Comments

1

Is she the one who's a pediatrician?

2

Yikes.
And there was a perfectly good alternative candidate in the primary. Hope some 8th voters have buyer's remorse.

4

$6B won't buy much wall.

"In 2013, Standard & Poor’s estimated that the full shutdown took a $24 billion bite out of the U.S. economy and decreased the gross domestic product’s growth rate from 3% to 2.4% across the quarter." --Forbes

It may sting a bit, but Pragmatisim out-trumps Trump.

5

@3 - Its not about the 5 billion per se. I'm sure some kind of deal could be worked out where Trump can have his money and Democrats get something they want - this kind of thing is perfectly normal. But Trump is offering literally nothing, unless you count "permitting the government to function" as a concession.

A year ago, they had a bill going where Trump would get 25 billion for his stupid wall and there would be a resolution the whole DACA/Dreamers thing. But just like this time, as they were working out the details, the White House got involved and started making more demands and the whole thing fell apart.

In large part, this is because the Congressional Republicans don't actually care about Trump's stupid wall and so they aren't willing to give the Democrats anything in exchange for it. Because its a stupid and pointless fantasy. Donald Trump is asking the Democrats to get him out of a scrape he created by talking a lot of shit at his campaign rallies. And I bet the Democrats would do him this solid it but its going to cost him big time.

The stakes are very low for the democrats because that wall is never going to be built. Its a farce. But all this drama Trump is whipping up keeps raising the stakes and obliges the Democrats to extract a higher and higher price from him so that they don't get in hot water from their own constituents.

In short: Donald Trump is a very bad politician.

6

Jeeze calm down, this is just standard swing district politician talk. What matters is how she votes. I'm happy to have someone who acts wishy-washy and votes Democratic over someone wishy-washy who votes Republican.

7

@3: If you give in to a blackmailer, he'll be back for more, and more, and more. The Democrats need to continue to tell the Shaitgibbon to stuff it.

8

@3.

Oh good god.

First. Building1,300-1,500 miles of wall will cost closer to $50 billion. It will take at least a decade and it will take billions every year to maintain and patrol. So. It’s never happening. That’s why nobody built it when Klansmen in congress first proposed it in the 1920’s. It’s a stupid decades long socialist jobs program. That’s what it is. That money could be better spend a hundred better ways related to border security. The $5 billion is just so Trump can claim a win.

Second, you really want to live behind walls? That’s what you want? It’s more than a metaphor. You want to live in a country like Soviet controlled East Germany or North Korea? Because those are the countries that surround them selves with walls.

Christ. Illegal immigration is at like a fifty year low. It’s been trending down for decades. Most drugs come through commercial entry points. And the people that come here generally pay thier taxes and don’t commit crimes at the same rate American citizens do. So why?

This wall is to demonstrate one thing. The success of fear and racism as policy. If we don’t reject this kind of corrupt cynical ploy this shit will only get worse.

9

@8 ProfessorHistory for the WIN. I needn't say any more.

10

Mitch McConnell could open the Government tomorrow IF he'd bring previously-passed bills back to the Senate for a vote and would most likely get a veto-proof majority -- which he won't do because ... Trumpfy?

He's the motherfucker behind -- in front of, rather, the Curtain.

11

Dr. Shannon Hader would have been a better Congr. than Schrier. She had government experience (CDC), knew how to deal with Republican assholes, is really sharp, and not a one-horse politician. Schrier's main campaign topic was healthcare, and that was about all she talked about. I'm really sorry Hader didn't win the primary. Now I'm really sorry. Still, she's better than Rossi, so there's that.

13

If I were in Congress, I wouldn't rule out voting for a wall under any circumstances either.

What if we could get a $15 federal minimum wage for it?

What if we could get all undocumented people here now regularized for it?

What if we could get a real climate policy in exchange for it?

What if we could get a proper Supreme Court justice for it?

Politics is all about horse trading. Trump REALLY wants his wall. That gives Democrats leverage. They should exploit it to the fullest.

14

Schrier's Liars at it again!

15

Appeasement never works, and you’re only guaranteeing more terrorism by giving in to Tdumpnazi demands.

16

Let Trump raise taxes on the top 1%, if he wants the idiotic wall that badly. The Koch brothers (and other billionairs) can afford it.

17

@5 "The stakes are very low for the democrats"

Trump bypassing congress by declaring a national emergency to fulfill a campaign promise is another step toward consolation of powers into the executive branch. The stakes couldn't be much higher.

19

Walls can be racist? We might want to tear down the miles of fencing currently along border then.

20

How come nobody complained when the Obama administration installed miles upon miles of barrier on the border(fence, wall, whatever, not much of a difference in functionality)

Just curious...

21

Trump not getting his wall will hurt his credibility with his pack of MAGAts, and make it harder for him to be re-elected. That alone is a good enough reason to make sure he never gets it.

22

@8 lol North Korea doesn't have any walls. It has a river to the North and a shit-ton of landmines to the South. Oh and 1,000 of guards that will shoot onsite.

For a professor of history, I think you would know that.

23

@22 lol onsite. on sight*

24

"The alleged master of 'the art of the deal' is not offering the Democrats anything that they can bring back to their base to justify allowing him to build the wall, like permanent protections for the Dreamers.

He's not offering anything but that of allowing
our government to function as it is intended to do.

Trump is essentially taking the United States government hostage, in an effort to blackmail the Democrats into permitting him to keep a campaign promise that he had no business ever making." --Matthew Carnicelli, Brooklyn, NY Jan. 10

From "What Trump Could Learn From His Shutdown" in today's New York Times.

25

How come nobody complained when the Roosevelt administration installed miles upon miles of barriers (fence, wall, whatever, not much of a difference in functionality) and put Japanese people behind it?

Just curious...

26

The problem isn't that she is keeping an open mind about it, the problem is that she is taking a horrible bargaining position. It reminds me of when I was a kid, and my older brother was selling his motorcycle. He couldn't be there when the guy came over, but he told my older sister to not take less than $500. When she met the guy buying the bike, she told him that. Subsequently, he handed over $500.

You don't lead with "Maybe I'll vote for the wall". You lead with "The wall is a stupid idea (it won't improve security, waste of money, yadda, yadda, yadda)". That doesn't mean she can't change her mind. But the more Trump thinks that there are Democrats that are willing to build this wall, the more he'll push the idea. If he thinks the Democrats will never support it, then he might change his position (or McConnell might allow Congress to override the president).

27

25

The fact that you think the two are comparable is........tragic.

28

21

no.
if congress doesn't fund the barrier Trump supporters will recognize that it is all the more important to keep him in office.

29

@18:

Having four walls on your house is simply to keep your roof from caving in on you; but hey, thanks for playing "False Equivalency: The Game Show"! We'll be sure to send you some lovely parting gifts, plus a home-version of the game!

31

"Soviet controlled East Germany built walls to keep people in, Trump wants to build a wall to keep people out. There's a big difference between a prison and a fortress."

Holy christ. You almost understand and then just drop the path to actual thought halfway.

Walls ARE for keeping people in. That's why a fortress is a constrained enclosed area. Not a linear 1,500 mile border.

Great. You want to live like a paranoid racist behind walls — then YOU pay for them. The rest of society doesn't want be imprisoned.

@22 And, BTW, yes, North Korea does have walls. WE built them. We call them tank barriers.

The North Koreans call them walls.

http://res.cloudinary.com/korea-konsult-ab/image/upload/c_limit,f_auto,q_auto,w_800,dpr_auto/DMZ/CONCRETE_WALL.jpg

http://koreakonsult.net/Attraction_DMZ_eng.html
"In the area south of the Military Demarcation Line, which cuts across Korea at its waist, there is a concrete wall which stretches more than 240 km (149 mi) from east to west, is 5–8 m (16–26 ft) high, 10–19 m (33–62 ft) thick at the bottom, and 3–7 m (10–23 ft) wide in the upper part. The was was built from 1976 to 1979 by US forces along neary all the DMZ. It is set with wire entanglements and dotted with gun embrasures, look-outs and varieties of military establishments."

But that wasn't the point. I was using the term as more of a rhetorical flourish. The point is that countries who ensconce themselves behind so called "defensive" barriers are almost always totalitarian or apartheid states and those movements to build these barriers only serve to fuel xenophobic policies that almost always increase violence. Not decrease it.

32

The left just eats itself until it has done so much in-fighting, the right just waltzes right through the cracks. Stories like this are great to divide an already divided party. Just keep it to yourself until after 2020 or you'll be writing another 4 years worth of pity party articles.

33

@31 Ive been there, there are no walls but everything off the main roads is mined.

35

@26 There's a difference between an opening position ("I'm asking $1000 for the bike" in your analogy) and saying the deal is impossible ("The bike's not for sale.")

Usually the latter means that the other party just walks away.

Trump's losing this. And sooner or later, that fact will get through even his thick skull.

Having some moderate Democrat say, "Look, we need to get government running again, and I know you need something to cover your ass here. But it's gonna cost you. Legal status for everyone here now, increased funding for processing asylum seekers fairly, and a $15 federal minimum wage indexed to inflation. In return, I think I can get my caucus to agree to $1.5 billion specifically earmarked for a barrier."

And you go from there.


Please wait...

and remember to be decent to everyone
all of the time.

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