Trump is like a frog on a lily pad

Kaleidoscope
By Perry Diaz

President Donald Trump shows map outlining his “wall.”

During the 2016 campaign, then presidential candidate Donald Trump made a lot of promises to his voter base. One promise that excited his rightwing supporters was to build a wall along the US-Mexico border and Mexico will pay for it. Indeed, it had become a standard red meat in his campaign. He’d say, “I’ll build a wall on the border and who will pay for it?” The crowd roared, “Mexico!” He’d repeat this at least three times at every rally. All told, he rode to victory on the back of Mexicans, whom he accused of sending criminals, rapists, terrorists, and drug traffickers across the border.

One of the first things he did upon ascending to the presidency was to call the newly elected President of Mexico and asked him to pay for the wall. The Mexican president said, “No.” Not used to being rejected, Trump told his base he’d make Mexico pay for it, one way or another. They roared! They loved him! He’s their hero!

With the enthusiastic support of his base, he was ebulliently confident that the Republican candidates for Congress would win in the midterm elections. In fact, he told his supporters that the midterms would be a referendum on him. He ran on an anti-immigrant rhetoric… and the wall. He would build his wall to keep the undesirables away. There would be a “red wave” and the Republicans would continue to control Congress.

He was wrong! While he retained control of the Senate, he lost 40 congressional seats to the Democrats! He couldn’t believe it. Suddenly his world turned upside down. What the heck happened?

Rudely awakened by his huge loss in the midterms, he tried to sell the notion that the midterms ended in a “tie” — the Republicans won the Senate and the Democrats won the House of Representatives. He was wrong again! The Republicans lost the House of Representatives.

Absolute authority

“Absolute authority” is what dictators use.

He had a plan. He’ll force the Democrats to give him $5.7 billion to build his wall. If they don’t go along with his plan, he’d close the government for whatever it takes — one month or even years. He then invited the congressional leaders to a meeting at the White House Situation Room. At the meeting, Trump offered to open the government provided that the Democrats would fund his wall within 30 days. Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded with a “No.” Trump threw a tantrum, pounded the table and stormed out of the room. In a press briefing after Trump walked out, Pelosi accused Trump of holding the federal employees hostage to get his wall.

Trump then played what he thought was his Ace card. He said that he has “absolute authority” to declare a national emergency and use military funds to build the wall. Whatever he meant by “absolute authority” reminds me that dictators only use “absolute authority.” He said that if his plan is challenged in the courts, he might lose in the lower and appellate courts, but he’d win in the Supreme Court because the majority is comprised of conservative justices who he believes would support his conservative agenda. If he’s correct that the Supreme Court justices would rule strictly on their affinity to Trump’s conservative agenda, then Trump is on his way to being the first American dictator and the American people might as well kiss democracy good-bye. But the justices are independent and highly principled. They know their obligation to America, which is to protect the constitution and uphold the rule of law. The American people are resilient and they love their freedom. They know how to deal with leaders who abuse their power. The recent midterm elections proved it.

The “wall” is neither a conservative, liberal nor moderate issue. It’s all about whether it’s the best solution to sealing our border from illegal immigrants, drug traffickers, human traffickers, terrorists, and criminals whom Trump wants to prevent from crossing the US-Mexico border. Recently, the Border Patrol discovered three tunnels at the Texas border that would be way below Trump’s wall. Accordingly, there are more than a hundred tunnels in existence today. At an estimated cost of at least $66 billion for the 1,600-mile long US-Mexico border, there is no guarantee that Trump’s “wall” would seal the border. The $5 billion that Trump is asking Congress would only be for a 250-mile section of the wall. But most illegal entrant and drug traffickers pass through legal ports of entry — by land, air or sea – in plain sight. And how about the US-Canada border and the Pacific and Atlantic seaboards?

Collateral damage

“Stop holding America hostage”

It is evident that the reason why Trump has persistently demanded to build his wall is that his base, particularly the rightwing media – Rush Limbaugh, Fox News – have been telling him that if he doesn’t build the wall he promised his supporters, he could lose in the 2020 presidential elections. In other words, there is no way out of his self-inflicted dilemma. He has dug in too deep that there is no “face saving” way to break his promise and get out of his dilemma.

The only way out was to declare national emergency and let the Supreme Court rule on its constitutionality. If the Supreme Court rules in his favor, then he wins. If the Court rules against him, he can then tell his base, “Sorry folks, I tried,” and he’d feel vindicated. He’d even declare “victory.” Not too fast, fella.

For his misadventure, Trump will pay a very high price. The collateral damage is the plight of 800,000 federal workers who were furloughed when Trump shut down the government. The ripple effect goes beyond the walls of the federal buildings where they work. It’s like a “tsunami” that rumbles through the prairies in the Midwest, through the Rockies all the way to the western seaboard. The damage is irreparable to families and businesses. Reports show that for each day the government is partially shut down, it cost the government $1 billion. Now on its 22nd day (the longest in U.S. history)… and counting, there is no end in sight when the meltdown would end.

Frog on a lily pad.

As in the past, the people held the administration responsible for the fiasco. And this translates to a loss of political capital. With Trump already taking a lot of flaks from all sides, he has nowhere else to hide.

Trump reminds me of a frog on a lily pad. Every time you throw a stone at the frog, it would jump to the next lily pad. The frog keeps on jumping from one lily pad to another until there is nowhere else to go. With all the issues being thrown at Trump, he has nowhere else to go just like a frog on a lily pad.

(PerryDiaz@gmail.com)