Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi strode into the White House on Tuesday feeling confident of victory.
They thought they held all the cards in the fight over funding Trump’s border wall.
But their plans blew up in their faces when Trump turned the tables with this one move.
Funding for 30 percent of the government, including the Department of Homeland Security, runs out on December 21.
Donald Trump is demanding Congress include five billion dollars in funding for his proposed border wall in any potential spending bill.
Democrats – led by Schumer and Pelosi – balked.
Pelosi called the wall “immoral.”
Democrat socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez smeared a border wall as “racist.”
With that backdrop, Pelosi and Schumer offered Trump $1.3 billion in funding to repair the existing fencing.
Trump rejected that out of hand.
So when Pelosi and Schumer walked into the Oval Office, they were expecting a typical backroom bargaining session.
But what they got showed the world that Donald Trump meant business about winning funding for the wall.
Trump invited the White House press pool into the Oval Office and kicked off a wild 17-minute spearing session where Pelosi and Schumer feebly tried to assert their political power while Trump would shut them down.
Trump began the meeting by explaining why walls work in stopping illegal immigration.
“But the wall will get built. A lot of the wall is built. It’s been very effective. I asked for a couple of notes on that. If you look at San Diego, illegal traffic dropped 92 percent once the wall was up. El Paso, illegal traffic dropped 72 percent, then ultimately 95 percent once the wall was up. In Tucson, Arizona, illegal traffic dropped 92 percent. Yuma, it dropped illegal traffic 95 to 96 percent,” the President stated.
Pelosi then lied and claimed the real reason the wall wasn’t being funded, was because Republicans controlled the entire government and couldn’t deliver the votes.
But that is not true.
Any legislation to fund the wall would require nine Senate Democrats to cross the aisle and break a filibuster.
And Chuck Schumer has blocked his caucus from taking that course of action.
Pelosi and Schumer also tried to weasel out of the meeting on multiple occasions.
They knew the sunlight the press provided revealed them as obstructionists in favor of open borders.
Pelosi threw out one last Hail Mary pass to end the public debate.
“Let me say this — let me say this, this is the most unfortunate thing. We came in here in good faith, and we’re entering into a — this kind of a discussion in the public view,” Pelosi whined.
But Trump knew the meeting worked in his favor and shot her down on the spot.
“But it’s not bad, Nancy. It’s called transparency,” the President fired back.
Pelosi and Schumer knew they were on the short end of this stick.
So they went for the tried-and-true Democrat strategy of threatening to blame the Republicans for a government shutdown and hoping the GOP folds.
This worked with past GOP Presidents and Congressional leaders.
But Trump crossed them by owning the move.
He cast it as a matter of national security.
“And I’ll tell you what, I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck, because the people of this country don’t want criminals and people that have lots of problems, and drugs pouring into our country.” Trump began.
“I will take the mantle. I will be the to shut it down. I’m not going to blame you for it. The last time you shut it down it didn’t work. I will take the mantle of shutting down, and I’m going to shut it down for border security,” the President concluded.
By taking ownership of the situation, Trump removed the most deadly arrow from the Democrats quiver.
We will keep you up to date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
