Trump tweets himself into a corner on wall funding
As Republicans and Democrats in Congress begin meeting on a border security bill that meets the president’s demands in order to avert another government shutdown, one question looms over the tense negotiations: What exactly is the president demanding?
Judging by his tweets — his main public forum on the issue — it’s difficult to tell.
In six tweets over two hours Thursday morning, Trump, who as recently as Wednesday was framing his demand as “a Wall or Physical Barrier,” appeared to revert to his original demand for a “Wall,” or, sometimes, even in the same tweet, a “WALL.”
“Let’s just call them WALLS from now on and stop playing political games! A WALL is a WALL!” he tweeted emphatically, if cryptically.
Lets just call them WALLS from now on and stop playing political games! A WALL is a WALL!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2019
Back in December, as the shutdown began, Trump had referred to “a Border Wall or Fence” as if they were equivalent.
Virtually every Democrat we are dealing with today strongly supported a Border Wall or Fence. It was only when I made it an important part of my campaign, because people and drugs were pouring into our Country unchecked, that they turned against it. Desperately needed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 24, 2018
And last fall he was touting “artistically designed steel slats” as a “beautiful” solution.
The Democrats, are saying loud and clear that they do not want to build a Concrete Wall - but we are not building a Concrete Wall, we are building artistically designed steel slats, so that you can easily see through it....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 19, 2018
But another, inexplicable, refrain in Thursday’s tweetstorm was that the “WALL” is already being built.
“Construction has started and will not stop until it is finished,” he wrote, apparently citing as his source the Fox News anchor Lou Dobbs.
With Murders up 33% in Mexico, a record, why wouldn’t any sane person want to build a Wall! Construction has started and will not stop until it is finished. @LouDobbs @foxandfriends
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2019
“The Wall is getting done one way or the other!” he wrote, followed by “Wall is being built!” and “Wall is already being built,” and “Being Built!” Which seemed to raise the question, What was the shutdown about, and why has Trump made a non-negotiable demand for more than $5 billion as his price for signing an appropriations bill to avert another shutdown in two weeks?
At the height of the Vietnam War, Vermont Sen. George Aiken famously suggested a formula for ending the stalemate without admitting defeat, which has been paraphrased as “Let’s declare victory and get out!” If there’s one thing Trump is known for, it’s his obsession with declaring victory — which in this situation, appears to be stiffening resistance by congressional Democrats, aware that he would spin an inch of compromise into 2,000 miles of gloating.
Was the purpose of his tweets to lay the groundwork for that kind of face-saving maneuver? In December, he did something similar in regard to his endlessly repeated promise that the “Wall” wouldn’t cost American taxpayers anything, declaring: “MEXICO IS PAYING FOR THE WALL!” (His claim, deemed false by fact-checkers, was based on indirect economic benefits from the still-unratified, renegotiated NAFTA agreement.)
Only time will tell, but for what it’s worth House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reiterated on Thursday her long-held position: “There will not be any wall money in the legislation.”
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