Enough Already!

The partial shutdown will soon be a month old. 800,000 government employees are either furloughed or forced to work without pay. Many who work for government contractors are also without work. Untold millions are affected in various ways. Every day there are more and more problems. Yet this idiotic shutdown continues.

Everyone is pointing fingers but two people are to blame: President Trump and Speaker Pelosi. Trump dreamed this up during the midterm campaign. He made the election all about himself and the wall. That may please the cheering crowds but didn’t play well in the suburbs. As a result, a lot of Republican congressmen lost their seats. Ostensibly it is all about the wall. It’s really about throwing red meat to the base. The amount in dispute is only a small fraction of what the wall would cost. He took responsibility for the shutdown but is now trying to shift the blame.

Enter Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats. They saw this as a political opportunity and have refused to negotiate. They are not against the wall. In fact, they have voted for barriers in the past. They see it as a wedge issue to accuse Trump and the Republicans of racism.

Now it is getting downright silly. She tried to take his State of the Union television away. He wouldn’t let her use a military jet to fly to Afghanistan. She accused the White House of leaking her travel plans.
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Despite their differences, they have a lot in common. They are both septuagenarians. They both have massive egos. They both don’t give a damn about the damage they are causing. The real question is whether we will stand up and demand an end to the shutdown or follow them like lemmings to the sea.
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