I was watching Fox & Friends this morning.
They were going on and on about the lack of border wall funding and how if Trump doesn’t get the wall built it will hurt him.
Yeah, it will. After my last post about Trump 2020, there were comments made that Trump’s base doesn’t care about bump stocks enough to vote against him. They care about border security and illegal immigration.
That may be 100% right, so what happens to Trump 2020 if the one thing he promised, the wall, is not delivered to the people who chanted “build the wall” at every one of his rallies?
So here is my humble advice to Trump.
Never play chicken against the guy who is willing to crash the car.
Forget a government shut down.
The Democrats made it clear that they want to increase taxes and pass gun control in 2019. Also, don’t get me started on the bump stock bullshit.
The budget for the IRS is $11.1 Billion and for the ATF is $1.7 Billion.
Fire every single employee in both those agencies.
That’s $12.8 Billion in wall funding with no one to enforce the Democrat’s tax increase or gun ban.
Don’t shut down the goverment so the people in the military don’t get their paychecks.
Ram the Democrats head on right where it hurts them the most.
I like the cut of your jib. Pulling funding from the IRS and ATF and using it to build the wall would be awesome.
But it’s a pipe dream. It’ll never happen.
However, here’s another idea: Following the “migrant caravan” (a.k.a. the hostile foreign militia attempt to forcibly breach our southern border), declare border security a national security foreign invasion crisis. Once that happens, the absence of a wall is no longer a State/immigration problem; it’s now fully a DOD problem.
And the DOD has a sufficient budget that a bit of creative shuffling could easily produce the $10-12 billion needed to build the wall.
And the best part: the DOD budget is already appropriated, so the Trump Administration doesn’t have to beg Congress for funds – which given the Dem-controlled House will NEVER happen.
Just my $0.02.
One other thought: Mr. “Art of the Deal” hasn’t yet realized the power he has when it comes to passing budgets. He has veto power. He can reject everything that doesn’t include wall funding and make counter-offers.
Dem proposal: fully fund IRS and ATF, and no wall funding.
Prez: veto, propose wall funding and 100% funding for IRS/ATF.
Dem proposal: fully fund IRS/ATF, 10% funding for wall.
Pres: veto, propose 100% wall funding and 90% funding for IRS/ATF, with the clear message that this is the best they’ll get; further delays will only reduce funding for Dem-loved agencies.
Dems: fully fund IRS/ATF, 12% funding for wall.
Prez: veto, propose 100% wall funding and 80% for IRS/ATF, with repeated warning.
Repeat until IRS/ATF are gone (in which case, the parts of HHS that enforce Obamacare go on the chopping block, followed by the EPA), or wall is fully funded, whichever comes first.
Senate Republicans could do this, too, if they had spines and were serious about their campaign promises to cut spending and reduce regulatory agencies’ over-burdening of industries. But … they don’t and they’re not.