BY SHARON MARTIN
In case you haven’t figured it out, our president doesn’t give a fig about the people he swore to serve. He detests anyone who speaks out against him. He uses the people who voted for him, who attend his rallies, who still defend his ill-begotten policies.
If you’re a member of his base, you must know he used you in the midterms to defeat members of his own party who opposed him. He’s using you now to make himself feel better about what he’s doing to the country, what he’s doing to the world. He’s not making anyone’s life better.
We’re not safer. We’re not more prosperous. And things are going to get much worse if he’s allowed to continue his rampage.
Let’s start with the border wall lie. He knew that Mexico wouldn’t pay for it. He didn’t think the lie mattered, because he didn’t think he’d be president. With his creepy debates and the international attention a run for the presidency gave him, he was looking for another television series. Well, he got one.
If you’re still unsure of this, think about the baseless fear he stirred up about refugees, about his total lack of compassion. People don’t take a thousand mile journey by foot through a desert unless they’re all out of other options.
Think about National Guard soldiers who missed Thanksgiving and Christmas with their families so they could string concertina wire along the southern border.
Think about Customs and Border Patrol agents who are working without pay because the president goes back on his promises.
There was a deal. The president changed his mind.
A year or so ago, he had the $5 billion for a border wall in exchange for legislation to protect the Dreamers. He changed his mind.
He doesn’t care about the Dreamers, one way or another. Dreamers are just a negotiating tool.
He doesn’t care if you have access to healthcare.
He doesn’t care [and he doesn’t know] what the Constitution says.
He doesn’t care if his policies deprive farmers of their livelihood.
He doesn’t care if the stock market tanks. When that happens, billionaires can pick up bargains. Retirees who are living off their 401ks can go to hell.
So here’s the deal: Democrats in the House should offer the president $5 billion to hire more border patrol agents and train them, to hire enough immigration judges to clear the backlog of asylum seekers, and to put high tech surveillance equipment in remote places.
The money must be used to make us safer, not to make a statement. And if walls are needed at high-volume areas, then, let’s build those walls. Everything else is just reality television from a would-be showman.
– Sharon Martin lives in Oilton, OK and is a regular contributor to The Oklahoma Observer. Her latest book, Not A Prodigal, is available through Barnes and Noble. Her recent children’s book, Froggy Bottom Blues, can be purchased in hardcover or paperback from Doodle and Peck Publishingand in paperback from Amazon.
