Shutdown

Why Did Trump Take So Long to Fold on the Shutdown? (1/25/2019)

Nine Things to Buy with $5 Billion Instead of a Border Wall

Government Shutdown 2018

Thinkprogress Shutdown Links

Fox News demanded a government shutdown — and got one (12/21/2018)

How Not to Build a “Great, Great Wall”, A Timeline of Border Fortification by Greg Grandin (1/13/2019)

As the Shutdown Drags On, the Trump-Russia Story Is Back at Center Stage (1/12/2019)

Republicans were elected to govern, but betrayed that trust by enabling Trump to shut down government.

President Trump, an authoritarian, white nationalist, militarist who lies a lot, led his campaign rallies with the chant ¨build the wall¨ and ¨Mexico will pay for the wall¨. The crowd cheered. So now he is holding the government hostage for a bad idea motivated by fear, racism, and xenophobia. Xenophobia often precedes a fortress mentality and cultural decline. (paraphrased from *1)

Republican Tax cuts extracted $1.5 trillion taxpayer dollars mostly for wealthy donors. Not only does that exacerbate income inequality, the root of many of our problems, Republicans also undermine health care, social security, Medicare, welfare programs, public employee benefits, education and profit from student debt. All continuing to push the middle class down.

Conservatives, like other fascists, (*2) don´t care about people: thousands without pay, DAKA kids in legal limbo, the Trump created humanitarian crisis at the border (a boon to the private prison industry), or refugees from Central America (some displaced by US interventions.)

Driving people into uncertainty and poverty tends to make them more religious and Republican. Telling them that immigrants are taking away their prosperity motivates the right and its racism. It works for the political right everywhere as it did in Nazi Germany. Mass migration is a certainty as climate change makes increasing areas of the planet become unfit for human habitation.

To win elections as a minority, Republicans attack democracy: The press is the enemy of the people (except for Fox News.) Gerrymandering, voter suppression, win elections. Packing the Courts work the ref for Republicans. Agencies are rendered dysfunctional by sycophants. Sadly, Congress has surrendered considerable power to the President.

Walls don't work (4) … ¨… many conservatives in the United States are adamant about securing the border against immigrants who will likely take jobs that few Americans want, with little concern that the virtual border is left completely open to higher-skill workers who take jobs that Americans definitely do want." (*5)

Republicans don´t solve problems: immigration, school shootings, opoid crisis, or global warming. Trump is rejecting all international institutions even though global problems require global engagement. Now that Trump has withdrawn from the Iran agreement, Iran has resumed nuclear enrichment. John Bolton, the Presidents National Security advisor has asked the military for a war plan for Iran.

In a functioning democracy, immigration policy would be determined by orderly public debate resulting in agreement among branches of government. A President who can ignore checks and balances is a dictator.

Milos Zeman, president of the Czech Republic in discussion with Steve Bannon warned ‘Tell Trump you didn’t learn from Hitler. You can’t fight on two fronts. You can’t take on radical Islam and China. You will end up in the bunker, like Hitler.”

Security is a "one-way ratchet." It is relatively easy for governments to decide to increase security, but It is much harder for them to decrease it. Republicans want guns in schools. After a wall on the Mexican border will there be a wall across Canada ?. Our surveillance would be the envy of the STASI. The forever war is a sure fire path to national bankruptcy.

In two books, Timothy Snyder (*6) of Yale commented in 2017 that we have about a year to defend American Democracy perhaps less. Trump´ś attacks on democracy are in plain sight. Times up.

The Republican Party is a cult, much like the one Jim Jones led, only their agenda is suicide for the entire planet.

According the latest IPCC report, ¨written by 91 authors and 40 review editors, it features 133 contributing authors, 6,000 scientific references, and was subject to over 42,000 expert and government review comments before publication.¨ we have 12 years left until the point of no return.

Trump doesn´t believe that, and Republicans support him. Instead, he has opened off-shore and Arctic drilling, encouraged coal burning, broke down environmental protections, and made the US number 1: the only country not in the Paris Agreement. The IPCC report was probably too optimistic.

Republican Climate change denial may be suicidal for humanity.(*3)

David Leonhardt (NYT) pointed out there is plenty of reason to remove Trump. That´s the simple solution to the shutdown. Beyond that, it is important to remove Republicans from public office. They don't like government, which is why they are bad at it.

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