Trump's SOTU: He Didn't Write It, Of Course
by John Lawrence, February 6, 2019
Let's give Trump's speechwriters some credit.They probably got As in English. Some soaring rhetoric. Some non sequiturs (those are probably the parts Trump himself put in). He congratulated himself on getting our allies to spend $100 billion more on our common defense, but he didn't reduce our defense budget by that $100 billion. Instead he cheered himself that he had increased it. He did defy the MI complex by insisting he would bring troops home from Syria and Afghanistan and end those two most ignominious wars. Let's see if he really does it or will the Generals prevail and keep troops there in perpetuity. He doesn't want to give up Bagram Air Force Base, however, and al-Asad base in Iraq so he can "watch Iran." When it comes down to it, the US will not give up any of the bases that it has invested billions in building. They are like small cities complete with McDonald's and Burger Kings. Currently, the US owns and operates over 800 bases throughout the world. Is this an empire or what?
The Democrats need to take a stronger and more nuanced stand on "the Wall." There is already a wall in place on the border so this isn't a binary issue as some would have it: Wall or No Wall. The wall or barrier is made up of 299 miles of vehicle barriers and 350 miles of pedestrian fence. The fencing includes a steel fence (varying in height between 18 and 26 feet) that divides the towns of Nogales, Arizona in the U.S. and Nogales, Sonora in Mexico. So we're really talking about extending the wall already in place in areas where it presently does not exist. This should be a no brainer as there are parts of the border where only a barbed wire fence separates the US from Mexico. Why don't the Democrats concede this?
It's true that most illegal persons and contraband comes through ports of entry and the deployment of high tech radar equipment could help to prevent that. It's also true that most illegal persons come in on legal visas and then overstay their visas and just disappear. The Dems need to get on board with Trump's issue and even co-opt it. Border security is important. However, more than just a wall needs to be put in place. This would include more personnel, more use of satellite surveillance, helicopters to quickly apprehend illegal border crossers etc. In fact funding should be taken away from the defense department which is used to fight its futile and losing wars and used for enhanced border security. That would be real defense.
