Ingraham: Who are the real shutdown opportunists?
Democrats are using the government shutdown for political leverage against President Trump.
However you received President Trump's address, one thing should not be missed: He scored a major media coup.
He got all the major networks to carry his address, galvanizing the attention of the entire country. And he accomplished something else: He got House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, two of the least popular politicians in the nation, to respond to him -- on his terms.
The contrast should be glaring for anyone who watched. The president was really sober -- he genuinely believes that a wall is needed as part of a larger border security policy. That's what he won on. Democrats don’t give a damn about securing the border. For them this is all about scoring political points and of course, 2020.
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Don’t believe what they are telling you for even a millisecond. The Democrats are targeting the 800,000 government workers on furlough. They're targeting them.
What do I mean? They refuse to move even a milimeter toward a common sense comprise with this president. A year ago they were willing to give him $25 billion for a wall. They were willing to do that until Schumer pulled it from the table. Today, they’re can’t come up with a measly $5 billion? Think of all the waste, fraud and abuse in this town that they could trim to come up with $5 billion.
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The president has shown a willingness to compromise. You heard it. In a funding request to the Senate Appropriations Committee this week,he asks for items important to Democrats, including, $800 million for humanitarian needs at the border, such as medical support and additional facilities to house migrants - which, frankly, a lot of Americans probably think would be better spent on inner-city youth and on our veterans.
President Trump is also requesting $675 million for new technology to detect and stop the flow of illegal drugs over the border. Democrats have long said they wanted that. But Democrats don’t want to have an honest conversation about border security. They are now the party of obstruction, and everything must bend to their "resist Trump" goals. The Hill reports that their latest strategy is to jam up the Senate by refusing to consider any legislation until the government is reopened.
The Democrats want this shutdown to go on as long as possible to divide as many Republicans from the president as they can. They want to peel off one after another and ratchet up the political pressure -- our safety and security be damned.
Just to give you a sense of how dogmatic, rabid and fanatical the resistance to Trump has become, look no further than the Democrats who voted against considering a bill to support Israel on Tuesday.
What? We’re not going to oppose boycotts of Israel because Trump wants to do a deal on the border wall? How is that governing in a mature way? I’m sure the new anti-Semitic wing of the new Democratic party was thrilled about this development in the Senate. But most Americans are not.
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Don’t focus on what Democrats say. Watch what they do. The Democrats want this shutdown to go on as long as possible to divide as many Republicans from the president as they can. They want to peel off one after another and ratchet up the political pressure -- our safety and security be damned.
If they wanted the government reopened the Dems could negotiate with the president and reopen it tomorrow. He’s already compromised on the structure of the wall and dropped his asking price. And while the Democrats feign concern over spending a few billion on a border wall - $5.7 billion - the "Coastal Wonder Twins" of their party, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and Mayor Bill DeBlasio of New York, have all kinds of money — they’d spend pots of money - for the health care of illegal immigrants. They have no problem finding pots of money to spend on the well-being and health of illegal aliens.
My friends, like everything else, this is all about politics for the Democrats. Pretty much every demographic group is doing better now than they were a few years ago. The Democrats don’t have any have no answer. They’ve completely given up trying to outdo Trump on raising the standard of living for Americans. So, all they have to run on is this shutdown and their opposition to his wall. Oh, and Trump’s a racist. That’s all they have.
For an added bonus, they believe this stalemate with the shutdown furnishes them with another political weapon to further their impeachment agenda. Trump’s threat to end the shutdown by declaring a national emergency and building the wall himself could hasten the Democrats’ ultimate desired end -- impeachment.
“This kind of abuse of power opens up other measures, it could hit the trip wire of abuse of power which could lead to a presidential impeachment,” said Washington Post political correspondent Karen Tumulty on MSNBC.
While the Democrats strain to squeeze the last bit of political juice from this shutdown, the president is doing the right thing. He is focused on the security and the sovereignty of the American people and their prosperity. It is a posture that is good policy, but in time it’s going to prove to be good politics as well.
Adapted from Laura Ingraham's monologue from "The Ingraham Angle" on January 8, 2019.
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