The battle over Donald Trump’s wall funding just took a particularly ugly turn
Now free from day-to-day tweeting about the Mueller “witch hunt,” Donald Trump is moving forward with his ill-advised policies, including his wall of hate, and taking health care from millions of Americans. He is certainly making America great again. Not. He, unfortunately, has allies in the government ready to do his bidding, including the Pentagon, which made a move to transfer $1 billion for Trump’s wall of hate. Not so fast, says Adam Smith, Chair of the House Armed Services Committee.
The Pentagon authorized the transfer of these funds to Army engineers for “projects along the border,” which includes 57 miles of 18-foot-high fencing, construction, road improvements, and lighting, according to Time Magazine. The Pentagon made clear that it was making the move to adhere to Trump’s (faux) national emergency declaration. Even as Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan was testifying before the Armed Services Committee, Smith released a letter denying the Pentagon’s move. Thank God.
In his letter, Smith advised the Pentagon that the House Committee had reviewed its proposal and “The committee denies this request.” Smith went on to say that transfer of these funds violated trust without congressional approval. “DoD is attempting to circumvent Congress and the American people’s opposition to using taxpayer money for the construction of an unnecessary wall.” These days, most Democrats are my heroes. They may be somewhat limited in what they can do by controlling only the House, but when it comes to putting a stop to what the American people have clearly indicated they don’t want, they are right there.
While it is unclear who at the Pentagon is driving this move, the remaining military forces aren’t happy. This transfer of funds, if allowed to go through, could hurt a recent request by the Marine Corps for additional funding for hurricane relief and troop deployments, which as reported to Business Insider and other outlets, the Corps’ top general doesn’t want. He said that “Trump’s deployments to US-Mexico border are hurting combat readiness.” But, Trump doesn’t seem to care about any of that. He wants what he wants, and that’s that.
Trump knows nothing about the military and its functions, having successfully dodged it himself numerous times. This, folks, is our “commander in chief.” It’s not possible to adequately run any type of organization—military or civilian—if you have no clue how it works. Trump has displayed his penchant for this throughout his appointments, especially Patrick Shanahan, who has no military experience and no clue.
Donald Trump’s “presidency” continues to harm us in many ways. He has no clue what he’s doing, and it shows on a daily basis. I sometimes wonder if his intent in running for president was to destroy our country from the inside out or if he really is too ignorant to understand what he’s doing. From what we’ve all seen to date, he’s certainly there to line his pockets, but his intent seems far more nefarious.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years