The clearer it becomes that Trump won’t be getting his asinine border wall, the more he doubles down in his insistence that we need it. With the Democrats preparing to take back control of the House of Representatives next month, the president’s ability to push his cruel, xenophobic agenda is waning and he knows it. He has no real bargaining chips left and he also knows that if he fails to deliver the wall segments of his base will see him as an abject failure.
This morning he woke up in a tizzy and took to Twitter to unleash a string of unhinged tweets, beginning with his most absurd threat to date in the ongoing border argument.
He claimed that the United States will be “forced to close the Southern border entirely” if he doesn’t get the money to build the wall and, as usual, called the Democrats obstructionists for not throwing money at the incredibly wasteful idea.
The idea that he might try to entirely close the border is laughable at first glance but becomes deeply disturbing once one contextualizes it within the larger story of his disastrous economic decisions.
His trade war against China continues to destroy American businesses and closing the Mexican border — the border to a nation that conducts a total of $615.9 billion in trade with the United States annually — would ravage the economies of both nations. By threatening to do it, Trump once again proves that he doesn’t care about the welfare of normal Americans, he cares about making himself look good to his supporters.
We will be forced to close the Southern Border entirely if the Obstructionist Democrats do not give us the money to finish the Wall & also change the ridiculous immigration laws that our Country is saddled with. Hard to believe there was a Congress & President who would approve!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2018
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The president then rehashed some of his old, misleading attacks on free trade agreements and NAFTA specifically and demonstrated that he doesn’t really understand how trade works by painting the U.S.-Mexico relationships as one in which the former loses money, instead of the mutually beneficial relationship that actually exists, in which both countries grow wealthier and more prosperous with each other’s help.
Trump also misspelled “loses.”
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….The United States looses soooo much money on Trade with Mexico under NAFTA, over 75 Billion Dollars a year (not including Drug Money which would be many times that amount), that I would consider closing the Southern Border a “profit making operation.” We build a Wall or…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2018
He then doubled down on his NAFTA attacks, which directly undermines the rhetoric he was tossing around at the end of November when he signed the new NAFTA bill, which he refers to as the USMCA. At the time, he touted it as a major victory and a great deal for the United States. Now that he’s decided it’s more politically useful to go back to attacking trade deals, he’s conveniently chosen not to mention it at all.
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…..close the Southern Border. Bring our car industry back into the United States where it belongs. Go back to pre-NAFTA, before so many of our companies and jobs were so foolishly sent to Mexico. Either we build (finish) the Wall or we close the Border……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2018
Then, because he really is beyond even the most cynical parody, he warned that a “new caravan” is assembling in Honduras. Americans will remember the breathless fearmongering he and his conservative media surrogates engaged in over the previous caravan in the days leading up to the midterm elections. Once the elections were over, the issue vanished from the news, revealing it as the exploitative attempt to whip up votes that many had long recognized it as. His conjuring up of the tactic again shows how little he thinks of the American public’s intelligence.
Trump also threatened to cut off aid to Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salavador, continuing his long trend of unraveling the United States’ relationships with foreign countries.
…..Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador are doing nothing for the United States but taking our money. Word is that a new Caravan is forming in Honduras and they are doing nothing about it. We will be cutting off all aid to these 3 countries – taking advantage of U.S. for years!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2018
Taken together, these latest tweets paint a picture of a helpless, desperate president. Between his truly imbecilic suggestion about closing the border, to his serving up of old reheated talking points, it’s clear that he has no real idea how to get the wall that he knows is so integral to maintaining his support within his party. At this rate, 2019 is going to be a very grim year for President Trump.
