Even Fox Calls Out Trump's Lies on the Mexican Border Wall

Consequently, the country now finds itself in the position of being held hostage by a petulant Mr. Trump who is pouting because the Congress won't agree to spend your tax dollars on his wall. Or perhaps more accurately, as has been indicated in many news reports, Mr. Trump is pouting because the Limbaugh-Hannity-Coulter trio of far right ideologues successfully played on his insecurities and frustrations. These stories indicate that the trio convinced Mr. Trump he would risk losing his political "base" if he did not close the federal government until Congress appropriates an initial $5 billion for the wall.

Unfortunately, forcing a highly unpopular government shutdown has exacerbated the need for Mr. Trump to create the perception of a "crisis" at the border to justify his actions. (Although we believe it could just as easily be called the Mitch McConnell shutdown as the Trump shutdown; more on that in another article.)

In an all too familiar approach within this administration, the means of creating such a crisis has been the use of innuendo and name-calling, along with playing fast and loose with the facts. Witness the following statements made by Mr. Trump in his first ever prime time Oval Office speech to the nation on January 8, statements which even commentators on Fox News have disputed:

(Shep Smith image from washingtonpost.com)

• Discussing crimes committed by illegal aliens, Mr. Trump asked, "How much more American blood must we shed before Congress does its job?" Fox anchor Shep Smith reminded his viewers, "Statistics show that there is less violent crime by the undocumented immigrant population than by the general population."
• Responding to Mr. Trump's suggestion that undocumented immigrants are pouring across the border, Mr. Smith went on to say that, "The number of undocumented crossings over the southern border has been steadily down over the last 10 years, and the government reports that there is more outward traffic than inward traffic."
• Lastly Mr. Smith challenged Mr. Trump's claim that a border wall would help stop the flow of drugs across the Mexican border, noting that "government statistics show most of the heroin actually comes not over the unguarded border but through ports of call."

(Sanders/Wallace image from nypost.com)

• Wallace: "Wait, wait, wait. Because, I know the statistic. I didn't know if you were going to use it, but I studied up on this. Do you know where those 4,000 people come-where they are captured? Airports."
• Sanders: "Not always."
• Wallace: "Airports. The State Department says there haven't been any terrorists that they've found coming across the southern border with Mexico."
• Sanders: "It's by air, it's by land, it's by sea, it's all of the above, but one thing that you're forgetting is at the most vulnerable point of entry that we have into this country is our southern border. And we have to protect it."
• Wallace: "But they're not coming across the southern border, Sarah, they're coming and they're being stopped at airports.
• Eventually Sanders seemed to capitulate: "I'm not disagreeing with you that they're coming through airports…," although she would not admit that Mr. Wallace was correct about activity on the southern border.

Reaction from our former Presidents or their aides was swift and contrary to Mr. Trump's statement:

• The Carter Center issued a brief statement from Jimmy Carter: "I have not discussed the border wall with President Trump, and do not support him on the issue."
• Bill Clinton's spokeswoman, Angel Urena, stated that Mr. Clinton never said a wall should have been built and that he hasn't spoken to the real estate mogul "since the inauguration."
• George W. Bush's spokesman, Freddy Ford, said that Mr. Bush and Mr. Trump had never discussed the matter.
• Barack Obama spokesman, Eric Shultz, directed media outlets to past remarks Mr. Obama has made about border security and immigration, none of which supports the building of Mr. Trump's proposed wall.

• Doris Meissner, who was executive associate commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service during the Reagan administration told the Washington Post that "There was not any discussion at the senior policy levels during the Reagan administration about fencing or a wall that I can recall."