U.S. President Donald Trump long ago backed away from his campaign pledge to construct a wall along his country’s border with Mexico , his outgoing chief of staff said, as the president’s demand for ” border security ” funding triggered a partial government shutdown with no end in sight.
John Kelly , who will leave his post Wednesday after a tumultuous 17 months in the job , said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that Trump abandoned the notion of ” a solid concrete wall early on in the administration “. It marked the starkest admission yet by the president’s inner circle that his signature campaign pledge , which sparked fervent chants of ” build that wall ” during Trump’s rallies and is now at the centre of a budgetary standoff , would not be fulfilled as advertised.
” To be honest , it’s not a wall ,” Kelly said, adding the mix of technological enhancements and ‘ steel slat ‘ barriers the president now wants along the border resulted from conversations with law enforcement professionals on the ground.
In August 2015 — during his presidential campaign — Trump had made his expectations for the border explicitly clear , as he parried criticism from then-rival Jeb Bush , the former Florida governor.
” Jeb Bush just talked about my border proposal to build a ‘ fence ‘” he tweeted. ” It’s not a fence , Jeb , it’s a WALL , and there’s a BIG difference ! “
But on Sunday White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway called discussion of the apparent contradiction ” a silly semantic argument “.
” There may be a wall in some places , there may be steel slats , there may be technological enhancements ,” Conway told Fox News Sunday. ” But only saying ‘ wall or no wall ‘ is being very disingenuous and turning a complete blind eye to what is a crisis at the border “.
Meanwhile , neither side appeared ready to budge off their negotiating positions. The two sides have had little direct contact during the stalemate , and Trump did not ask Republicans , who hold a monopoly on power in Washington until Jan. 3 , to keep Congress in session.
” It is with them ” she said , explaining that Trump is not reaching out to Democrats.
Democrats maintain that they have already presented the White House with three options to end the shutdown, none of which fund the wall , and insist that it’s Trump’s move.
After cancelling a vacation to his private Florida club , Trump spent the weekend at the White House. He has remained out of the public eye since returning early Thursday from a 29-hour visit to U.S. troops in Iraq, instead taking to Twitter to attack Democrats. He also moved to defend himself from criticism that he couldn’t deliver on the wall while the GOP controlled both the House and Senate.
Trump had lunch Sunday with Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham , who said he hoped to end the shutdown by offering Democrats incentives to get them to vote for wall funding.
MORBNOTE ; Trump is sticking to his guns … Knowing this issue was a huge … ( pardon the pun ! ) aspect of his election victory … He is also displaying ‘ compromise ‘ in order to facilitate it’s funding … ‘ Wall … Tall slats ‘ … WHATEVER !!! … Which is something the BS Media always accuses him of NOT doing …
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