The Government Shutdown is Democrats’ Fault

… and other lies.

Just like it’s the Democrats’ fault that Trump screwed around on his wives.

Wednesday, October 17, 2018, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in part that, “Shutting down the government is something that’s widely disliked by virtually every American and I don’t think we’re going to do it.”

But on Saturday, November 17, 2018 Trump said in part that, “If I was ever going to do a shutdown over border security — when you look at the caravan, when you look at the mess, when you look at the people coming in. This would be a very good time to do a shutdown.”

Then, on December 11, 2018 in the White House Oval Office, in front of teevee cameras, and worldwide press, speaking to Democratic leaders Rep. Nancy Pelosi (CA-12) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (NY) in the Oval Office, Trump said:

“And then we have the easy one – the wall – that will be the one that will be the easiest of all… what do you think, Chuck? Maybe not? (POTUS chuckles) So we’re gonna’ see. But I’ll tell you, the wall will get built. We’ll see what happens.

It is not an easy situation, because the Democrats have a different view, I think, and I can say the Republicans… we have great Republican support. We don’t have Democrat support. But we’re gonna’ talk about that now.

We’re gonna’ see, uhh… One thing that I do have to say is… Tremendous amounts of wall have already been built. And a lot of uhh… a lot of wall, when you include the renovation of existing fences and walls.

We’ve, ah, renovated a tremendous amount. And we’ve done a lot of work. In San Diego, we’re building new walls right now. And we’ve ah… Right next to San Diego, we’ve completed a major section of wall, and it’s really worked well. Ahh… So, a lot of wall has been built – we don’t talk about that – but, aahh… we might as well start, because it’s aahh… building, it’s being built  right now – big sections of wall – and we will continue that. And aahh… one way, or another, it’s going to get built.

I’d like not to see uhh… a government uhh, closing, a shutdown, uhh… we will see what happens over the next short period of time. But the wall’s a very important thing to us. Uuhhh… I might put it a different way. Border Security is extremely important. And… aah… we have to take care of border security. When you look at what happened with the caravan, with the people, with a lot of… we shut it down. We had no choice. We shut it down. Aahhh… but, aaah… it could be a lot easier if we had real border security.

I just want to pay my respects to… the Border Patrol, agents and officers. They’ve been incredible. The ICE agents and officers, they’ve been incredible. And very importantly, our military. Our military went in and they did an incredible job. Ahhh… they have been really, really, spectacular.

A lot of the people that wanted to come in… to… the country, and really… they wanted to come in… no matter how they wanted to come in, they were gonna’ come in even a rough way… aahh… many of these people are leaving now, and they’re going back to their countries, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and other countries… they’re leaving. If you notice, it’s getting a lot less crowded in Mexico. Aaah… and a lot of ’em are gonna’ stay in Mexico. And, aaah… the Mexican government’s been working with us very well. So we appreciate that. But they haven’t been coming into our country. We can’t let people come in that way.

So that’s pretty much it.

We’re gonna’ talk about… ah, the wall… I wanted to talk about criminal… justice… reform, just to let you know how positive that is. I wanted to talk about the Farm Bill, how positive that is. And I want to talk about the wall, and I will tell you, it’s a tough issue, because we are on very opposite sides, of… aah… I really think I can say border security, but certainly the wall. But the wall will get built. A lot of the wall is built. Uhhh… it’s been very effective.

I asked for a couple of notes on that. If you look at San Diego, aah… illegal traffic dropped 92%, once the wall was up. El Paso… ahh… illegal traffic dropped 72%, then ultimately 95% once the wall was up. In Tuscon, Arizona, illegal traffic dropped 92%. Yuma, it dropped illegal traffic 95 to 96%.

I mean, aaah… and then… when, when I say drop… aah… the only reason we even have any percentage where people got through is because they walked and go around areas that aren’t built. It dropped virtually 100% in the areas where the wall is. So I mean it’s very effective. Aaah… if you really want to find out how effective a wall is, just ask Israel – 99.9% effective. And our wall will be… every bit as good as that, if not better.

So we’ve… done a lot of work on the wall. A lot of wall is built, a lot of people don’t know that. A lot of wall is renovated. We have walls that were in very bad condition that are now in A-1, tip-top shape. Aahh… And, aahhh… frankly, aahhh… and some wall has been reinforced by our military. Our military’s done a fantastic job. So the wall will get built. But we may not aahhh… We may not have an agreement today. We probably won’t. Aaah… but we have an agreement on other things that are really big. Nancy, would you like to say something?

Nancy Pelosi: Thank you, Mr. President, for this opportunity to meet with you, so that we can work together in a bipartisan way, to meet the needs of the American people. I think the American people recognize that we must keep government open – that a shutdown is not worth anything, and that we should not have a Trump shutdown. You have the White House… [Trump, interrupting]

Trump: A what… what did you… a Trump shutdown?

Pelosi: A Trump shutdown. [Trump interrupting, repeating “a Trump shutdown”] You have the White House, you have the Senate, you have the House of Representatives, you have the votes, you should pass… [Trump interrupting]

Trump: No, we haven’t had the votes, Nancy, because in the Senate we need 60 votes… [Pelosi interrupting]

Pelosi: No, no… but in the House, [Trump crosstalk “and we don’t have…”] you could bring it up right now, today, and… [Trump interrupting]

Trump: Excuse me… But I can’t get it passed in the House if it’s not gonna’ pass in the Senate. I don’t wanna’ waste time.

Pelosi: But, the fact is, you can get it started that way. Now… [Trump interrupting]

Trump: The House we can get passed very easy… [Pelosi interrupting]

Pelosi: Okay, then. Do it. [Trump crosstalk]

Trump: …and we do. But the problem is the Senate, because we need 10 Democrats to vote, and they won’t vote. 

Pelosi: No, that’s not the point, Mr. President. The point is, that their equity should be weighed. And we’re here to have a conversation in a prayerful way, so I don’t think that we should have a debate in front of the press on this. But the fact is, the Senate, the House Republicans could bring up this bill – if they had the votes – immediately, and set the tone for what you want.

Trump: If we thought we were gonna’ get it passed in the Senate, Nancy, we would do it immediately. We’d get it passed very easily in the House. [Pelosi crosstalk “Well, that’s not the point.”] We would get it… Nancy, I would have it passed in two seconds. It doesn’t matter though, because we can’t get it passed in the Senate, because we need 10 Democrat votes.

Pelosi: Let us have our conversation, then we can meet with the press again. But the fact is, that, legislating – which is what we do – you begin to make your point, to state your case… that’s what the House Republicans would do, if they had the votes. But there are no votes, in the House, a majority of votes, for a wall, no matter where you start.

Trump: If I needed the votes for a wall in the House, I would have them [Pelosi crosstalk “well then go do it – go do it”] in one session – we’d be done. It doesn’t help me because we need 10 Democrats in the Senate.

Pelosi: No, don’t put it on the Senate, put it on a negotiation. [Trump interrupting]

Trump: Of course… [Pelosi interrupting “put it on a negotiation”] Let me ask you this – and we’re doing this in a very friendly manner: It doesn’t help for me to take a vote in the House were I will win easily with the Republicans. [Pelosi interrupting-unitelligible] It doesn’t help to take that vote, because I’m not going to get the vote of the Senate. I need 10 Senators, that’s the problem.

Pelosi: You’ve had the White House, you’ve had the Senate, you’ve had the House of Representatives. [Trump interrupting]

Trump: In the House I could have the votes if I wanted it, but I can’t… [Pelosi interrupting-unitelligible] Nancy, I need 10 votes from Chuck.

Pelosi: I want to just say one thing: The fact is, you do not have the votes in the House… [Trump interrupting “Nancy, I do”] Well, let’s take the vote and we’ll find out.

Trump: Nancy, again… we need border security. [Pelosi interrupting “Of course we do”] It’s very simple. We need border security. People are pouring into our country including terrorists. We have terrorists. We caught 10 terrorists over the very last short period of time – 10. These are very serious people. Our border agents, all of our law enforcement has been incredible, what they’ve done. But we caught 10 terrorists. There are people that were looking to do harm. We need the wall. We need more (unintelligible) than anything. We need border security, of which the wall is just a piece. But it’s important. Chuck… do you want to say something?

Chuck Schumer: Here’s what I want to say. We have a lot of disagreements here. The Washington Post today gave you a whole lot of Pinocchios because they say you constantly misstate how much the… how much of the wall is built, how much is here… But that’s not the point here. We have a disagreement about the wall. [Trump interrupting “Washington Post…”] Whether it’s effective on them. Not on border security, but on the wall. We do not want to shut down the government. You have called 20 times to shut down the government. You say “I wanna shut down the government!” We don’t. We want to come to an agreement, we can come to an agreement with solutions that can pass the House and Senate – right now! – and will not shut down the government, and that’s what we’re urging you to do. Not threaten to shut down the government [Trump interrupting “you don’t wanna’ shut down the government”] because you can’t get your way. [Trump interrupting “the last time you shut it down…”] Let me say something, Mr. President. You just say ‘my way, or we’ll shut down the government.’ We have a proposal that Democrats and Republicans will support, to do a seal up, that will not shut down the government. We urge you to take it.

Trump: And if it’s not good border security I won’t take it.

Schumer: It is very good border security.

Trump: And if it’s not good border security I won’t take it. [Pelosi, then Schumer crosstalk unintelligible] Because when you look at these numbers at the effectiveness of our border security, and when you look at the job that we’re doing with our militay [Schumer interrupting unintelligible “with our _?_ effective”] Can I tell you something? Without a wall (picking up notes), these are only areas where we have the wall. When you have walls, Chuck, it’s effective. When you don’t have walls, it is not effective. [Pelosi interrupting]

Pelosi: [unintelligible] We’ve come in here – the first branch of government – Article One, the Legislative Branch. We’re coming in, in good faith, to negotiate with you, about how we can keep the government open. The… the… the… [Trump interrupting “we’re gonna’ keep it open if we have border security”] the American… [Trump interrupting “if we don’t have border security, Chuck, we’re not gonna’ keep it open”] I’m with you. I’m with you. We are going to have border security. [Schumer interrupting “and it’s the same _?_ your branch has done”]

Schumer: We want to do the same thing we did last year, this year. That’s our proposal. If it’s good then, it’s good now, and it won’t shut down the government. [Trump interrupting “Chuck, we can build a much bigger section…”] [Pelosi interrupting unintelligible] Let’s… Let’s debate in private. Okay? [Pelosi interrupting unintelligible “_?_ that is devoid frankly, of fact, and we can… we can…”]

Trump: We need border security. I think we can all agree we need border security. [Schumer interrupting “Yes”] Is that right? Good. See? We get along. Thank you, everybody.

At that point, the President turned to the Press Pool and took a question, and debate ensued for a few moments, which concluded with him saying,

“I’ll take it.
Okay.
You know what I’ll say?
Yes!
If we don’t get what we want, one way or the other
– whether it’s through you, through military, through anything you want to call –
I will shut down the government.
Absolutely.

“And  I am proud, I’ll tell you what, I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck, because the people of this country don’t want criminals and people that have lots of problems and drugs pouring into our country, so I will take the mantle.
I will be the one to shut it down.
I’m not gonna’ blame you for it.
The last time you shut it down, it didn’t work.
I will take the mantle to shut it down.
And I’m gonna’ shut it down for border security.
Okay.
Thank you very much, everybody.”

See the complete, unedited video as recorded by C-SPAN: