infinite supply of money and resources on the other side, drugs continue to move under, around and through anything the country builds."
If we want to address our growing crisis with drugs, things like a wall are a distraction; this is where we've been stuck for thirty years. What we need is a giant effort to reduce demand, starting with things like rehab-on-demand and the use of substitute drugs. This will be very costly, although $5 billion would be a nice start,
Isn't it customary for the president to say "And God Bless the United States of America" at the end of oval office speeches to the nation? Interesting that he did not do so.
6
@Eric Mandell - That is because Trump worships Mammon. And his supporters love him for it, not despite it.
If anything, we have to thank the media for constantly digging and researching the truth to this crisis. The constant work by the media to bring out the truth of this person, and his hyperbole that he throws around so casually, is to be commended. I can only imagine where we'd be today if it wasn't for the news media bringing to light all of the, over 7000 (seven thousand), lies, to date. Up to 15 lies a day. And, these lies supported by not only his base, but his party in the Congress and Senate. I was reading one of these blogs/threads on FB (I don't know why I did, I never do, the responses were so vile), and a person reminded his friend who had responded to the horrid thread supporting its contents, to take the time to look at where the thread was coming from and that it was fake, aimed to bring out the worst in a person. The immediate response below it, from another person, was a big red hat with "I believe Everything" emblazoned on it. Wow, what anger and blind faith that person had. So, thank you, the media, for your hard work of constantly working for the truth, which allows us to understand what is going on in, what seems like, this Mad Hatter's Tea Party we are living in at the moment.
11
Two things: The wall was a Trump campaign promise. Legally, he is POTUS by virtue of the Electoral College. But in a nationwide election--not a poll or survey--American voters rejected him and his wall by almost 3,000,000 votes. He should not shut down the Gov't over a policy which the voters decisively rejected.
I agree that immigration lowers wages, that's why the main support for immigration is business, but somehow Democrats and liberals bear the onus of supporting immigration.
6
...sound and fury signifying nothing... you can date his terminal demise from this broadcast, he will not recover.
8
Trump is going for broke. If he wins this one he will declare a "national emergency" when he loses in 2020 and nullify the election. Who will then arrest him and drag him out of the White House? Maybe nobody if he has directed the Pentagon to protect him!
3
Trump escalated nothing but a series of desperate fund-raising appeals around a much-hyped Oval Office address that turned out to be nothing but a neighburger from the stable genius.
8
The refusal by the Democrats to fund building the wall is what is causing significant economic dislocation in the nation. To use a Nancy P term, 5.7 billion is 'chickenfeed' in terms of the overall budget.
Fund a 5.7 billion appropriation for this year and then the Administration and the Congress can negotiate for FY20 in the succeeding months.
8
GOP had two years to do this.
24
@PI Man Great. Go ask the Koch Brothers or Sheldon Adelson for the chicken feed. Better yet, tell Trump to get the Mexican government to cough up the chicken feed.
4
@PI Man 5.7 in the overall budget (mostly military) might seem like a little but not to me. But the $ is besides the point. The wall is not an effective way to fix the immigration problem. Ask Israel. They just discovered massive tunnels. No, it's a publicity stunt to fire up grass roots Americans (like me) who just want everything to go back to teh good ole days.
Do you think the Texan individual land owners and companies will be happy when the US Gov. takes their land to build the wall?
3
If it included moats, drawbridges, turrets, and portcullises, then maybe ...
10
Considering that McConnell won't even allow 2/3rds majority legislation - veto-proof - to be voted on, it's time for McConnell to step down. Why is a saboteur the GOP senate majority leader. Everyone furloughed should be asking themselves this.
This wouldn't be happening were it not for McConnell tabling bills that would have prevented this.
45
“Enough about the wall already,” one resident said. “We have other problems here that need fixing"
-An American who actually lives near the border
It is becoming increasingly clear that this border "crises" is fictional. People in Ohio, Wisconsin,etc. , care much more about it than people who actually live on the border and have a clear picture of exactly what is happening. They know human smugglers have all kinds of ways to avoid the walls already put in place as do the drug smugglers. The Trump supporters continue to listen to the drumbeat of lies which the hate-mongers on talk radio spew 24 hours a day. When will these people wake up realize they are being manipulated, that cunning broadcasters are using racial prejudice and fear to make them vote against their own self interests. When these people care about the real crises, the crises in health care, education, environment and the ballooning federal deficit, that's the day this country can actually get to work and solve the real problems confronting it.
24
@Lonnie
Too late. The “spewing” occurs on both sides. If you want ultra conservative media to stop, then ultra liberal does too. The side you are not on thinks the EXACT way you do - that you are wrong. That you are manipulated.
1
Mr. McConnell finally crawled out of his hiding spot and truly spoke of something he knows a lot about. Obstruction, maybe they are that dead-set on opposing this particular president on any issue, for any reason, just for the sake of opposing him. Although that’s not what’s happening here as the wall - fence whatever was a simplistic campaign message trump could repeat for the muddle brained masses. There’s video of trump confirming this at one, at least, of his rallies. Call your senator, stop the shutdown and negotiate border security, our country should not be held hostage!
4
“Or maybe they’re just making it up as they go along. Or maybe they are that dead-set on opposing this particular president on any issue, for any reason, just for the sake of opposing him.”
It it very hard to understand how the media lets Mitch Mc Connell get away with statements like this when it was his goal to make Obama a one term president (in addition to blocking his Supreme Court nominee).
23
@Oliver My thought exactly. Thank you for stating it.
2
Democrats can dismiss the President's talking about the border as a crisis all they want. It will work out as well for them as Hillary dismissing half of Trump voters as irredeemably deplorable. The polling is sometimes not exactly spot on so I wouldn't recommend relying on any particular poll as an argument against the wall. Give him the 5.7 B and make it a campaign issue if you care about America and American Workers. Refuse to if you want to show you don't. That's the Dems choice.
7
@GregP
Unlike many I remember the Republican playbook. As soon as the Dems give that money to Repubs, they will be forever beaten for it. Remember the invasion of Iraq? How often did the republicans bray about which democrats supported it?
1
The Republicans have the majority in the Senate and they have the White House. It’s hard to make the Democrats the bad guys when you’re winning 2-1. Add to this the fact that there is a 5-4 conservative majority on the Supreme Court and you have a Republican government in charge while the shutdown is in motion.
They will be blamed for this in November when there are 20 senate seats in states that Clinton won which are up for re election. Then if Trump isn’t impeached by then he will lose in 2020 over this.
@Oliver
Nice try but you do know it takes 60 votes to pass anything in the Senate and a Conservative majority on the SC means nothing when it comes to legislation. You get misled by your own talking points if you actually believe it will be Republicans and Trump who pay in 2020. Forgot 2016 already? American public want border security. Democrats clearly don't. That's what comes out of all this.
Once again the Democrats are holding the nation hostage for DACA and illegal immigrant citizens of foreign nation. The combination of a poor field of candidates and the Democrats continuing to put American citizens last, they can forget winning in 2020. Instead of a blue wave in 2018 there was a ripple and in 2020 it will be worse if Democrats continue to ignore American citizens.
7
@Hellen have you not been paying attention, the majority of the American citizens think trumps wall is not necessary. I won't attempt to speak for trumps base, so please don't speak for the majority.
6
@Ricky
Have YOU not been paying attention? Nobody really knows how many Americans support it. Not until November 2020
@Meredith Polling (you know, the stuff that KellyAnne does) shows that a majority of Americans do not want the wall.
I love the Trump supporters response - enforce the law. Do you realize how that sounds?
3
We don't need to be completely Trump-obsessed, but we do need to be Trump-concerned. While praising the intelligence of the American electorate, Trump secretly knows that they can be led around like bulls with nose rings - only instead of bullrings, he uses their beliefs and prejudices to lead them wherever he wants.
If DJT doesn't destroy our fragile democracy, he has published the blueprint and playbook for some other demagogue to do it later. If a democracy like America's is going to exist, there will have to be a paradigm shift in human thought throughout the world.
In the near future, we will program the human mind in the computer based on a linguistic "survival" algorithm, which will provide irrefutable proof as to how we trick the mind with our ridiculous beliefs about what is supposed to survive - producing minds programmed de facto for destruction. These minds see the survival of a particular belief as more important than the survival of all. When we understand this, we will begin the long trek back to reason and sanity.
See RevolutionOfReason.com
1
I wonder what Putin has on McConnell and Graham. Those two are smarter than Trump on hiding their ties to Russia, either through bribery or blackmail, but that only makes them more dangerous. Let’s see what Mueller comes up with.
6
@Anna - McConnell has always been an America-hating weasel. But Graham is the one who went from being vocally and adamantly anti-Trump to one of Trump's biggest cheerleaders, almost overnight. Graham is the one who is acting most suspiciously. I wouldn't be surprised if the Russians have "something" on him. Won't it be ironic if the dirt they have on him is the one thing that we all suspect anyway?
@Anna. Both have taken millions of dollars from the NRA. It is now coming to light via Maria Butina ( known Russian agent). et al that Russia has been funneling millions of dollars through the same organization.
1
@Jim: It's probably worse than what we all suspect, imo. And I wouldn't be surprised if McConnell has been a Russian mole even before Trump was one - but let's see what Mueller has to report...
Watching Trump was like watching my third grader read a speech he had to give the next day. And I was dismayed at the continued lies being told. We don't need a president like this. In fact America really does not have a president.
20
I missed the speech entirely but now I see I didn't miss anything.
7
My question for those reporting on the issue of funding for the wall is what happened to funding for the wall during the past two years that republicans controlled both houses of Congress? How can you have an honest discussion of this issue without addressing that question?
18
If you put to many people in the lifeboat you will sink the lifeboat.
3
A true Nero for our times. Pick your own "Rome burns." Mine is climate change, but this time, Rome is the whole world.
4
It is amazing to hear McConnell whine about obstruction of Trump's agenda by Democrats after openly admitting that he would obstruct Obama at every turn and do his best to make him a one term president.
Well he did obstruct progress in our country for many years and his Democratic opponents have leaned their lessons well.
13
We need humane, rational, sane immigration laws and policies.
We do not need a monument to his giant, ignorant ego.
Such a lying fool is the crisis, a clear danger to our nation and the world. Still hoping Mueller can bring him down.
6
Stop wasting money Republicans!
6
I’m confused. The GOP had total control over the legislative for quite sometime before losing the House majority last November. They could have passed the funding of this wall plus an additional layer on the Great Wall of China comfortably over the last two years. How is this the Dems fault in any shape or form?
38
Its not Democrats fault, of course. Republicans in Congress don't want to waste 25 or 30 billion dollars on a ridiculous, 5th century "solution" to a 21st century humanitarian crisis any more than Democrats. Especially since "the wall" was just an idiotic marketing term invented by Roger Stone and Sam Nunberg to remind Trump not to forget talking about immigration on the campaign trail. And of course his promise that Mexico would pay for it was just a gimmick also. He admitted that to Mexican President Pena Nieto in his Day One phone call.
1
Not sorry I missed this, phone off, computer off, no TV in the house, reading a very good old novel purchased at a used bookstore for a few dollars.
16
Wouldn’t it be ironic if the president*’s same arguments of a humanitarian crisis for the wall instead result in gun reform? Wouldn’t it be ironic if his executive overreach produces new laws that reign in executive powers back to pre-WWII levels?
6
What would Senator John McCain do if he were here? He would march into Mitch McConnell's office and tell him to get involved. He would tell him it is a travesty that this continues.
He would tell him to choose their battles more carefully. That the only way to save the Republican agenda is to give up the quest for the wall and manage the remaining battles yet to come.
Trump has lost many independents that voted for him and managed to alienate a significant number of moderate Republican voters in the process. He can't deflect blame for the current situation, he owns it by his own admission.
Pelosi and Schumer need to continue to pound their message home: separate the issues, then talk. There is no reasonable person out there who believes the matter of the border wall and the shutdown are, or should be, related to one another.
12
Lindsey Graham: the end of the presidency. The end of his Republican party.
That says it all. No concern for the 800,000 government workers, no concern for the refugees, no concern for the $5.7 B that could be spent in a billion ways more effectively,
His only concern is the Republican party while his state of SC languishes at near the bottom of education, health care, minimum wage, infrastructure, environmental concerns and on and on. I wish he would get out of government and just work for the gop. Politics are his concern, not his state and certainly not the nation.
59
SC has less to lose than Lindsay does, and they deserve him.
He read sentences as if English wasn't his first language, and word has it that he laid out a bevy of potential excuses for his lousy performance ahead of time with the news big-shots who lunched with him before his 8.5 minute squint-eyed reading of a prepared statement. He has already managed to spread the word that HE didn't want to do it and this was all the fault of his advisors.
Yes, he did say this was a humanitarian crisis, etc, but, really, how much energy did he put into that?
If you listened to the morning talking heads, you learned that the speech was preceded and followed by explicit (and misleading), phone calls to his "base" hounding them for huge donations. For his campaign. That's what he's after.
No change is being forced on the opposition - they should stick to their guns but be very public about what they have done - and he has not.
21
Does he really care about immigration? About a humanitarian crisis? Or was this just campaign 2.0 for re-election? Trolling for dollars while he spoke, Trump was not being POTUS but candidate Trump 'addressing the nation' with his signature campaign issue: Fear and hatred of brown skinned people from south of the border. Trump's 9 minute 'speech' was nothing more than a political stunt. Trump is abusing the Oval Office and federal workers for campaign dollars and hopefully eventual votes.
Trump's fundraising emails were even a lie. Asked to donate for 'Border Security' in reality it was dollars for MAGA 2020.
Trump can not govern. In ability combined with lack of interest make Trump ineffective at best. He can campaign and once again manipulated the MSM and the public into giving him a presidential forum for another campaign speech and request for donations.
I would give him a pass except for this fundraising. That is the worst slap in the face to the federal workers suffering because of the shutdown.
8
@Elizabeth
Let us not forget, Canadians, Mexicans, and every resident of every country down to Panama live in North America and thusly are Americans as much as anyone in the United States is. And so are all of the people in South "America."
2
The humanitarian crisis we have is Individual-1.
The national crisis we have is Individual-1.
The national emergency we have is Individual-1.
The two-year's long and continuing national nightmare is due to Individual-1
Individual-1 has dug in his heels like a Missouri mule. He has backed himself into a corner. He is using his bully pulpit as a means of self preservation with his base.
It's not working.
33
Schumer and Pelosi looked like they were an old married couple telling their adult children that it was over; it was like a bizarro "Green Acres": I kept expecting Mr. Schumer to bring out a pitchfork and tell Ms. Pelosi that she was his wife and that was that.
And Trump can read! We now have proof, because his reading from the teleprompter was very noticeable. I don't like the big orange buffoon, but his presentation was much better than the Dems: almost Presidential (almost).
Of course, nothing was resolved. Most people can't survive for very long without an income; all three of these knuckleheads better look at what's happening in France and get serious about opening the government, because we are just a few weeks away from a very, very dangerous situation.
5
Did anyone else notice that he didn't end this address with "God bless the Unites States of America"? I might be young, but isn't that how these things usually end?
If this "physical barrier" (fence, wall, whatever it is today) is so important, if and when it's installed, can we please stop the mandatory CBP checkpoints 100 miles in from the border, with the agents, dogs, cameras, and scanners? Because it's really a hassle when we head home after bringing our kids to see their grandparents in the Rio Grande Valley.
14
Don't blame the Democrats, Don. You had both Houses of Congress for almost two years and you couldn't get your own party to push this through. They, too, think your wall is a waste of money.
40
It is time for Pelosi and Schumer to offer a plan similar to what has been offered before that proposes intelligent solutions to border security problems, and acknowledges that there are real problems.
Then negotiate with our Buffon In Chief, who seems desperate for anything he can call a "wall," to see what he is willing to give up for how much "wall."
We might see a DACA agreement, serious immigration reform...who knows. Negotiate mile by mile of wall.
The time is ripe, the rewards potentially rich.
7
Thanks! Will someone tell me what is being recommended on the other side of note? As of now it is just the word “technology” and “other solutions” which are apparently better and far more moral. Yet to hear them though.
3
As trump has already demonstrated, this is going to be tough when he is so easily influenced by the likes of Sean Hannity & Ann Coulter. He was on the verge of signing legislation that would have headed off this impasse & the Government Shutdown until he stopped to watch Fox. Hannity is one of his key advisors on any plan to go forward, or stay stuck for that matter.
5
@Ben Bryant: Schumer already did with Republicans in a bipartisan proposal in Trump’s first year that Trump had promised to sign. It had 25B in funding for border security including the wall. Trump reneged on his promise twice.
2
So Trumps request was"call your Senators".
So call them!! Right away today. Make sure everyone you know calls.
Polls will be taken and spun any which way, but if you really do or don't agree then call ALL your reps and make your voice heard.
7
Give Trump money to build the wall. Then, take away $1 for each lie he told about Mexico building the wall. Take away $2 for each time he said there was no collusion with the Russians. Take away more money for the lies he told to cover up the prior lies he told. Take away money for each of the unethical and unlawful things he's said and done since he's been in office.
Will anything be left? Probably not. He would probably owe us.
8
The new trade deal with Mexico is paying for the wall.
3
@Sean Mulligan
And Mexico's current measures on asylum, which include processing and housing, is another contribution to border enforcement.
@Sean Mulligan - LOL. No. But I'm all ears if you'd like to explain the logic of how reduced tariffs equates to increased government funds.
While Trump was bad, I was appalled at the lack of visibly meaningful care on the part of Schumer and Pelosi--it was like their body language was scripted to be empty of any emotion whatsoever.
:(
6
@Muddlerminnow: Emotions distract from some badly needed rationality and logic. I don’t care about politicians acting “emotional”.
2
@Anna - Agreed. Trump is emotional every time he opens his mouth, most usually to shout. Who does that convince? I will go with cool, calm and rational politicians every time. Remember no-drama Obama? Ah, the good old days when a president acted presidential.
2
They were trying not to escalate Trump any further.
1
What kind of President is Donald Trump who casually stops a nation, and the world, for 9 minutes, at considerable expense to the networks, for an exercise in reading aloud something someone else has written that he considers to be a waste of time?
Presidents are leaders, not puppets, or at least that's what candidate Trump used to say.
14
He never intended to be a leader. His campaign & his presidency have both been exercises in bombast & ego. Nothing more.
1
Last night after the Trump fantasy tour Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was on the Rachel Maddow show. She was fierce, articulate, informed and able to connect so many good things about our country and the contribution immigrants have made historically and are making today that Trump should hire her to be his mentor. She made me proud not only to be an citizen but also to have been born in Queens with immigrant grandparents. She may stumble on occasion as she gets her sea legs but she is going to be a much more influential leader than most realize.
67
@greg
She is a younger Democratic version of Michelle Bachman. She has her seat in Congress for a term or two longer but if she stays in lala-land she won't last and will be a talking head on television in her second career.
4
@greg
I recommended 'yours' even though I'm forever a Brooklyn boy (no matter the 40-odd years I've been 'stuck' in Manhattan) -- and so, I cannot fathom anyone's "pride" of a birth in Queens. (Hope you got out at first chance.)
1
@GregP
She was elected in a June election in which 80% of eligible voters stayed home.* Not unlike how NYC Mayor de Blasio was elected. In his first victory, 27% of voters turned out.In his re-election, a mere 8.5% of voters voted for him.**
*******
* "Most voters stayed home for stunning Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez win",
https://nypost.com/2018/06/28/most-voters-stayed-home-for-stunning-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-win/
** "8.5% of New Yorkers voted for de Blasio. Is that a mandate?"
https://www.cityandstateny.com/articles/politics/campaigns-and-elections/de-blasio-voter-turnout-2017.html
1
It seems the great negotiator who is like , really smart , has played just about all his cards .
37
@paul Trump always has another card up his sleeve. This time, he will call it a national emergency, which will bypass congress for funds.
2
@ Paul & Harold Odub Just when you think it can't get any worse or outrageous, it always does.
1
@paul
And absolutely all of his smarts.
The President is addressing a political problem he and his gormless staff have created.
Going on about a national emergency is way beyond cynical.
A week from now it will have faded. Your wicked Mexican sunburn Don.
We want you to work way smarter. This is a loser. Put the staff back to work first. Then go to some friendly site and have a rally. You'll all feel better.
Getting that decent paycheck. It's the economy...
Now about all that heroin originating in Afghanistan.
12
“If we undercut the president, that’s the end of his presidency and the end of our party,” Senator Lindsey Graham. And there you have the motivation of Trump and the GOP, self over country or duty to the constitution. No big surprise there.
61
Good riddance.
1
@DPaielli: I wouldn't put too much stock in what Lindsey Graham says. He's long been a sky-is-falling politician who loves giving hysterical pronouncements to the nearest microphone. Remember his unhinged rant during the Kavanagh hearing?
1
It seemed to me that trump, on the one hand, and Pelosi and Schumer, on the other, were competing for who could give the most wooden speech.
Anyways, it will be interesting to hear trump's tweets today, because we all know that when he is not struggling to read the teleprompter he will regress to his characteristic bellicose, offensive, linguistically flawed rhetoric.
11
Mr. Mueller, it's time.
22
America already has 600 miles of wall. It needs better gates.
7
@Curbside
It needs campaign finance reform.
2
Candidate says repeatedly in campaign speeches: "I will put a chicken in every pot".
Candidate wins, becomes President, can't get Congress to make good on handy campaign slogan.
Candidate shuts down government because he can't deliver on Chicken in Every Pot promise. 800,000 people face no paychecks as a result. Tens of millions impacted.
Candidate persists, holds National Prime Time Address making case for Chicken in Every Pot. Reads script outlining numerous false claims to support his demand that a chicken be put in every pot.
Candidate looks ridicuous. Chicken in Every Pot promise sounds ridiculous. Everyday people pull their hair out in outrage and disgust.
23
@David
Mexico will pay for a chicken in every pot.
5
1000s??..... he said 1000s every day. That is a sea of himanity is it not? That would amount to over a minimum of 360,000 a year. Can that possibly be true? After several years California would sink into the Pacific. Is this just another example of Trump's willingness to lie. The total of 'deceptions must be in the 1000s!!
4
@Dave Steffe
How do you think we got to 20 million plus here illegally? Or one city alone in California to over 50k homeless? The numbers are entirely accurate.
3
Let me try and understand this. The nation is being held hostage by a minority government run by an egomaniacal man-child who has never been told no in his life and who lost the people's vote by 3 million, and the result is a government shut down over a propaganda talking-point used because the man couldn't remember how to be racist well enough to pander to his most base of bases. Impeach, prosecute, imprison. The entire family needs to go.
70
Time for calls to your representatives and senators to impeach him and Pence.
24
There was no reason to watch the speech last night. Why listen to a speech by a man who is a compulsive liar?
21
“ This is about whether we fulfill our sacred duty to the American citizens we serve.” Give me a break... he spent the first two years of this national disaster trying to take down Obamacare for millions of the American citizens he serves. He spent the first two years whipping the party into a frenzy to pass a 40% tax cut for American corporations and give the American wealthy their money back... Pelosi is correct.. the “ Wall” is registered barely a blip for the two years he was serving the American citizens. I’m asking a question: those 800,000 federal workers and the hundreds of thousands more who are their family members, bankers, grocery purveyors, mortgage lenders, lien holders, etc., etc,... are they not the American citizens he serves? He needs something to attach his name to.. plain and simple.
17
Let’s not forget how cadet bone spurs fulfilled his first sacred duty.
7
@Steve Snow
Citizens Trump serves are primarily:
1. Neo-Nazis;
2. KKK members;
3. Birthers;
4. Venal and corrupt lowlifes like Paul Manafort and Roger Stone who's do anything for more money added to their bloated offshore bank accounts (like Trump);
5. Saudis;
6. Russians.
This border wall problem has been a growing problem since the Clinton administration; Congress will not do their job; it's about the latino vote for Democrats and low wage job killing illegal immigrants for big Ag and big business, and so the average person has to pay to subsidize this mess with failing schools, increased healthcare subsidies for illegal immigrants and their kids and over growth of the population.
Disgusting.
7
@JRS: Don’t forget big Ag and big business are dominated by Republicans and that unauthorized workers do not vote.
@Anna,
I have a pretty good memory, and it is said that I am astute to what going on in the world, even at 72 years of age; I also remember what "the great" Ronald Reagan said after he granted amnesty to illegal aliens before this unending debacle was thrust upon the American people, but Democrats and Republicans are beholding to everyone but the citizenry of this country.
The only crisis is the the one he’s created in forcing Americans to work for free while he sits in luxury. Our air travel is about to be disrupted and business along with it. He created this.
17
If any line in Trump's speech last night displays how little regard Trump has for the intelligence of voters, or perhaps how little intelligence his supporters have, is his comparison of walls that individuals build around their properties to a country's borders. I guess the next big security idea to come from Trump will be to put a big dome over the entire country since most people have roofs over their home.
8
@Jay Orchard Your analogy doesn't work. The entire property isn't covered by the roof in the same way that it's enclosed by a wall.
@BNuckols
You're right. We should have a dome over half of the country.
Last night, I was going to watch DJT. I was, really, but HBO had something better: the Sopranos.
Did Donald display a check from the government of Mexico?
No. Enough said.
16
@T Raymond Anthony
I went to the movies and watched Marwen.
(It just so happened that I couldn't help but notice that there were some parallels when it comes to the corrupt birther "president" many bullying neo-nazis have given standing ovations to.)
1
Last night was definitely a victory of sorts by the president. He looked better than the rebuttal. The wall costs peanuts relative to the size of the federal budget (a tenth of a percent of the fed budget). The same dems who now argue a wall is immoral already voted for a fence when Obama was president. Call the thing what you want, but the current resistance by dems is not principled. Clearly a physical barrier is not a magic bullet, but if it made it even marginally more difficult to transport some (not all) of the fentanyl and heroine into our borders it would probably be worth it. Obviously the heroine epidemic in this country has many dimensions, but one thing is not disputed: the heroine in this country got a lot cheaper and a lot more pure in recent years, which is a direct consequence of a greater supply of the drugs, nearly all of which is coming up from our southern border. When drugs are cheap, available and potent they tend to be used more. Hence in 2016 60,000 Americans died of overdoses, and in 2017 the number was 70,000. These are mind-blowing figures representing sons, daughters, mothers and fathers lost. Liberals seemed to care about American deaths when they were citing that 30,000 people were dying of gunshots including 20,000 suicides. How can they not see that heroine trafficking through our southern border is a serious issue that requires a serious response? Dems simply are not credible when they say they care about border security.
8
@Bill Dont let the facts get in the way of a good story . Most of the drugs come through commercial shipments . No drug cartel will quit if you get your wall.
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@Bill The Democrats do care about sensible border security, based on the recommendations of border agents themselves: improvements to the existing structure, investments in new monitoring technology, and hiring more agents. They also understand that the majority of illegal drugs come into this country through other avenues. Moreover, Democrats advocate programs to help cut off the main thing driving the illegal drug trade - an available customer base. They do this by promoting drug education and treatment programs, among other ideas designed to either stop or to treat drug abuse.
The Republican platform seems to be centered on personal responsibility, and yet, seems continually to blame complicated issues like unemployment or drug use on somebody or something else. It never addresses the fact that, say, there is a willing consumer base for illegal drugs here, or that businesses hire illegal immigrants because it benefits them to do so, and there are few deterrents to breaking this law.
The nation already has a physical barrier, and it has proven effective. Perhaps if we focused on internal issues, certain external problems would end as well.
As to the “heroine” problem; well, perhaps the Republican Party could work on its fear of strong women, but that seems to be a separate issue.
3
@Bill
Take a trip to Grand Canyon National Park. You'll find walls and fences at certain strategic points where tourists tend to congregate and the terrain is dangerous. Do you think we should spend millions or even billions of dollars to build a fence around the entire canyon?
3
Building a huge wall is not a panacea for border security. If border security is Trump's goal there are better ways. If the goal is pleasing his base...and Ann Coulter...then a wall is mandatory. Problem is, he's the president of ALL Americans and not just some. Easy for you and me to grasp, conceptually impossible for Mr. Imightlooksilly.
10
A ridiculous speech by POTUS, jacked up w/lies and innuendoes for as Rep. Jeffries put it best, a "medieval wall" that stands as a monument, in deed and in steel or concrete, of stupidity between two neighbors for murderers and terrorists. The latter, six caught during what period? The former, perhaps more, but nothing still compared to the crime in our country by citizens, minors, in cities and small towns. The much discussed opiod crisis as featured in one NYT article, showed a small town in economically distressed
Kentucky, or Ohio, where big pharma had distributed an overwhelming number of opiod pills for prescriptions. The wall stands as a phantom signal for that which Trump wishes to accomplish but has not. It is comparable to Moby Dick's whale, Ahab's delusional yet real symbol of a goal elusive, unrealistic, unnecessary. I don't think Melville subjected any workers to loss of pay in his fictional story.
3
Ironically as the president continues his battle to build the wall, a more and more Americans are moving to Mexico. I live in Mexico city and have seen such an uprise in U.S citizens living in this great city. Trump has created an unbearable U.S.A for those with options.
8
The so-called “border wall fight” is a non-issue, a distraction, from the very, very big issue of using a government closure to force the House to gift $5,7 billion toward a $25 billion boondoggle.
This isn’t just arm-twisting. It is usurpation of Congress. It surrenders the entire Congress to Trump who can use this formula to do as he wishes on any subject.
Isn’t that the main worry here?? Not a concern over how big a boondoggle this boondoggle is?
10
Trump hasn’t got a sympathetic bone in his body. His claims about comforting families rang totally hollow.
6
Last night's wall-mongering debate seen from both sides: Yawn.
Trump has inadvertently morphed his own issue into one that threatens the Republican party to its core during his remaining presidency. There are enough outspoken Republicans to vote a majority if only McConnell will allow a vote on the wall. Those Republicans that stand with him do so to avoid an effective lame duck tenure and a severely diminished agenda moving forward.
Trump has not only painted himself in a corner, but has painted his party into one as well. It can only get more interesting from here.
5
The Great Wall of China didn´t really work. Neither did the Limes once built by the Roman to keep out the Germans. What really destroyed both nations was internal decay, polarization, corruption, and injustice.
Why does Mr. Trump want to build that wall? We in Germany are extremely glad that we do not have this tragic iron wall dividing our country / continent anymore!
7
@Martin Sachs That wall, the Berlin Wall, was intended to imprison, to forcefully keep a once-and-again single Country separate and divided, rather than to keep people from other Countries out. It lasted far too long.
In the meantime, your airports have "Non-Schengen visa" entrance areas that are "walled off" from the Schengen entrances, correct?
“If we undercut the president, that’s the end of his presidency and the end of our party,”. If only. Well, at least it’s the end of the GOP.
4
The president of the United States is a puppet manipulated by Fox airheads into creating a fake crisis on our southern border, which results in real chaos of a government shutdown. When will Rupert Murdock be held responsible? When will the Republicans?
9
So where was the Republican Congress when this "crisis" was developing over the past two years? Utter rubbish and nonsense in fact and logic as usual.
16
@Canadian
Or how about under Obama and Clinton. This problem is decades old and is simple to fix. Enforce the laws. Mother early 100’s immigrants followed the law so why can’t these people.
4
@Canadian
It was just a few weeks ago that the media and democrats were decrying the plight of immigrants at our border. Sure seemed like a "crisis" then. Now, suddenly it's not an issue?
2
@Canadian So glad that, as a Canadian, in Canada, you're able to comment on the US political policies! So different from your protection in your own Nation, when writing about your own politics. Just how many preachers have been imprisoned for practicing their religion in your Country?
1
You're right, President Trump! We do have a humanitarian crisis: hoards of undocumented children, who were separated from their parents, living in detention camps in Texas. Get them home already!
8
Thanks for the rundowns. I just can't watch Teleprompter Donald. It's like watching Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton trying to sell their kitchen gadget on TV.
Also, it slipped my mind that he was giving a speech. I just don't pay as much attention to Trump since the midterms.
5
The ignorance and incompetence of the carnival barker at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue continues. His fools errand of doing anything to satisfy his rabid base that supports his divisive agenda will never end until he is removed from office. On November 3, 2020 caring Americans will remove the worst President our country has ever had, and begin the long road back to restoring the honor of our nation at home and abroad. Until then, the product of ignorance elected by ignorance will continue to embarrass our country every second he remains in office.
11
TRUMP and his enablers are the criminals the congress and the country should be worried about. Clean house from with in!
4
If we could take the entire American population and temporarily set it across the border, I wonder how many would qualify to enter this country if we apply trumpian logic and fear.
The only thing saving much of the population is white skin and English.
We need to give others the chance just as much as our ancestors got theirs when they came here for whatever reasons.
3
@wihiker
Yeah and give them guaranteed jobs, education , healthcare etc. Time to get real, this about giving free stuff so they can become voting socialists. Enough already, enforce the laws.
2
We are witnessing the beginning of authoritarian control...declaring an "emergency" that does not exist in order to support one-man rule.
The so-called mothers and children making their way to the US border is called a "Caravan" but portrayed as a Panzer Division overrunning the US Border, filled with "terrorists" bringing in "disease".
Why not just be honest and say: No Brown People allowed
7
We are living in a state of national insanity, mental illness promulgated and spread by Trump. The obsession with the wall is worthy of the institutionalization of the president, in a place where he can get help. Next press conference, ask him if he has ever had psychiatric intervention. He is completely abnormal. While we are spending endless media time and political capital on this stupid issue, the fox is cleaning out the hen house. McConnell is worse, since he can't even feign sickness. National disgrace before the whole world.
4
You would think the bright, well relatively bright, people he named as wanting him to give this speech, would know their heads just got placed on the chopping block.
4
Obviously high-school kids now have to write a two-page essay on Trump's speech including the final statement if he is for real or a liar. America is committing slow suicide.
1
So did the old white men's networks that decided to slather us with propaganda determine what drugs Trump was doing? Sniff, sniff, sniff should have been a clue. Did his drugs come over the border too? Because the one I suspect is not one that you can get a script for..
3
@sleeve
He definitely seemed sedated.
It’s still a waste of money. That said, let Trump take $5 billion from a bloated, wasteful defense budget and spend it on a foolish wasteful pointless wall. No new money for this wall.
However, I expect the Democrats to cave. They simply are not as cruel and soulless as Trump who will let 800000 people starve, face eviction or foreclosure to win a point.
1
Read other newspapers. Watch TV. Here in the progressive bubble of NY, we think Trump lied and blundered and machinated for nine minutes, to no effect. Fact checkers think "out of context" is an indictment. But out there, in the America of SUVs, shuttered malls, mortgages and pink slips, Trump looked presidential (thank you, networks), he peddled the time-proven Republican promise of safety and security against threats, real or imagined, and he doubled down on a campaign promise. The Democrat response was Schumer and Pelosi. What they said after that didn't matter.
8
@MWR
He peddled imagined threats and looked presidential? He doubled-down on a campaign promise? What about the campaign promise that Mexico would pay for the wall.
2
@MWR
The big problem with the fact checkers is they fail to address the most problematic fact being promoted by democrats -- that is, that there's no crisis at our Souther border. This is something Americans can see with their own eyes. Denials by democrats won't change it.
2
The story is that Trump championed "the Wall" in his campaign only because it was a good pneumonic, it pleased the crowds, he made it a core piece of his act, just like "Lock her up". He managed to get elected, on electoral college votes not popular vote, and possibly in a rigged election, and now he wants to do what he said he would do, and his supporters demand he do it, but he lacks the popular support, for the wall or anything else. And on top of that, he is by nature untrustworthy and narcissistic, an eggagerator all the time and an outright liar often, he surrounds himself with minions. If he is able to persuade anyone to do anything with his lies and his puffery, he claims it a personal victory, a win for himself, he pulled one off. No self respecting person wants to associate with him, let alone be forced to deal with him on important issues. As Trump would say. "so sad".
5
President Trump looked and acted like a true leader last evening and conveyed convincing why we need that wall. He said it was so illegal immigrants and criminals cannot gain entry into our country and he gave valid reasons. He wants to keep us safe from those who do not value life and are immoral. They are breaking our laws and he wants to put an end to this catastrophe that has been occurring for years under both political parties.
By contrast, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer looked very wooden and uncomfortable while standing before the TV cameras. They seemed insecure and insincere in their presentation. They did not convince us that there was not a need for this very important wall. I think they do not understand the magnitude of this problem. Or they refuse to face the facts. They also do not want to give President Trump his wall and will go to any length to prevent him from achieving this promise to the American people. President Trump will get his wall with or without them.
4
@WPLMMT
The "magnitude of the problem" is less now than it was a decade ago, and even less than a year ago.
Why the sudden urgency at the expense of 800,000+ Americans? Pure politics and optics; that's what the Office of President has come to.
3
@A. F. G. Maclagan 20,000 minors - caught - illegally entering the country across the Southern border last month.
1
For God’s sake, people. The issues raised by the speech, and by just about every statement Trump has made about the wall, is not simply his lies, distortions, and exaggerations.
Trump does not know he is lying, and just does not care. He believes every word he is speaking. He believes his speech was a Presidential Address and he told the American people the truth about a national crisis. He believes his speech is equal to Kennedy’s address about the Cuban missile crisis.
The speech, in short, revealed that Trump is totally out of touch with reality. He is seriously delusional, in the absolute clinical definition of the term. He nakedly displays the symptoms of someone in the early stages of dementia, when they can still function in a basic way but have lost the ability to cope with daily life—eating properly, paying the bills, doing housework.
Hundreds of thousands of people have watched as a parent starts exhibiting these symptoms—telling daughter Gladys that daughter Eunice is stealing from him, and saying the same thing to Eunice about Gladys. Or a mother stating the 20-something neighbor boy has asked her to marry him.
Trump is, beyond the shadow of a doubt, suffering from some form of mental derangement. That is the lesson of the speech.
5
Mr. Trump is fulfilling another campaign promise; break the government. His supporters compulsively blame government and immigrants for their problems.
6
It's funny how Trump's supporters twist themselves into pretzels defending his mantra that "Mexico will pay for the wall." Had Obama made such a bold claim then go to the Oval office to make what is a farcical plea he would be tar and feathered with epithets. But Trump's supporters couldn't care less about his mountain of lies. He conflates a few incidents of horrific acts by undocumented aliens into the majority as criminals. There are less people crossing the border and being apprehended than back in the year 2000. These caravans travel through Mexico. Since Trump has such a big mouth he should demand that Mexico stop those caravans from traveling through Mexico and getting up to the border. From what I read Mexicans in Tijuana don't want central American immigrants in their city. They overburden their resources. I'm sure they can find a "friend" in Trump who share their disgust.
3
It was almost like watching Nixon's, "I'm not a crook speech."
3
At no point has the administration given any analysis or data which might support the notion that criminals and drugs are "flowing" across the non-walled portion of our southern border or statistics which might testify to the effectiveness of this $5BN wall they are trying to sell the American people.
There are reports such as a recent Dartmouth, Stanford study which study in detail migration patterns and how this barrier may or may not work.
The CBP cites that the majority or drugs arriving in the US from Mexico come through formal points of entry such as San Diego not some remote unwalled portion of the border.
Trump made note of a few specific violent and deadly acts perpetrated by alleged illegals from Latin America to prop up his case however, data shows that overall, these criminal acts from this segment pale in comparison to those perpetrated by US born citizens - Tree of Life, Stoneman Douglas, Rt. 91?
When he is asking for such a large amount of money from us, Trump should make his case with factual data and not by attempting to pull at emotional heartstrings!
7
@biijii
Try reading about the El Chapo trial before you make such claims about drugs not really flowing over our border.
1
@AACNY Thanks - No doubt the likes of Sinaloa, Jalisco and others move massive amounts of product across the South border but to be clear the point I am making the that CBP reports that the majority of this product cross legitimate ports of entry such as San Ysidro / San Diego carried on personal operated vehicles and that resources potentially need to be beefed up at those points.
Change the law and require that all immigrants seeking asylum apply at the US Embassy in their country. The size of the caravans would probably be significantly reduced.
Shame on all of Congress for failing to find legislative means to better manage legal and illegal immigration.
Shame on this president for lie after lie after lie to justify the shutdown.
6
Donald Trump revealed that we actually have three humanitarian crises. First, at the southern border where his zero tolerance policy has led to children being separated from their parents and placed in inhumane detention cells. Second, among the 800,000 federal employees and the innumerable American businesses and citizens who depend on them who are not being paid including the Secret Service and T.S.A employees. And third, in The White House where the president who suffers from the anti-personality disorder of narcissism lacks any empathy, that is the "heart" and "soul" he invoked, that reflects callous indifference to any sense of human decency and suffering. When seen in the context that here is actually no crisis at the southern border other than the one Trump has created where border crossings are at a 20 year low, only six persons of the terrorist watch list attempted to cross in the first six months of 2018 (most come through airports), and most drugs enter by air and sea, all you are only left with is an authoritarian and narcissistic need for a "win" over the Democratic House and for his "base" and the cruelty that it displays.
8
A better argument for Trump: the Democrats oppose a wall because they want the whole country to be like California. A coalition of the very rich and very poor, with an endless flow of illegal immigrants to sustain it. I'm against it.
5
Has anybody told the president that illegal immigrants are entering the U.S. via Canada? Will he want a wall on the northern border as well? This shutdown is beyond stupid.
9
The man at the center of the Russia investigations, who owned casinos and took cash out the back door in dump trucks, who sells his name because he's got about as much true business sense as a post, who is simply a crook and criminal " excoriated Democrats for blocking the wall, accusing them of hypocrisy and exposing the country to criminal immigrants."
The Con Don and his International Mafia brethren probably want to control the drug business as they have done for centuries. OUR government has done literally nothing about stopping illegal drugs ever since Bush Sr called a "war on drugs". As a matter of fact it has gotten even worse and now, thanks to Bush, Clinton and Bush prescription drugs are an even more sinister culprit.
It will be such a time of celebration when WE THE PEOPLE hire/elect true Socially Conscious Women and men to manage OUR government, get the Robber Barons OUT and pass laws to keep them out and tax back all the wealth and resources they have stolen for decades.
NOW is the time to start and, apparently, New York and the south are the places to start.
11
Congrats to the President. He was actually able to read from a TelePrompTer and stay on script for 7 minutes. That’s real progress.
16
Doubtless the issue of the wall causes concern to some in the United States. And those of us living in Australia are hardly blameless when it comes to cruel immigration policies based on chimera. But the notion that an advanced nation would shaft its public sector workers and coerce some into working without pay will strike many as barbaric. How is it Australians and Europeans will ask can the state denude workers of their rights so shamefully? Is a public sector contract morally conditional? Where did this nonsense come from? Surely not Adam Smith, whose closing chapters say nothing about throttling the state...I'm all ears!!!!
18