Mexico border wall: Trump threatens to shut down US government

An angry Donald Trump told Democratic leaders at the White House on
Tuesday that he will shut down the US government because they refused to
approve billions of dollars in funding for his controversial Mexico
border wall.

The president and top opposition congressional leaders had been meant
to hold a reassuring Oval Office photo-op. Instead, their blazing row
in front of the world’s media gave a glimpse of the dire challenges
confronting Trump as he reels from legal scandals and the new reality of
his Republican party no longer controlling Congress.

US President, Donald Trump

Chuck Schumer, the senior Democrat in the still Republican-dominated
Senate, and Nancy Pelosi, who is likely to become speaker in the newly
Democrat-controlled House in January, bluntly told Trump that he had no
chance of getting the $5 billion he wants for the wall.

Exasperated, Trump doubled down on earlier threats to retaliate by
refusing to sign a federal spending bill required by December 21 to
avoid leaving swaths of the government without funding.

“Yes, if we don’t get what we want one way or the other…, I will shut
down the government,” he said. “I am proud to shut down the government
for border security.”

Schumer argued that “one thing that I think we can agree on is we shouldn’t shut down the government over a dispute.”

And Pelosi suggested that the debate shouldn’t take place in front of journalists.

But Trump, whose US-Mexico wall idea was at the center of his surprise 2016 election, could not control his irritation.

Taking out two memo cards, he read off figures that he said showed a
near end to illegal immigration at portions of the border already
featuring high fences.

“It’s been very effective,” he said.

Pelosi parried that the statistics were incorrect.

“What the president is representing (with) his cards over there, are
not facts. We have to have an evidence-based conversation about what
does work and what money has been spent and how effective it is,” Pelosi
said.

Outside the White House afterwards, Schumer was even more scathing about Trump.

“This temper tantrum that he seems to throw will not get him his wall and it will hurt a lot of people,” he said.

Tweeting ahead of the White House meeting, Trump claimed that the
wall was needed to prevent “large scale crime and disease” brought by
illegal immigrants.

The issue is popular with his political base, which wants radically
tighter controls at the southern border, a magnet for impoverished Latin
Americans seeking work in the United States.

Opponents say the wall is not only a waste of money but has been used by the president to whip up xenophobia.

Trump, who leads chants of “build the wall” at campaign rallies, has
been frustrated in the first two years of his administration. Now, as
the government funding deadline approaches, both sides will have to
decide whether to blink.