Trump wall standoff weakens US security
This is about securing the base, not the border
With the government shutdown now in its third week, President Donald Trump has doubled down on his demand for a border wall. As he tweeted, “We need Border Security, and as EVERYONE knows, you can’t have Border Security without a Wall. The Drones & Technology are just bells and whistles.”
But there is a problem with Trump’s steely eyed determination to keep the government partially shut down in the name of border security. If he really wants to protect our borders, this shutdown is objectively stupid.
Only about a quarter of the government is actually feeling the impact of the shutdown because Trump refuses to sign a bill to keep that portion funded. But the affected agencies include the FBI, which works tirelessly to keep this country safe from terrorist attacks, along with the Coast Guard, the Border Patrol(!) and the Transportation Security Administration. All this in the name of strengthening border security. You couldn’t make this stuff up.
Many of the employees at these agencies perform what are considered “essential services,” so they must continue working. But they aren’t getting paychecks, and that will wear on them just as it would any of us.
Some of the most critical federal employees are also the lowest paid. About half of the more than 40,000 TSA screeners, for example, make less than
$40,000 a year. It is already difficult to keep TSA screeners on the job. At some airports, the annual turnover rate is
80 percent, and this shutdown will only make things worse.
How many paychecks can TSA screeners miss before they are forced to find another job — any job — to pay the bills? When they do leave, commercial aviation will start to grind to a halt. Worse, there will be no money to hire or train their replacements. It could take weeks, even months, for airports and airlines to recover from a shutdown.
This isn’t governing. It’s rampant silliness. Forcing Border Patrol agents to work without pay, or driving them to find new jobs, will not increase border security. So why has Trump painted himself into this corner?
The answer is Trump does not care about border security. The main thing he likes about being president is rallies. What he cares about is his “base” — the people who are willing to show up and cheer for him.
Our president loves his “Build the wall!” chants. Nothing would cause him greater pain that standing on a stage in front of 10,000 of his erstwhile supporters and being booed instead of cheered. Before the shutdown, Trump had made clear he was willing to sign a bill to keep the government open, even if it did not include funding for his wall. So the Senate unanimously passed such a funding bill. But then his “base,” in the form of various pundits and talkshow hosts, began demanding that Trump shut down the government instead of signing such a bill. And Trump reversed his position.
This is no way to run a country. House Democrats are advancing plans to reopen the government and get these agencies funded again. How will Republicans respond? Many Republicans are claiming that they will hold the line and refuse to reopen the government until Trump gets what he wants. While this makes a good sound bite, it is both irresponsible and unsustainable. No possible political interest can justify courting Border Patrol departures and maybe even a strike, or watching the commercial aviation system strained to the verge of collapse.
The kindest thing Republicans can do is to let Trump go down fighting. They should back the Democrats’ efforts to reopen the government and, if necessary, vote to override Trump’s veto. This will straighten out the shutdown mess while allowing Trump to claim he did all he could to keep faith with his fans but was stabbed in the back by “traitorous” Republicans.
This is a small price to pay for getting cash flowing once again into agencies such as the FBI and the Border Patrol that really do protect America. It will also finally create a consensus that there are limits to what will be tolerated from Trump. You wouldn’t think it would be a major breakthrough in bipartisanship to agree that defunding the Border Patrol is not the way you improve border security, but we’ve got to start somewhere.