Donald Trump has spent the entire week insisting that Democrats are to blame for his decision to call Africa, El Salvador, and Haiti “shitholes”.
See the thing is, it didn’t have to come to that. He didn’t want to have say something racist about an entire continent and various other “shithouses”. It’s just that like any old bigot worth his salt, Trump resorted to shouting obscenities and ethnic slurs when people kept insisting that the inscription on the Statue of Liberty is actually something everyone takes pretty seriously.
Whatever. He said what he had to say to reinforce the notion that America has adopted a new approach to immigration that amounts to “no brown people allowed”.
Ultimately, the whole “shithole” thing exacerbated an already contentious immigration debate that, even before Trump’s antics, threatened to culminate in a government shutdown.
Well this week, Trump has tried his hand at a little Christopher Nolan-style “inception” by using his Twitter account to plant an idea in the heads of his deluded followers about there being a link between Democrats, the shutdown, and the military. In short, Trump wants you to believe that were it to happen, a shutdown – or maybe “shitdown” is better – would be indicative of how much Democrats hate the army:
A government shutdown will be devastating to our military…something the Dems care very little about!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2018
That’s just in case you’re not buying the other line which is of course that Democrats want Mexican drug dealers to rape America’s women:
We need the Wall for the safety and security of our country. We need the Wall to help stop the massive inflow of drugs from Mexico, now rated the number one most dangerous country in the world. If there is no Wall, there is no Deal!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2018
The funny thing is, if you go back and word search Trump’s tweet history for “shutdown”, what you find is that when he wasn’t busy blasting Obama he was assuring America that in fact, a shutdown is no big deal:
“Here’s the truth, the gov't doesn’t shutdown” http://t.co/Ny6RxVYiP0 via @AP. All essential services continue. Don't believe lies.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2013
Yes, “don’t believe the lies”. So, 2013 Trump thinks maybe 2018 Trump is being a little hyperbolic. What say you, 2017 Trump?
either elect more Republican Senators in 2018 or change the rules now to 51%. Our country needs a good "shutdown" in September to fix mess!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2017
Ahh, yes. 2017 Trump believes “a good shutdown” might be just what the doctor ordered.
And look, since Trump measures the success of his presidency purely by reference to the Dow, there’s more good news from his 2013 self. Check it out:
Stocks rose yesterday during the first day of government shutdown. Markets like being left alone for a day.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2013
Nothing further.
