As the insanity of the government shutdown continues into record territory, I would like to take this opportunity to warn Republicans they are on the losing side of this mess.
I’m saying that as an impartial centrist that doesn’t want to see a veto-proof Democratic Congress after the next election cycle — which we will see if this debacle continues much longer. The border wall is not the most important issue to anyone outside of President Donald Trump’s administration.
Remember the Republicans threatened President Barack Obama with a shutdown for spending too much? Now Trump closes the government because he hasn’t overspent enough already! Any true Republican can see the irony in this. Remember “who would you rather spend your money? You or the government?”
The prez says this could go on for years as he isn’t caving. Consider this: The Fed pays its employees every two weeks and the first missed paycheck is now a reality. We immediately saw a “sick-in” in from TSA workers.
Having worked for the government during the Y2K debacle as a very able IT specialist, I was approached by three different head hunters with very good short-term offers. It was my investment in the Federal Employee Retirement System that kept me from jumping ship. That system no longer exists along with a few of the other perks that lured me to public service in the first place. The replacement system is much more portable and no one in their right mind would remain loyal to public service under the current circumstances. With the current low unemployment rate, it is incredible anyone would opt to work for Uncle Sam. The quality of government services is only going to go down from here.
President Trump doesn’t care a wit about border security. He only cares about Donald Trump. If you are on his side, he will praise you all up and down. If you defy him, he will do and say anything he can to vilify you. This shutdown is to take the news away from the new Democratic House of Representatives and to keep the Robert Mueller investigation out of the news. Trump created several non-events such as a press conference where he got to filibuster and the press didn’t get to ask a single questions. The purpose was to keep Trump front and center and to squash the news from the newbie reps hollering “impeachment” in a public way to show their voters they are keeping their campaign pledges.
We saw a confrontation with new Republican Sen. Mitt Romney which the press was having trouble defining and I saw as a complete reflection of the election that brought Mitt to the Senate. Trump supported a ring-kisser in the primary and the people of Utah who have good Mormon ethics found Trump’s unethical style not to their liking.
The polls are showing the wall is only supported by Trump’s slightly less than 40 percent of the electorate, which is the Trump base who will let him say or do anything as long as they perceive him to be disrupting business as usual in D.C. My idea of cleaning out the swamp was to get special interest money out of Washington. Trump’s supporters are too blind to the fact that he is simply tossing out the old alligators and replacing them with his own. We have seen a record number of turnover for such a short period of time, as one Trump appointee after another has been ousted for stealing from the public or abusing their position.
I am all for effective border security as are most Americans surveyed. The issue at stake is the wall’s cost versus the cost of the more urgent needs of the country as perceived by most of voters. I seem to be the only one that recognizes that walls go both ways. What if the long talked about massive earthquake in the center of the country were to occur? Or a storm such as depicted in the movie “Day After Tomorrow”? Or if Vladimir Putin should send in one of his new undetectable supersonic atomic weapons that he has stationed in this hemisphere? Many people would be heading south in a big hurry. Hopefully, if there is a wall they will have some TNT with them!
The longer the government remains closed the angrier the majority of the population will become and, in two years, there will be no safe Republican seat. I know the old saying is “we can hang together or we can hang separately.” In the case of Trump, he will do everything he can to assure that he is the last to hang. So I am taking this opportunity to urge you to come to your senses and use your ability to negotiate a veto-proof bipartisan resolution going around the President before he once again abuses his power to try to go around you.