The government shutdown has lasted 20+ days. House Democrats and the Trump White House cannot agree on funding for border security. We’re talking $5 billion here, folks. It’s a rounding error in federal budgeting. Democrats, having retaken the House in the 2018 midterms, are not willing to play ball with Trump. They want to fight, stall his agenda and score political points. At the same time, keep the cancerous legions of their progressive base sated as they thirst for blood against an administration they view as the personification of evil. Both sides aren’t budging. Democrats see the polling. Trump is blamed. Trump sees the polling too and sees that border security, curbing illegal immigration, and the wall itself are proposals that are popular or gaining in approval respectively. Both sides are at equal risk for overreaching.
CODELs are a Congressional European shopping racket where you get massive per diems and no one pays duties on anything you bring back on a military jet. https://t.co/p2jIdmjQQx
— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) January 18, 2019
While this game of political chess continues, Pelosi decided to virtually disinvite Trump from delivering the State of the Union address on January 29th. She cites the current shutdown and security concerns, the latter of which was torched by the Secret Service who said they’re prepared to handle any security situation. Yesterday, Trump decided to drone strike the Democrats’ delegation to Brussels and Afghanistan.
So, with her trip nixed by Trump, did that stop, Pelosi? Nope. Apparently, they had a second protocol in place, but it was scrapped when the plans leaked (via WaPo):
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi abandoned her plans to travel commercially to Afghanistan after President Trump canceled her military flight, while leveling the remarkable allegation that the commander in chief, with authority over security preparations, had imperiled the safety of lawmakers and troops when he disclosed the confidential plans.
Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Pelosi (D-Calif.), on Friday blamed the Trump administration in a written statement for revealing news of the trip, which was set to include several other House Democrats.
“After President Trump revoked the use of military aircraft to travel to Afghanistan, the delegation was prepared to fly commercially to proceed with this vital trip to meet with our commanders and troops on the front lines,” Hammill said.
Overnight, he added, a new State Department threat assessment indicated “that the president announcing this sensitive travel had significantly increased the danger to the delegation and to the troops, security, and other officials supporting the trip. . . . This morning, we learned that the administration had leaked the commercial travel plans as well.”
Well, that last point is trash:
NEW: Senior official tells me it's a "flat out lie" the WH would leak info that would threaten Americans' safety. "When the Speaker of the house and about 20 others from Capitol Hill decide to book their own commercial flights to Afghanistan, the world is going to find out." https://t.co/Kg7x1xLbuc
— Francesca Chambers (@fran_chambers) January 18, 2019
In all, the lead negotiator and one of the principal actors in ending this shutdown tried to leave the country...again. Talk about great moments in leadership, huh? Also, it shows that Democrats, as we've known since day one of Shutdown theater, are more concerned about scoring points against the Trump administration and blocking its initiatives than re-opening the government and trying to grow the economy.
Why would Nancy Pelosi leave the Country with other Democrats on a seven day excursion when 800,000 great people are not getting paid. Also, could somebody please explain to Nancy & her “big donors” in wine country that people working on farms (grapes) will have easy access in!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2019
In the meantime, the Trump White House remains committed to border security. Build that wall.