Anne Resists the Shutdown a Year too Early

Tonight, Trump’s lie-filled partisan rant about the Wall will be broadcasted. It hasn’t aired yet, but I still stand by my characterization. It is day 18 of the US Government shutdown, making it the second longest such closure. If it goes on just a few more days, it will become the longest. I hope that it won’t.

During this shutdown, the news is full of reports of its already desultory effects. National Parks being trashed and TSA agents calling in sick, primary among them. If this shutdown persists the poor as always will be most affected, with the denial of food and housing aid. It looked like tax refunds would be delayed, but they have now been deemed essential, essential to the administration’s survival.

Speaking of essential, apparently the National Parks workers manning the Old Post Office Tower at the center of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC are just so. Less certain is the fate of a $10,000 pay raise for senior cabinet officials. Lesser rank government employees, even those that are still being paid, already know that there will be no raise for them this year. So, in addition to the unnecessariness of this shutdown, its futility is bolstered by unfairness.

Tonight, in addition to his wall tantrum, our terrible two-year president might declare a national emergency. This end run around Congress, the Constitution and American government is expected to take money from the military and repurpose it to build the wall. It will also ferment a constitutional crisis, end up in the courts and then be halted by injunction, before it can even begin.

Futile, except for one thing. It offers a face-saving opportunity for the Orange Baboon to extricate himself from this mess of his own making. He can claim under this fake emergency that money for his wall has been acquired, declare victory and then allow the government to be reopened. Never mind that none of it will get spent, at least not before 2020. Resist the wall! Resist Trump!

UPDATE: I did not watch or listen to any of the pontificating tonight. There was no national emergency declared. Yeah! It’s still not off the table and is really his only exit strategy. He just didn’t have the courage of his convictions or any convictions to speak of. The inevitably longest shutdown drags on, with a border photo-op up next, followed shortly afterwards, with no-pay Friday.