An unhinged Donald Trump descended into a deranged rant on Friday, threatening to “close the Southern Border entirely” if the “Obstructionist Democrats” don’t give him money for his wall on the Mexican border.
“We will be forced to close the Southern Border entirely if the Obstructionist Democrats do not give us the money to finish the Wall & also change the ridiculous immigration laws that our Country is saddled with,” Trump tweeted.
He also criticized past presidents and Congresses over the nation’s current immigration laws.
“Hard to believe there was a Congress & President who would approve!”
The threat comes as a partial government shutdown enters its seventh day with no end in sight.
The shutdown began on Saturday after Democrats rejected demands from Trump that $5 billion be included for the wall in a measure to keep the government open.
The tweet was one of several Trump said on Friday morning as the shutdown increasingly looked like it could drag well into 2019.
Trump in a second tweet tied the fight over the wall to another of his signature issues: trade. He said the U.s. was losing money through the North American Trade Agreement and that closing the border would be a “profit making operation.”
He also claimed that closing the border would help the U.S. auto industry.
We will be forced to close the Southern Border entirely if the Obstructionist Democrats do not give us the money to finish the Wall & also change the ridiculous immigration laws that our Country is saddled with. Hard to believe there was a Congress & President who would approve!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2018
….The United States looses soooo much money on Trade with Mexico under NAFTA, over 75 Billion Dollars a year (not including Drug Money which would be many times that amount), that I would consider closing the Southern Border a “profit making operation.” We build a Wall or…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2018
…..close the Southern Border. Bring our car industry back into the United States where it belongs. Go back to pre-NAFTA, before so many of our companies and jobs were so foolishly sent to Mexico. Either we build (finish) the Wall or we close the Border……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2018
The shutdown has left 800,000 federal employees furloughed or forced to work without pay through the holidays.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Thursday found more people blame Trump for the shutdown than Democrats. In the poll, 33 percent blamed Democrats in Congress for the shutdown, compared to 47 percent who blamed Trump.
Just 35 percent of those surveyed said they wanted Congress to fund the wall.
