Moral issues confuse Donald Trump- maybe he needs a big letter to sign just like he did in Singapore

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/opinion/shutdown-border-wall-trump-democrats-dreamers.html

#stoptheshutdown

Why should Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer ever make a deal with Donald Trump when he reneges on nearly every one of his debacle agreements? Let's face it, Donald Trump is a con artist, or as the late New York columnist Liz Smith said, he's a "horses ass".  A "deal or no deal" negotiation to end to the useless, destructive, cruel and inept government shut down over how to fund a border wall with Mexico - that Trump promised the Mexicans would pay for (but won't!)- might be accomplished if Kim Jung Un wants to loan our powerless US Congress that big black portfolio, the one with a mysterious letter in it, the one that he and Trump signed in Singapore. Trump likes big. Indeed, the "bigger" or more huge, the better, as far as he's concerned. Hey there, President Kim Jung Un! Can Americans borrow that big black letter portfolio, so we can get Donald Trump to sign an executive order to re-open our government?  You can have it back when we're again open for business.

Here's another point of view with a little more optimism in this column- Opinion echo by David Leonhardt published in The New York Times

“The wall isn’t negotiable b/c it’s based on lies, racism & white nationalism.”- Reverend William Barber

First, Obamacare marches on: In the latest sign of the law’s success, Maine has become the 36th state to expand Medicaid, thanks to the insistence of the state’s voters.

Janet Mills, Maine’s new Democratic governor, implemented the expansion more than a year after voters approved it in a ballot referendum. The previous governor — Paul LePage, a Republican — had refused to honor the referendum’s result. As a result of Mills’s move, more than 500 Mainers gained health insurance, and many more will be covered in coming years.

Maine's Governor Janet Mills signs Medicaid Executive Order as approved by the state legislature and the voters

The larger lesson is to avoid despair. Changing laws is hard work, often involving years of frustration. But it really is possible for politics to improve people’s lives. Congratulations to all of the voters, activists, politicians and medical professionals in Maine who kept fighting for this change.

Let’s make a deal
Should Democrats be willing to bargain on the border wall — say, win big progress on other parts of immigration policy in exchange for wall funding? I asked this question on Twitter yesterday, and the roughly 1,500 responses were split almost evenly between yes and no.

I was struck by the even split, because it’s consistent with my own conflicted feelings. There is a real case for bargaining. The wall would not transform this country’s immigration policy, and it’s plausible that President Trump would agree to real concessions — like legal status for the young immigrants known as Dreamers — for wall funding.

Yesterday, a group of Republican senators began pushing for a deal broadly along these lines. The editorial boards of The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune and The New York Post all favor such a compromise. It could also protect immigrants from Haiti, Honduras and El Salvador who are fleeing natural disasters and whose protected status Trump has revoked, writes Ali Noorani for CNN.

My own view is that Democrats should remain open to a deal, but not put too much hope in it. For one thing, the chances seem slim that Republicans will make big enough concessions, given the hardline immigration positions of top Trump advisers.

For another, I worry about the political effect of rewarding Trump’s tactics on the wall. Remember, he canceled a deal to keep the government open that both Republican and Democratic members of Congress agreed to. He did so in large part because Fox News hosts and other conservative pundits began making fun of him. And his case for the border wall is based on a torrent of lies.

“To those who say, ‘Trump should give DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) for , Pelosi should do the wall,’ we must say a clear, ‘No.’” Reverend William Barber tweeted yesterday, referring to the policy that would make Dreamers legal. “The wall isn’t negotiable b/c it’s based on lies, racism & white nationalism.”
The Democrats’ best bet is probably to force Trump to end this mess himself, likely through a legally questionable declaration of emergency. That declaration would be the subject of a legal fight, and it would create some political risks for Trump. 

Trump is, apparently, considering taking money away from disaster relief in Florida and elsewhere, which doesn’t seem like the smartest move, given the state’s electoral importance.

The shutdown isn’t going well for Trump. Voters mostly blame him, polls show. Republicans in Congress are grumbling. If Democrats are tempted to make a deal, it needs to be a very favorable one.

Pop-culture postscript: A reader points out that the wall fight echoes a “House of Cards” plot line. In season 3, the president diverts money from disaster relief to pay for a jobs program that Congress refused to fund. House of cards, indeed. (Ugh another reality show disaster!) - MaineWriter- By the way, does anybody happen to have President Kim Jung Un's email address?  He seems to have some public relations sway with our American dictator.  Maybe Kim Jung Un can loan us that mysterious black letter portfolio he used to charm Donald Trump in Singapore.