Donald Trump & Co. aren’t getting much traction with their efforts to get Congress to GIVE them 5 Billion Dollars because of a political promise made during the 2016 campaign….
With the media , even right leaning Fox, questioning the story about dangerous migrant families being dangerous?
With the media fact checking Trump admin figures* about the border that are incorrect?
And?
With Homeland Security employee’s facing no pay, paydays?
Trump’s people seem to be scrambling to find a way to get out of bad situation their boss has put himself and them in….
SHUTDOWN … DAY 18 … THE WHITE HOUSE is trying a new strategy — tactically and rhetorically — as this government shutdown barrels on without any sign of ending.
THE WHITE HOUSE is increasingly positioning the situation at the southern border as a global humanitarian crisis of epic proportions, for which the same old solutions will not be sufficient. Sure, they’re still talking about the wall — on which they are demanding Congress spend $5.7 billion — but this new line of thinking is taking increased prominence. Expect to hear it tonight from PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP during his address to the nation.
THE ADMINISTRATION is trying to shove off the politics of the wall, and turn the focus to what they consider the humanitarian impact. BASICALLY, the administration is trying to move the narrative away from politics and to national security, even though this issue has been — and continues to be — part and parcel to Trump’s political rallying cry.
VP MIKE PENCE SAID IT plainly: “Our position is very simply this: There is a humanitarian and national security crisis at the southern border.” The VP is going on morning shows with network White House correspondents. He’ll be on NBC’s “Today” show with Hallie Jackson, ABC’s “Good Morning America” with Jon Karl and “CBS This Morning” with Major Garrett this morning.
THE TOUGH QUESTION: Even if everyone accepts the base case that this is a humanitarian crisis, Republicans say there is no answer that does not include a wall, and Democrats — generally speaking, at the moment — say there is no answer that does include a wall.
SPEECH PREVIEW … PENCE ON TRUMP’S MESSAGE: “What we would welcome — and I think the president is going to take the message to the nation tomorrow — is that Republicans and Democrats would come together around the recognition of a humanitarian and security crisis on our southern border and the need to take action.”
HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY KIRSTJEN NIELSEN said it this way: There is a “real sense of urgency, the crisis is getting worse. The issue is that the status quo funding, the status quo laws are not able to address the crisis that we’re seeing at the borders. … It is a security and a humanitarian crisis.”….
image….Mark Wilson/Getty
*Note….
“Through the end of 2018, The Washington Post Fact Checker team documented 7,645 false or misleading claims made by Trump since taking office. Of those, 1,130 were about immigration. Claims about foreign policy and trade tied for second, with 822 claims, followed by claims about the economy (768).”
“The last week has brought a stream of additional falsehoods on the topic that’s defined his term as much as any other — and prompted a partial government shutdown now in its 18th day.”….
I hope i’m Lucky enough to miss Trump’s begging speech.