What if it's not about the wall?
Jan. 15th, 2019 07:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickSo, we're having a partial government shutdown. Allegedly this is about the need for A BORDER WALL and improved border security to protect Americans from Brown People and drugs or whatever. But what if that's not really what it's for?
My thought here is that if The Border Wall had been that damn important, President Trump would have pushed it through and funded it when he had a majority in the House and in the Senate -- in other words, during any part of the two years right after he was elected. Instead, he spent his time bitching about healthcare (which he did finally pass A Thing regarding but it wasn't the full-on repeal he said he would do) and appointing Supreme Court Justices who, quite honestly, flew through the confirmation process at light speed despite some concerns. I'm still at can't even for Justice Fratboy, who LIKES BEER. I mean what the ever-loving fuck? And if your endgame is to remove Roe v. Wade as a functional thing, there are many hard-right conservative judges who are on board with that bullshit but don't revere the infallibility of the President or have difficulty maintaining composure during confirmation hearings. That's just Kavanaugh with the Presidential Infallibility thing and the I LIKE BEER temper. But anyway, such a shitshow. It's easy to get distracted. My point here is that the administration didn't Go Big or Go Home over the border wall UNTIL the Democrats took the House of Representatives in the midterms.
There was some talk about immigration in the lead-up to the election, what with the teeming hordes of migrants marching inexorably towards the border. That was the coverage before the election. Bazillions of Central Americans were FLOODING TOWARDS THE BORDER. Turns out it was about 6,000. (See here.) After the election, the coverage died down. But there's always NPR. Currently, of the 6,000 Central American Caravan that was Big News in Pre-Election Times, we have arrested 2500 of them for jumping the border. Somewhat less than 2,000 are left waiting to apply for asylum (a legal thing we do) and about 40 to 60 people per day are allowed in the country. Of the rest, most have gotten humanitarian visas and jobs in Tijuana.
So, y'know, we are not overrun like they said we would be. But in the news, again, at least according to the bastion of truth that is President Trump, "There's another major caravan forming right now in Honduras and so far, we're trying to break it up," Trump told reporters last week. "But so far, it's bigger than anything we've seen and a drone isn't going to stop it and a sensor isn't going to stop it, but you know what's going to stop it in its tracks? A nice, powerful wall," he added. (Source) How are drones going to stop a caravan of immigrants that are IN ANOTHER COUNTRY where you don't actually have the right to be there or do things? I know this is a challenging concept, but Honduras and Guatemala and Mexico are sovereign nations in which we do not have the right to do stuff.
But what if The Border Wall thing isn't about a border wall?
What if The Border Wall is meant to distract us from The Russia Thing, which is kind of looking like An Actual Thing...?
What if The Border Wall is an effort to make the Democrats look bad while presenting Trump as a Strong Leader who Fights Hard for His Promises (I bet he's not ACTUALLY hard. Prolly he needs a little Blue Steel for that.) and Wants to Protect Us...?
What if The Border Wall is actually intended to gut the government and remove various problematic organizations that irritate/offend/hamper Trump's puppeteers?
I'm not at all sure that The Border Wall is about having funding for a wall on the border with our southern neighbor.
How do we get out of this mess?
1. Trump and Nancy/Chuck work out a deal. (I don't know that this is very likely. I think it would be a grave error on the part of the Dems to cave to this asshole's demands. It would cement in his mind that he was strong and they were weak and seriously I think that he views winning as some sort of From-On-High confirmation that he is DOING THE RIGHT THING THE BESTEST THING SO MUCH WINNING. Also from then on, he would put the screws to the American People again and again because it worked last time and he just needs to hold on a bit longer, they'll cave, they always do. Nancy has said Not One Penny For The Wall and I hope to hell she's firm on that. Anything less would be a mistake.)
2. Mitch McConnell caves. (I am not sure he has the spine to cave. He doesn't seem to have any interest in country over party. I don't know that all the Republicans are Party over Country. I hope they're not. But Mitch... that ship sailed for him ages ago.) It does not benefit McConnell to cave.
3. Republican senators break with party, caucus with Democrats, elect a new Senate Majority Leader... that'd at least be interesting. Mitch would then have clean hands. Senators who broke (I'd pick ones who were unassailable in their seats) would be primaried but the party as a whole would be maintain control of the senate, and the government could move on in spite of the God-King Emperor who has gone insane.
4. Somehow Mueller takes to the skies, shooting lasers out of his eyes, burns the White House to the ground (with Trump & Co. in it), publishes his findings on the interwebs for all to see, INCLUDING the pages and pages of documentary evidence and also The Pee Tape, and leads us into a new future with an improved, more European-style constitution with stronger protections against the abuses of power we suffered under the Trump Administration. But he won't do that because he's Robert Mueller and he knows that you do not seize power by force even if you are right. You go through the correct channels, trust the system to do its job, and follow protocol. Acting otherwise is failing to trust the strength of our government, our legal system, and our society to withstand challenges such as these. So, Mueller will not take to the skies or shoot lasers out of his eyes even though he can. He's not that kind of guy.
My thought here is that if The Border Wall had been that damn important, President Trump would have pushed it through and funded it when he had a majority in the House and in the Senate -- in other words, during any part of the two years right after he was elected. Instead, he spent his time bitching about healthcare (which he did finally pass A Thing regarding but it wasn't the full-on repeal he said he would do) and appointing Supreme Court Justices who, quite honestly, flew through the confirmation process at light speed despite some concerns. I'm still at can't even for Justice Fratboy, who LIKES BEER. I mean what the ever-loving fuck? And if your endgame is to remove Roe v. Wade as a functional thing, there are many hard-right conservative judges who are on board with that bullshit but don't revere the infallibility of the President or have difficulty maintaining composure during confirmation hearings. That's just Kavanaugh with the Presidential Infallibility thing and the I LIKE BEER temper. But anyway, such a shitshow. It's easy to get distracted. My point here is that the administration didn't Go Big or Go Home over the border wall UNTIL the Democrats took the House of Representatives in the midterms.
There was some talk about immigration in the lead-up to the election, what with the teeming hordes of migrants marching inexorably towards the border. That was the coverage before the election. Bazillions of Central Americans were FLOODING TOWARDS THE BORDER. Turns out it was about 6,000. (See here.) After the election, the coverage died down. But there's always NPR. Currently, of the 6,000 Central American Caravan that was Big News in Pre-Election Times, we have arrested 2500 of them for jumping the border. Somewhat less than 2,000 are left waiting to apply for asylum (a legal thing we do) and about 40 to 60 people per day are allowed in the country. Of the rest, most have gotten humanitarian visas and jobs in Tijuana.
So, y'know, we are not overrun like they said we would be. But in the news, again, at least according to the bastion of truth that is President Trump, "There's another major caravan forming right now in Honduras and so far, we're trying to break it up," Trump told reporters last week. "But so far, it's bigger than anything we've seen and a drone isn't going to stop it and a sensor isn't going to stop it, but you know what's going to stop it in its tracks? A nice, powerful wall," he added. (Source) How are drones going to stop a caravan of immigrants that are IN ANOTHER COUNTRY where you don't actually have the right to be there or do things? I know this is a challenging concept, but Honduras and Guatemala and Mexico are sovereign nations in which we do not have the right to do stuff.
But what if The Border Wall thing isn't about a border wall?
What if The Border Wall is meant to distract us from The Russia Thing, which is kind of looking like An Actual Thing...?
What if The Border Wall is an effort to make the Democrats look bad while presenting Trump as a Strong Leader who Fights Hard for His Promises (I bet he's not ACTUALLY hard. Prolly he needs a little Blue Steel for that.) and Wants to Protect Us...?
What if The Border Wall is actually intended to gut the government and remove various problematic organizations that irritate/offend/hamper Trump's puppeteers?
I'm not at all sure that The Border Wall is about having funding for a wall on the border with our southern neighbor.
How do we get out of this mess?
1. Trump and Nancy/Chuck work out a deal. (I don't know that this is very likely. I think it would be a grave error on the part of the Dems to cave to this asshole's demands. It would cement in his mind that he was strong and they were weak and seriously I think that he views winning as some sort of From-On-High confirmation that he is DOING THE RIGHT THING THE BESTEST THING SO MUCH WINNING. Also from then on, he would put the screws to the American People again and again because it worked last time and he just needs to hold on a bit longer, they'll cave, they always do. Nancy has said Not One Penny For The Wall and I hope to hell she's firm on that. Anything less would be a mistake.)
2. Mitch McConnell caves. (I am not sure he has the spine to cave. He doesn't seem to have any interest in country over party. I don't know that all the Republicans are Party over Country. I hope they're not. But Mitch... that ship sailed for him ages ago.) It does not benefit McConnell to cave.
3. Republican senators break with party, caucus with Democrats, elect a new Senate Majority Leader... that'd at least be interesting. Mitch would then have clean hands. Senators who broke (I'd pick ones who were unassailable in their seats) would be primaried but the party as a whole would be maintain control of the senate, and the government could move on in spite of the God-King Emperor who has gone insane.
4. Somehow Mueller takes to the skies, shooting lasers out of his eyes, burns the White House to the ground (with Trump & Co. in it), publishes his findings on the interwebs for all to see, INCLUDING the pages and pages of documentary evidence and also The Pee Tape, and leads us into a new future with an improved, more European-style constitution with stronger protections against the abuses of power we suffered under the Trump Administration. But he won't do that because he's Robert Mueller and he knows that you do not seize power by force even if you are right. You go through the correct channels, trust the system to do its job, and follow protocol. Acting otherwise is failing to trust the strength of our government, our legal system, and our society to withstand challenges such as these. So, Mueller will not take to the skies or shoot lasers out of his eyes even though he can. He's not that kind of guy.
