BY DOMINICK DICARLO | STAFF WRITER
As this grueling government shutdown enters into its 30th straight day, President Trump must hold firm in demanding border wall funding. This important fight over border security goes far past the simple fact that it was his signature campaign promise in 2016. The fight over President Trump’s border wall has become a symbol for the conservative movement. The wall represents Republican pushback to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats’ radical progressive agenda.
The newest development in this shutdown saga is what all of us on the right knew would happen eventually. The President announced yesterday that he would offer some new things to the Democrats in order to get them back to the negotiating table. In an address from the White House, the President offered the Democrats a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Act extension and help for Temporary Protected Status holders in exchange for the wall. The President did not change his position on wanting $5.7 billion in funding for his border wall, but he offered a few different things that Democrats have been wanting as a way to get them to negotiate. It must also be reiterated that $5.7 billion for the wall does almost nothing for actually completing the wall in its entirety. It would just be an extremely small portion of the funding that would be necessary for the wall, but it still matters, because it shows voters how serious the President is about defending the Southern border.
The Democrats immediately shut down any hope for success with this deal as soon as President Trump announced it, however. Speaker Pelosi called the deal a “non starter” that would not pass in the House if it went up for a vote.
The simple fact is that there are over 800,000 federal workers who are now going without pay because of this shutdown. Democrats were going after President Trump mercilessly for not coming to the bargaining table and leaving them in the dark. That narrative has been ripped to shreds now that the President has extended an olive branch. Now, if only the press could cover politics fairly, the narrative would be that Democrats refuse to see the problems we have on the Southern Border; they refuse to help DACA children and they do not want to see federal workers get their paychecks.
President Trump must stand strong against the Democrats and the media elites. He should ignore the polls which show that voters see him as the reason for the shutdown. Voters do not care about shutdowns when they go to the polls, and it will be no different in 2020. After all, Trump did say in December that he would be “proud” to take credit for the shutdown so, he should realize that voters will most likely see him as the reason. The President is absolutely correct in his desire for a more secure Southern border. Most polling shows that the vast majority of Americans support border security, even if they do not support the President.
Our Founding Fathers designed our government knowing that it was going to be difficult to get things done. They believed that government should be difficult and people in government service should have to compromise with each other to get things passed. The Founders are correct in believing that this kind of friction creates a government system that does not sway very far either way and is as fair as possible to the American voters. It’s clear that Democrats do not care what happens to American citizens; all they care about is how it could benefit them politically. They have so much hatred for President Trump that they are willing to do just about anything to take him down, even if that means stepping on the backs of the American people.
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