Skip to main content

A wall ‘is a WALL!’: Trump

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s frustration over his campaign to fence off the US-Mexican border spilt into linguistic territory Thursday when the president declared himself fed up with people dancing around what to call his dreamed-of barrier.

“Lets just call them WALLS from now on and stop playing political games! A WALL is a WALL!” Trump tweeted.

In other tweets, he signalled that he’s in no mood to compromise as Congress debates on providing construction funds. “The Wall is getting done one way or the other!” he vowed.

He also said: “More troops being sent to the Southern Border to stop the attempted Invasion of Illegals…. With a Wall it would be soooo much easier and less expensive. Being Built!”

Hours later, the head Democrat in the lower house of Congress, Nancy Pelosi, shot back with an equally emphatic statement that “there’s not going to be any wall money in the legislation.”

The saga of Trump’s troubled plan to boost defences along the Mexican border has seen politicians and the president manoeuvre repeatedly in search of the right terminology.

Originally, Trump revelled in the word “wall,” leading chants at political rallies of “build the wall!”

But as Democrats in Congress pushed back, accusing Trump of demonizing Central American immigrants and promoting “medieval” wall technology, he tried to soften the message, referring to “a barrier”.

Emergency funds

Also, instead of a solid concrete structure, Trump began to emphasize that he was really asking for steel slats. “Artistically designed steel slats,” he specified in December.

Despite the word games, Democrats remained steadfast in declining to back the president’s signature project. This led to a standoff in which Trump — trying unsuccessfully to increase pressure on Congress — refused to fully fund the government, shutting down swaths of federal jobs for five weeks.

Democrats and Republicans in Congress are now trying to come up with a border security compromise — though Pelosi’s tough statement Thursday did not augur well.

If they don’t agree to provide wall funding before a February 15 deadline, Trump says he’ll impose another shutdown or bypass Congress by seeking emergency funds.

“I don’t think they’re going to make a deal,” Trump told reporters on Thursday. Pelosi is “just playing games.”

He confirmed that if wall building money is not provided, he is ready to declare an emergency. “I would do that,” he said.

Trump also indicated in another tweet the extent to which he may already be resigned to Congress not satisfying him on “the DESPERATELY needed WALL.”

“I don’t expect much help!” he said.

An emergency declaration would allow Trump to syphon off funds already appropriated for military and emergency uses. However, this would probably not end the wall debate.

Democrats have said they would likely seek a court injunction to halt the use of emergency funds at the border, arguing that Trump has exaggerated the seriousness of the situation and that there is no emergency.

The post A wall ‘is a WALL!’: Trump appeared first on ARYNEWS.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Accountability court hears assets case against Ishaq Dar

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Islamabad on Wednesday resumed the hearing of a reference filed against former finance minister Ishaq Dar by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for allegedly accumulating assets beyond his known sources of income.  Judge Muhammad Bashir is recording the statement of a prosecution witness, Ishtiaq Ahmed. At the previous hearing, the accountability judge had reserved his verdict on an application filed by two co-accused seeking acquittal in the case. Naeem Mehmood and Mansoor Rizvi, who are directors of Dar’s companies, had filed the application requesting the judge to exonerate them from all charges for want of evidence. Qazi Misbah, the counsel for the two co-accused, contended the prosecution has failed to provide compelling evidence to prove the allegations leveled against his clients. The third co-accused President National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Saeed Ahmed, had already filed an application before the court for his acquittal wh...
Post a Comment
Read more

SFA raids several restaurants in Karachi, imposes fine

KARACHI: The Sindh Food Authority (SFA) on Friday raided several restaurants in city’s North Nazimabad area over unhygienic conditions, ARY News reported. According to the SFA, one of the restaurants was found utilizing the used oil multiple times. The items were also not properly frozen while crockery for serving the food was also not clean. The team imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the restaurant. The SFA team found hygiene standards were sheerly compromised in food making to the core. The food inspectors said they had previously served notices to the food outlets, but the restaurant owners apparently turned a blind eye to it. Raids were also conducted in district Malir and Gulshan-e-Hadeed. Sanitary conditions and lack of fumigation facilities were found at the restaurants in some of the Malir outlets. The SFA team also raided a bakery ‘Friend Bakers’ and imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 over poor hygiene.  Similarly another roadside restaurant was fined Rs 20,000 for neglecting he...
Post a Comment
Read more

Trump says US generals feel Beirut blast was likely an ‘attack’

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Tuesday cast a massive explosion in Beirut as a possible attack, despite statements by Lebanese leaders that it was likely caused by highly explosive material that had been stored at warehouses in the capital for years. “The United States stands ready to assist Lebanon,” Trump said at a White House briefing of Tuesday’s explosion, which killed at least 78 people and injured thousands. “It looks like a terrible attack.” When asked later about his depiction of the explosion, Trump said that he had met with some U.S. generals who feel the blast was not “some kind of a manufacturing explosion type of event.” He told reporters that according to these unnamed generals “they seem to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind.” The Pentagon referred questions to the White House. Two U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said it was unclear where Trump was receiving his information but that initial information did not appear...
Post a Comment
Read more