When President Trump was elected, he made a promise to build a wall to protect Americans and to prevent people from entering the country illegally.  Two years later, the wall has yet to be built despite Trump's repeated efforts to obtain funding for it.  More particularly, President Trump has requested 5 billion dollars from Congress to build the wall and has been stonewalled with mediocre offers each and every time.  As a result, President Trump recently threatened a government shutdown if any proposed budget did not include adequate funding for the wall.

According to Fox News, the Senate proposed a temporary budget that offered 1.6 billion dollars for the wall.  President Trump should reject this proposal without reservation.  If he does not, he could alienate himself from his strongest supporters and embolden House Democrats come January.

Many of Trump's most ardent supporters support the idea of building a wall.  For these conservatives, Trump's stance on immigration was a huge selling point during the presidential election.  According to Fox News, "Trump faced mounting pressure from immigration-minded conservatives to dig in on his demand for $5 billion to fund a border wall, a signature campaign promise -- before Democrats take over the House in January."  To get an idea of how seriously some are taking Trump's upcoming decision regarding the proposed budget, one need only look at the reaction of some prominent Republicans.  As NBC News reported, Anne Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, and Drudge all voiced concerns with regard to Trump's recent approach to the border wall issue.

If Trump fails to stand strong on his demand for funding and signs a temporary budget deal that provides little to no money for the border wall, he will be backing away from one of his primary promises to those who put him in office.  He cannot afford to do that.  According to House Freedom Caucus chair Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who spoke to Fox News on Wednesday, "the political fallout will start" soon, and Trump risks doing "major damage" to his re-election effort in 2020 if a spending deal without border funding is approved.

In addition to potentially hurting his reelection effort, Trump will embolden the newly elected House Democrats if he signs the temporary budget without obtaining the necessary funding for the border wall. As CNN reported, Democrats, including Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois and Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, have already started to blame Republicans if a government shutdown actually occurs.  If the president backs away from his demands now, House Democrats will interpret this as a sign of weakness.  They will view the president as a man who has a loud bark with a little bite.

President Trump has the chance to show his supporters (and the American public in general) that he intends to fulfill the promise he made to them two years ago.  To do so, he will have to put the interests of the public ahead of the interests of the Washington bureaucrats, whose positions change like the wind.

President Trump should not have any trouble doing that and appears to be heading in that direction.  According to Mediaite, citing Rush Limbaugh, "the president has gotten word to me that he is either getting funding for the border or he's shutting the whole thing down."  If this is true, the president has decided to act with strength and resolve.  Equally important, he has wisely listened to the will of his supporters.            

Mr. Hakim is a writer, commentator, and practicing attorney.  His articles have been published in The Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, The Federalist, The Western Journal, American Thinker, and other online publications.   

https://thoughtfullyconservative.wordpress.com

Twitter: @ThoughtfulGOP