Tag: Trump’s wall

Trump Sending More Troops to the Border

Buck Banks

3,700

New York Times: “The Trump administration was moving on its own to fortify the southwestern border with thousands of active-duty military troops. The number of deployed troops on the Mexican border was set to exceed the high of 5,900 reached around the November elections, as about 3,700 active-duty troops were being sent to assist with the Department of Homeland Security’s border patrol efforts. … Senior officers are voicing greater worries that the deployed troops are not conducting the training needed for their regular missions, while other military units must now pick up the routine duties on behalf of their deployed colleagues.”

Voters Oppose Another Shutdown Over Wall, Against Emergency Declaration

Buck Banks

58%

A new Morning Consult poll finds just 31% of voters support shutting the government down again to force Congress to appropriate money for the wall, while nearly twice that many, 58%, oppose another shutdown. Meanwhile, President Trump has suggested that he could declare a “national emergency” to avert a shutdown but still build the wall — but that, too, is unpopular. A narrow, 51% majority opposes declaring an emergency, which is supported by 38%.

Declaring an Emergency Would Be a Loss, Not a Win

Buck Banks

But taking away disaster-relief money? We have no idea what kind of electoral effect that would have because no president has ever done anything that stupid. (Okay, I can think of one possible equivalent, President Jimmy Carter’s ill-fated grain embargo before the 1980 election. It’s hard to say how much that hurt him, but emulating Carter’s famous mistakes really isn’t something to be proud of.) Let’s just say that if there’s anything voters might remember that long and actually punish above and beyond their normal voting behavior it would be taking away tangible benefits from them in a time of need. … That’s all on top of an unpopular shutdown over an unpopular policy by an unpopular president.

— Jonathan Bernstein

Pelosi: Trump Doesn’t Want a Wall, He Wants a Distraction

Buck Banks

“I don’t even know if the president wants the wall. I think he just wants a debate on the wall. And he’s having some difficulty with it.”

— Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), asserting that President Trump’s border wall push has nothing to do with border security, but is instead designed to energize his conservative base and distract the country from the various scandals dogging his administration, The Hill reports.