The fact that the Dems now have legitimate Congressional power and have hit the ground running makes the Trump shutdown only slightly easier to bear. The shutdown grinds on in an almost carnival -like atmosphere with the President tossing out words like “months” or “years” re the length of the shutdown like crumbs to the pigeons. He impulsively loves to ratchet up the fear factor as a tactical ploy. Of course the ones he truly terrorized with these last comments were those people caught in the shutdown’s cross hairs.
It has become an accepted fact that this caricature of a President lacks all empathy. The only mention he has made of the people involved in the shutdown was as props supporting his decision.. He claimed yesterday that most of the federal workers furloughed or sent home supported the shutdown. Of course there has been no polling of these workers, so per usual common sense makes it easy to dismiss his statement as pure poppycock.. What worker with a mortgage payment due and no money coming in would continue to wave his MAGA cap with overdue penalties piling up?
Along with federal workers, let’s not forget the 1.9 million Native Americans who likewise are now having their health care and food distribution networks disrupted. Given the human suffering involved, the fact that the Congressional GOP continues to go along, like little lambs, with Trump makes them accomplices to his dirty deeds..
Only two GOP Senators have broken from the ranks. Cory Gardner, up for re-election in 2020 in Colorado, will have no chance of winning if he sticks with Trump’s shutdown. So he gets no points for empathy. Susan Collins, also running again in 2020. continues her dithering ways, testing the wind to see how she should position herself. She .gets no credit either. Either one recognizes the stupefying irrationality of Trump’s blackmail efforts or one falls into the self interested, submissive camp.
This terrific article in The Guardian today puts examples of real people into the immigration story. Writer Art Cullen discusses how the immigrants in these small communities tackle the jobs no else will take and help to buoy these town which would otherwise crumble. He believes that it is these stories that fundamentally will change the narrative and make the country a welcoming place for immigrants once again.. For now he predicts that it will be “liberty and humanity versus fear and intolerance”.
We are up for the fight….enjoy the article.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/05/trump-immigration-iowa-lose-bigly
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Can we make lemonade out of political lemons? Writing daily since November 9th, 2016