Video: President Trump Speaks on Shutdown, Border

Andrew Donaldson

Born and raised in West Virginia, Andrew has since lived and traveled around the world several times over. Though frequently writing about politics out of a sense of duty and love of country, most of the time he would prefer discussions on history, culture, occasionally nerding on aviation, and his amateur foodie tendencies. He can usually be found misspelling/misusing words on Twitter @four4thefire and his food writing website Yonder and Home. Andrew is the host of Heard Tell podcast. Subscribe to Andrew's Heard Tell SubStack for free here:

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29 Responses

  1. Pinky says:

    I heard some Democratic congresswoman on CNN saying that we can’t negotiate while the government is closed. The interviewer asked everything except the most obvious question: why not? It’s like the cop show cliche of “put down your gun and we’ll talk”.

    On a semi-related topic, how long has it been since anyone turned on CNN and watched willingly? If it weren’t for malls and airports, a tree could fall on CNN and no one would hear it.Report

    • greginak in reply to Pinky says:

      CNN headline news would report on the tree falling on CNN.

      Shutting down the gov as part of negotiating is massively dysfunctional. It puts gov employees and their hardship as bargaining chips. As a few talking heads have said fed workers are D’s so why do R’s care. Reasonable negotiating should not depend on how popular Fed workers are or how they can be demonized. It makes various basic functions of gov hostage to policy disagreements. The entire thing is a clusterfork and has no part in a sensible way to run a country.Report

  2. Michael Schilling says:

    DACA — Should we deport Americans to countries where they have no ties and don’t speak the language? Ok, but what if they have dark skins?Report

  3. JoeSal says:

    Geez Trump is a wuss, he shouldn’t offer anything for 11 months.Report

  4. LeeEsq says:

    Resident immigration lawyer here, Trump’s proposed compromise is basically an offer for nothing. His administration’s attempts to eliminate DACA have been tied up in the courts, so stating that there will be a three year extension for DACA/TPS in exchange for 5.7 billion dollars for the border wall boondoggle is an escalation of demands for nothing. What might work is an amnesty bill for every undocumented alien or at least give the DACA kids LPR status but that would be too much for his base to bear.Report

    • Michael Cain in reply to LeeEsq says:

      McConnell says he will introduce bills on Monday. Will be interested to see if they put force of law behind Trump’s promises.Report

      • LeeEsq in reply to Michael Cain says:

        From a Democratic stand point, and McConnell’s bills need to pass the Democratic dominated House, Trump’s promise is a non-offer because it is nothing. It doesn’t matter if Trump’s promise is given force of law. Its not good enough to begin with.Report

        • Doctor Jay in reply to LeeEsq says:

          Not only what you said, but we got here because Trump changed his mind last December and vetoed a bill that had passed both chambers with his assurance that he would sign it.

          So color me less than impressed with something being “put into writing”. This is the sort of guy who ambushes you with new clauses and new costs when you show up to close escrow.Report

          • LeeEsq in reply to Doctor Jay says:

            Exactly, so the Bill passes both houses and goes to Trump but then Ann Coulter tweets about amnesty and Trump vetos the bill. Trump’s MAGA base and the right-wing media really want every undocumented alien removed from the United States. Even a three year DACA extension will be too much for them.Report

  5. Stillwater says:

    MattY sums up my views on our current national nightmare:

    Many Democrats would be tempted to say yes to a deal that offered them something valuable — a substantial minimum wage hike, say — in exchange for wall money, but Republicans won’t offer anything valuable because they themselves do not believe the wall is important.

    This is true of Republican President Donald Trump as well. He doesn’t want The Wall, he wants the Fight Over The Wall.Report

    • Pinky in reply to Stillwater says:

      Trump enjoys the fight, and wants the wall. He’s in campaign mode now, and he knows that his base loves it when he fights, and he believes (rightly so, I think) that his base will judge him harshly if he doesn’t get the wall. The average Republican might not support the wall, or not believe that the wall is the most important thing in the world, but there’s no benefit in them turning on Trump on this.

      Actually, everyone’s behaving rationally and constitutionally. D’s and R’s, Trump and his base, everyone really, has concluded that this particular battle has to be won.Report

      • Stillwater in reply to Pinky says:

        If Trump sincerely wanted funding for the wall as more than merely a political prop, he could have – wait, change that, he *would* have – demanded that McConnell introduce wall funding legislation back when Rs controlled the House.Report