President Trump's standstill with the Democrats has tainted this year's holiday festivities and caused national concern. When Congress refused to pass several bills, one of which including spending money for Homeland security, Trump spearheaded a government shutdown. The White House is now in a deadlock until, Trump demands, the Democrats agree to fund a border wall.
While several compromises have been discussed, it is unclear what exactly the White House will agree on. What is clear- however- is what the effects of this shutdown have been. 800,000 federal workers have suffered the negative consequences of Trump's actions and many will not be paid until the shutdown has ceased. Especially during the holidays, cutting off so many people's income is cruel and can have significant impacts on their lives.
Trump, as per usual, has not stopped tweeting. His constant inflow of messages places the blame solely on the Democrats, and in one tweet he assures his supporters that the majority of the people being affected by the government shutdown are Democrats. His tweets include sentiments such as "This isn't about the Wall, everybody knows that a wall will work perfectly (In Israel the Wall works 99.9%). This is only about the Dems not letting the Dems & the Republicans have a win," and "I am all alone (poor me) in the White House waiting for the Democrats to come back and make a deal on the desperately needed Border Security."
Although both sides are quick to point fingers and refuse to compromise, Trump's tweets seem almost childish, and while he sits tweeting in the West Wing, thousands of federal workers are not being paid. Trump seems to be blaming everyone but himself and a recent tweet even blamed the Democrats for the deaths of two migrant children. The 7-year-old girl and 8-year-old boy died in the custody of US Customs and Border Protection, and Trump attempted to pin this tragedy on the Democrat's refusal to allocate more money for border control. He also wrote that the children's parents had said they were sick upon arrival, a statement later proven to be false.
Although it is clear that something must be done soon about finding a middle ground in this clash in order to avoid further damage to people's lives, it is also clear that for Trump to budge on this issue may invalidate him to his supporters, which in turn may hurt his chances in the upcoming presidential election. President Trump is now threatening to close the southern border and cut off aid to Central America if his wall is not funded. Despite what our President tweets, many Democrats, including members of the Senate, support an increased Border Control budget that would provide tighter borders but also deal with the overall problems with the U.S.'s immigration systems. However, these Democrats do not view a wall as an effective way to provide that change.
Compromise is desperately needed and thousands are struggling without pay, but at least on Twitter, President Trump seems more concerned with the "Fake News" and cutting off aid to countries that are "doing nothing for the United States but taking our money." In order for progress to be made he and the Democrats will have to stop rejecting responsibility and find common ground. But when this will happen remains entirely unclear.
