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Editorial: Winning Elections =/= Governing Mandate




Trump won a minority election by a whole lot of votes. His job as the President is to build support among A MAJORITY of the population. And a majority of people don't want the Wall. If he wants the Wall, he should offer people enough incentives that they support it as part of a broader package. The reason this shutdown happened is that Trump believes he can govern for 35% of the population and that's not how our system was designed to work. If he were a competent executive he'd either make a deal or he would use the power of his office to persuade people. Instead he's just outright lying again and again and again to gin up people like you. Border crossings are at their lowest level in 40 years. For the last 4 years of Obama's presidency they were at zero or negative on net. He tripled the size of border patrol. He deported over 2 million people. This was never a crisis until Trump invented it.


The Senate voted UNANIMOUSLY to pass a funding bill without money for the border wall. Unanimously. That means 53 Republican Senators felt empowered by their constituents to not fund the Wall.

There's literally no evidence in favor of a Wall. That said, Democrats would give him the stupid wall if he gave them ANYTHING in return. But he's chosen not to do that because he considers himself President of The People Who Voted For Me and his brain is too addled by who-knows-what to understand that winning an election with 35% of the country doesn't entitle you to govern those 35% at the expense of everybody else. The Senate voted UNANIMOUSLY to pass a funding bill without money for the border wall. Unanimously. That means 53 Republican Senators felt empowered by their constituents to not fund the Wall. Because America as a country doesn't want the Wall and never did. Lastly, Democrats do not want open borders. This is a lie that Fox News perpetrates to - see above - keep people like you ginned up and angry. No Democrat has ever advocated open borders. Even among the activists only people on the fringe of the party have suggested open borders. If you don't like sanctuary cities you should be fine with California pulling our funding of the federal government, right? Let us keep all that money that undocumented workers generate and pay in taxes and give to states that vote for Republicans.


My state [California] is the economic engine that's the lifeblood of this entire economy. You need us a LOT more than we need you, so maybe take it easy on dictating terms of our immigration policy? My state is flush with cash, treats people with human dignity, lives in the 21st century, and isn't looking for medieval solutions to imagined crises. We're currently dealing with the actual crises of homelessness, poverty, prescription drug prices, environmental catastrophe, access to education, paid family leave. A wall isn't gonna fix any of that. Imagine what could happen if Dear Leader actually wanted to fix things. Imagine, say, that he proposed a 500 billion dollar infrastructure bill to fix roads and bridges and buried wall funding in it. It'd pass with bipartisan votes. This isn't a partisan issue. Trump wants the Wall. Nobody else does. If McConnell thinks the Wall matters that much, he should just hold a floor vote and watch the spending package the Democrats proposed sail through with 70+ votes and then let Trump choke on his veto. 2+ years into his Presidency he still hasn't grasped the very fundamental point that he needs more than his partisans to achieve anything.


In closing, a quick reminder that the President you love so much was accused in open court of conspiracy to commit multiple election-related felonies and as of yesterday we also know that he's the subject of a counterintelligence investigation into whether or not he's actively a Russian asset attempting to push their agenda from the Oval Office. It remains a dark and sad period for our country and it's worrying that people like you don't seem to understand that. My hope is that 2020 represents a return to sanity and a further diminution of the kind of vile and hateful politics that have fueled a stupid and inept career criminal into somehow stumbling into an office he continues to degrade and insult on a daily basis. Fortunately I think American institutions are resilient enough to withstand this assault. But it's certainly a trying time.


-Chris Baugh

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