Trump Backs Off
Demand For Full Wall Funding, Simultaneously Pushes Criminal Justice Reform
ByBen Shapiro
@benshapiro
December 18, 2018
On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced its
willingness to back off of its demands for full funding for a border wall in
the newest continuing resolution to fund the government. White House press
secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Fox News, “we have other ways that we can
get to that $5 billion that we’ll work with Congress.” She explained, “At the
end of the day, we don’t want to shut down the government. We want to shut down
the border.”
This marks a serious shift from the escalating tenor of
President Trump’s statements on the issue. On Friday, he said that he would own
a shutdown over the border; he has consistently insisted that Democrats provide
him the funding he has requested. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
was set to propose a bill today that would include both $1.6 billion in border
funding and another $1 billion for a border security “slush fund” that could
not be used toward a wall, but Democrats have already said that they will
oppose such a deal. Democrats continue to preach that a wall would be immoral
in some unspecified way. “It’s the wrong thing to do,” incoming Speaker of the
House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) stated. “It doesn’t work. It’s not effective. It’s
the wrong thing to do and it’s a waste of money.”
It does work. It’s not ineffective. And the only time
Democrats seem concerned about excessive government expenditure is when
national security is implicated.
In any case, it’s a pretty gutless move for the
administration to back down from a fight over the wall after revving up
Republicans for precisely that fight – especially since back in January, Senate
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was forced to back down from his own
shutdown attempt while trying to push President Trump to grant amnesty to
so-called DREAMers. Americans don’t understand the Democrats’ agenda with
regard to the wall. They do understand Trump’s. If Trump agrees with that
assessment, backing off a fight is a mistake. Meanwhile, the Trump
administration is about to send $4.8 billion to Mexico in development aid. So much for Mexico paying for
the wall.
It’s an even bigger mistake considering that Republicans
are simultaneously pushing hard for a vote on criminal justice reform. This was
never a priority for Trump; it’s been far more of a priority for top aide Jared
Kushner. Trump ran on the basis of law and order, and yet he’s now pushing for
a bill that would ease the requirements in imposing mandatory minimum
sentences, loosen the three-strikes rule, and increase “good time credits” that
would allow thousands of prisoners to go free the day the bill is imposed as
law. There are good arguments in favor of some of the measures in the First
Step Act, but suffice it to say it’s a far cry from Trump’s “keep America safe”
rhetoric.
Trump voters should be, at the very least, disquieted by
Trump’s willingness to back down once again from his pledge on the border wall.
Combined with his reprioritization of criminal justice reform, Trump looks not
so much tough on crime as ambivalent about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment