Trump, Give Up On The Wall
Today, the government shutdown hit the one month mark, and it’s shown no signs of stopping.
Trump made a half baked attempt to compromise with Democrats yesterday by offering 3 year deportation protection for DACA recipients in exchange for border wall funding, however it was rejected almost immediately by Democrats, and it even was denounced by many notable conservatives. 538 went as far as to challenge if it was really a compromise at all.
The sad thing about this is that it was the first attempt by either side to come to some sort of compromise during the entire shutdown. Although there have been negotiations between Trump and Democratic congressional leaders over the past few weeks, they haven’t really gone anywhere, and this is the first time Trump has agreed to strike any sort of deal.
At this point, everyone’s stuck in a deadlock. Trump won’t reopen the government until he has wall funding, while Democrats won’t consider a deal to reopen the government that has wall funding in it.
This shutdown will only end when one side concedes and is willing to give the other side what they want; either Democrats give Trump his wall, or Trump lets the government reopen. While I’m definitely biased in this situation, it seems like Trump should give up on the wall.
It’s already been proven time and time again that the wall will be ineffective for tackling illegal immigration. I won’t go over those reasons here, but I discussed a few of them in this article.
Democrats have remained strong in their opposition to Trump’s wall, not just because of its uselessness, but also because it will serve as the ultimate monument of racism. If the US were to put the wall on the southern border, it would be a sign to the entire world that the US has gone from the land of opportunity, the idea it was founded on, to a collection of intolerant bigots.
Don’t get me wrong, a lot of people already do think that, but a wall would truly solidify intolerance and racism as the core American values to the world.
This shutdown has been Trump’s attempt to cause congressional Democrats to crack and give him a wall, but the truth is, there’s no way it’s happening. On their own, no congressional Democrat has voiced support for a southern border wall, meaning the only reason they’d cave would be due to political pressure, which is basically non-existent.
Throughout the shutdown, Trump has gotten the majority of the blame, and his approval rating has fallen over 2 points as a result. On top of that, 84% of Democrats have said that a bill that gave wall funding would be unacceptable, which is an all-time high.
A Democrat supporting any bill to give funding for the border wall would not only betray their values, but it would also make zero political sense.
The thing is, Trump is going to need Democrats to get funding for the wall. The Democrats have a majority in the House, and 60 Senators have to approve funding bills in the Senate, and since Republicans only have 53 seats, they would need at least 7 Democrats to join with them.
The only way Trump’s wall could get passed would be either if public opinion shifted against Democrats, putting enough political pressure on them to make them work with Trump, or if we all woke up tomorrow with a Republican-controlled House and a Republican Senate supermajority.
What I’m saying is that Trump’s wall isn’t a possibility. He ran on the promise of the border wall, and it was what made him stand out in a crowded Republican primary field in 2016. The problem is, while it made a good campaign message, it’s not something that can be practically done.
The southern border is in anything but a crisis, with illegal immigration at a 10 year low, and in fact, there appears to be a greater crisis of terrorism and mismanagement on the northern border with Canada. We don’t need additional security on the border, especially not a wall. A wall will be ineffective at stopping most illegal immigration, and will really only serve as a symbol of racism and intolerance.
The simple solution to this is for Trump to forget about the wall. It’s not happening. Instead, he needs to sit down with congressional Democrats and figure out a bill that will reopen the government, so that 800,000 federal workers can go back to work and get paid, so that the US can stop being seen as the home of racism, and so that some day, Americans will once again be able to wake up in a country that isn’t full of uncertainty.
