At the Republican National Convention in 2016, Donald J. Trump claimed the nation was in crisis. Trump told the American people “I alone can fix it.” He pledged to repeal Obamacare, allow individuals to deduct health care insurance premiums from their taxes, defund Planned Parenthood, enact term limits, place a lifetime ban on foreign lobbyists raising money for American elections, end birthright citizenship–just a few of the many guarantees he’s failed to deliver.
But the biggest promise he made was to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it. There are multiple instances, recorded, no less, of him saying at various rallies that Mexico will pay for the wall. Pay, as in write a check. Not pay, as in via some pie-in-the-sky re-written trade deal that has yet to be approved by Congress. Contrary to right wing propaganda, no additional monies will be pouring into the treasury as a result of any new trade deal.
Furthermore, Trump not only locked out more than 800,000 government workers, he also denied all federal employees a 2 percent raise while Vice President Mike Pence, cabinet secretaries, and other White House officials celebrated the longest government shutdown in U.S. history by receiving raises of $10,000 a year.
Nineteen men got on four flights and killed almost 3,000 Americans on 9/11. They didn’t enter our country through Mexico.
How is the wall suddenly a “national emergency,” when for two years the current occupant of the White House had complete control over Congress, majorities in both the House and the Senate, and still no funding for the wall?
If there is a humanitarian crisis at our southern border, not to mention Americans getting killed by illegal aliens and drugs coming into our country, how are Republicans keeping us safe?
This article appears in Jan 17-24, 2019.