Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Susan Wright on the Right

Home
Politics and Religion
WHIPLASH: Trump Deems Southern Border Secure

WHIPLASH: Trump Deems Southern Border Secure

Last updated on: December 20, 2018 at 10:44 am by Susan Wright

WHIPLASH: Trump Deems Southern Border Secure 2018-12-20T10:44:30-05:00 Susan Wright

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I feel like I went to sleep in one reality, and woke up in another.

That’s kind of the way it felt the morning after Donald Trump was declared the GOP nominee for the presidency, in 2016. Ever since then, it’s been one long, lost journey through Crazytown.

So let’s talk about President Trump’s magical, mystical border wall. It was pretty much the platform he began his run for the top office on, and he has been about nothing else, for the past two years.

Nothing of substance, at least.

It’s actually one of those topics I could see myself sitting down and discussing with him on some sane level.

We do have a problem on our southern border. Unchecked illegal immigration is a problem. We can’t afford the rush of immigrants into our nation, nor is it fair to all those immigrants who respect our nation and respect the process enough to do things the right way.

But a wall?

Just the notion of it is impractical and unworkable. Trump knew it was just the smoke he was blowing up the backsides of a host of frustrated voters. For all his talk, he knew it couldn’t happen.

Anyone that thinks a wall across the entire length of the nation’s southern border is possible has no idea of the terrain, and they definitely cannot claim to be conservatives. The imminent domain that would be required to land grab from farmers and ranchers along the border, in order to build a wall that would cut off crucial grazing and water access is not a thing conservatives would ever support.

Donald Trump is not now, nor has he ever been a conservative.

Still, he’s beaten that dead horse incessantly for over two years, and there are still people gullible enough to believe him.

How gullible are those that worship at the tangerine altar?

Well, a GoFundMe account for the wall has raised over $2 million so far from those who want to fund the building of the wall, since the government seems unwilling to part with the money.

Why should they? Trump said Mexico would pay for it.

That, of course, morphed into “We’ll pay for it, but Mexico will reimburse us, in other ways.”

Could someone contact all the MAGAdooks donating their money to this wall fund and let them know that any money going to the government has to be appropriated by Congress to go to the wall? Also, with Democrats taking over the House in January, it is highly unlikely that they will put that money to that purpose, so, nice try.

Meanwhile, the leader of Trump’s Temple issued a proclamation-by-Twitter Thursday morning that should leave a few with whiplash from the double-take.

Why are people so hung up on that wall?

That’s right. Donald Trump had this to say:

“With so much talk about the Wall, people are losing sight of the great job being done on our Southern Border by Border Patrol, ICE and our great Military. Remember the Caravans? Well, they didn’t get through and none are forming or on their way. Border is tight. Fake News silent!” Trump wrote in a tweet.

Dude, nobody has talked about “the Wall” more than you.

With so much talk about the Wall, people are losing sight of the great job being done on our Southern Border by Border Patrol, ICE and our great Military. Remember the Caravans? Well, they didn’t get through and none are forming or on their way. Border is tight. Fake News silent!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 20, 2018

In fact, Trump threatened to shut down the government earlier this month, if he didn’t get $5 billion included in the funding bills that came forward this week.

The Democrats refused and Trump caved. A temporary stop-gap bill was signed on Wednesday that would fund the government until February.

Meanwhile, Trump’s toadies with the House Freedom Caucus, Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio) and Mark Meadows (NC) blasted the decision.

“Congressional leadership introduces CR until Feb. 8th WITHOUT $5 Billion for the Wall. Let me get this straight… our chances of getting the Wall will be better in February when Nancy Pelosi is Speaker than now when we have the majority? Give me a break. #DoWhatWeSaid,” Jordan wrote, referring to a continuing resolution (CR) to temporarily fund the government.

“The time to fight is now. Zero excuse,” Meadows tweeted, referring to getting funding for the wall.

But the bill has been signed. You can stop with the MAGA theatrics.

And speaking of those true MAGA believers, some of those who have been devoted to Trump throughout, also balked at his cave on the wall.

On Wednesday, while a guest on the Daily Wire podcast, author Ann Coulter expressed her disgust.

“Why would you [vote for him again]?” the provocative author and columnist asked. “To make sure, I don’t know, Ivanka [Trump] and Jared [Kushner] can make money? That seems to be the main point of the presidency at this point.”

“They’re about to have a country where no Republican will ever be elected president again,” she added. “Trump will just have been a joke presidency who scammed the American people, amused the populists for a while, but he’ll have no legacy whatsoever.”

I mean, she’s right. The whole Trump campaign from beginning to this point has been nothing but a large scale grift for the Trump family.

If anything, we can use the Trump presidency as a cautionary tale, for those who are capable of learning. Our nation’s founders had something to say about corrupt men assuming the highest office in the land.

“If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.” – Samuel Adams.

Also from Samuel Adams –

“He who is void of virtuous attachments in private life is, or very soon will be, void of all regard for his country. There is seldom an instance of a man guilty of betraying his country, who had not before lost the feeling of moral obligation in his private connections.”

Wow. That sounds prophetic, doesn’t it?

Still, you would think all of those who are grousing now about Trump not keeping his word about the border wall would have been smart enough to figure it out from the beginning.

Coulter was joined by Rush Limbaugh and Ben Shapiro in slamming Trump’s cave in on wall funding.

To be fair, Shapiro hasn’t been as “all in” for Trump as Coulter and Limbaugh.

Coulter went so far as to say she’d be fine with Trump performing abortions in the White House, as long as he built the wall.

That was the day that any notion of her being a conservative, or a Christian should have been abandoned.

Her disgust with Trump did not go unnoticed, apparently. On Thursday evening, he stopped “following” Coulter on Twitter.

That would explain his Thursday morning efforts to lead his unthinking base down a new path, by telling them, now, that the border is secure (or “tight,” to use his word).

It must be exhausting to try and maintain faith in this hay-haired mountebank.

Previous Post

December 19, 2018

President Trump Declares the War Against ISIS Won

Next Post

December 20, 2018 DONE: Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis Resigns in Protest

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month December 2021 November 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz