The longest government shutdown in American history may be over, but the possibility of a giant, spike-topped wall at the Mexican border is not yet totally eliminated.

President Donald Trump announced a surprise deal on Friday that temporarily reopened the government. Although negotiations between the Democrats and Republicans are ongoing, the three-week deal did not show any sign that wall funding will eventually be offered. 

Trump has vowed, meanwhile, to declare a national emergency or “renew the confrontation” if terms cannot be agreed upon by Feb. 15, according to The New York Times.

As the political warfare waged on in Washington, thousands of federal workers went without paychecks, forcing them to turn to food banks or emergency funds to get by.

Even worse, Americans’ relief at the shutdown’s end may be short-lived, all because of a campaign promise the president made to his supporters.

Yet what does he have to show for it? Both non- and federal workers struggled with financial strain, all for a wall that they may or may not have supported.

Since his presidential campaign, Trump has railed against illegal immigrants who come into the country and commit crime. 

He has fed off the public’s fear of terrorism, and painted Democrats as bleeding hearts that will let every murderer and rapist into the U.S. with open arms.

Most of what we hear in the news about illegal immigrants is seemingly negative, further playing into Trump’s stereotype. 

But numerous studies, including one published by The Washington Post, show that all immigrants — both legal and illegal — are less likely to commit crime than natural-born citizens. In fact, immigrants were 56 percent less likely to be convicted of a crime than natural-born citizens in Texas in 2015, the study said.

However, Americans should be used to the president’s inaccuracies by this point. The Washington Post reported last year that the president had already made more than 6,000 false or misleading statements in his, at the time, two-year presidency.

Shouldering a declining approval rating and an investigation that continues to take down his supporters, Trump is in serious trouble of becoming a one-term president.

It is an ironic possible ending for a man who pledged to “drain the swamp” in Washington. 

Instead of getting rid of the corrupt atmosphere, the president has put international security at risk, possibly violated the Constitution and sabotaged the people he is supposed to serve — all for the political gain he once condemned.

If the president sends us into another shutdown, it may be an easy conclusion to make that the walls protecting him will begin to fall in 2020.

Share