Trump Oval Office Meltdown: GOP Stalemate; Government Shutdown; World Laughs at Us

Pelosi, Pence, Trump, and Schumer: Wall Funding No Deal

(Oval Office December 11, 2018)

Government “shutdown” now in effect (seen here in part from The AP via MSN).

The highlight of this article shows the two-faced, hypocritical conning Donald J. Trump in his everyday true form. He is a man who is pathetic and in the wrong office – he has savored the prospect of a shutdown over the wall for months in his back and forth blame game, which is his M.O. as the con artist is surely is.

Background: On December 11 in the Oval Office with DEM leaders, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (CA) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (NY) and in front of reporters on TV, Trump had a total meltdown and at one point said: “I would be proud to close down the government.”

Then on December 21, Trump told reporters that he was “totally prepared for a very long closure.”

Many Congressional conservative Republicans welcomed such a confrontation by Trump, but most GOP lawmakers have wanted to avoid one because polling shows the public broadly opposes the wall and a shutdown over it. Initial overall Republican reaction to the shutdown was muted.

Among the few GOP lawmakers who issued statements as it began was Sen. Lisa Murkowski (AK) who “expressed disappointment at the lack of a deal.” Also, Sen. Lamar Alexander (TN) said: “This is a complete failure of negotiations and a success for no one.”

Pelosi and Schumer both had said in a statement that Trump after the December 11 meeting: “Threw a temper tantrum and convinced House Republicans to push our nation into a destructive Trump Shutdown in the middle of the holiday season.”

Also at that same December 11 meeting and on camera, “the real Trump was on full display acting out his SOP routine saying that “I will not blame Democrats for any closure” and specifically telling Schumer:

“I won’t blame you, Chuck (sic).”

Now, Trump his GOP loyalist allies have spent the past few days saying Democrats bear responsibility calling it a “The Democrat shutdown.”

Hypocrisy meets GOP and Trump “Full Monty” – wow and in our collective national face.

Plus now, Trump keeps saying now was the time for Congress to provide taxpayers' money for the wall, even though he has for a long, very long time claimed and promised in speech after speech and in hundreds of tweets, that Mexico would pay for it.

Mexico has repeatedly has rebuffed that idea.

Now again, Trump is looking for a way to claim victory in the face of obvious defeat, saying that he would accept money for a “Steel Slat Barrier with Spikes” on top (pictured below), adding “it would be just as effective as a wall and at the same time just as beautiful.”

Trump’s alternative “Wall just as beautiful” he says

Historical note: I wonder if Trump thought the Berlin Wall was effective and beautiful just before Ronald Reagan told the former Soviet Union Leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, in his famous Berlin speech in June 1987 these historical words (short clip here):

Berlin June 12, 1987

Senators had approved a bipartisan deal earlier in the week to keep the government open into February and provide $1.3 billion for border security projects, but not the wall. 

The GOP House rebelled and approved a package temporarily financing the government but also setting aside $5.7 billion for the border wall. But, a GOP Senate 60 test vote failed — the House bill did not move forward.

Now, here we are with this partial shutdown – the impact:

·         The USPS won’t be affected because it's an independent agency.

·         Essential government agencies like the FBI, the Border Patrol, the Coast Guard, and TSA will continue working.

• Social Security checks will still go out.

• Troops will remain at their posts.

• Doctors and hospitals will get their Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements.

• Hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be forced off the job, and some services will go dark. Even after funding is restored, the political repercussions could be enduring.

·         ATC, FDA food inspections, the VA health care and many other essential government programs would run as usual. 

·         FEMA would continue to respond to disasters.

According to a report by the Senate Appropriations Committee, more than 420,000 federal employees deemed essential would continue to work without pay during a partial shutdown, including about 41,000 law enforcement and corrections officers and nearly 150,000 DHS security employees.  

Those working without pay would include: 53,000 at TSA; 54,000 CBP agents; and 42,000 Coast Guard employees. 

Some 5,000 Forest Service firefighters and 3,600 National Weather Service employees also would continue working (they would get back pay after reopening). 

More than 380,000 Fed employees will be furloughed: Nearly all of NASA and HUD and 41,000 at Commerce, and about 16,000 National Park Services. Many parks would close. 

Some 52,000 IRS staffers following analysis/collection would be off the job, too.

My 2 cents: Not much to add to this except to say “The GOP and Trump can't and won’t govern and the DEMS are unable.”

Thanks for stopping by.