Columns

ECLECTIC RANT: On Trump’s Oval Office Speech

Ralph E. Stone
Friday January 18, 2019 - 11:55:00 AM

Trump’s January 9, oval office address was nothing more than a ho-hum, “same ol’, same ol’” pitch for $5.7 billion for his wall. He again blamed the Democrats for the partial government shutdown. As usual, Trump’s speech was sprinkled with the usual “porkies.” The “growing humanitarian and and security crisis at our Southern border,” if there is one, is one of his own making. 

The Huckster-in-Chief used the oval office speech to raise funds for his re-election. His before and after speech Tweets requesting funds duped supporters into believing that the donations to the “Official Secure the Border Fund” would be used to fund the wall. However, the fine print states that the funds would be used in the “Make America Great Again Committee.” 

Trump’s oval office speech was really a preview of his 2020 re-election campaign with a pitch for campaign funds thrown in. That is, of course, if his presidency last that long. 

The current government shutdown is now the longest in U.S. history. About 800,000 furloughed government workers have already missed their first paycheck and will miss their second soon. 

Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of the most moderate senators are now attempting to appeal directly to President Trump to reopen the government for three weeks while negotiations continue over funding for border security. The group so far, Politico reports, includes Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Rob Portman (R-OH), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), and Chris Coons (D-DE).