Donald Trump

Trump Threatens a Government Shutdown If Border Wall Isn't Funded

Congress will have 11 legislative days to avoid a shutdown.



An impending fight over President Donald Trump's proposed southern border wall could result in another government shutdown.

Since the House has already adjourned for the summer, representatives will have 11 legislative days in September to avoid a government shutdown prior to the midterm elections. The House of Representatives approved a spending package recently that would allocate $1.6 billion to the wall; the vote was mostly split along party lines. The Senate has yet to vote on the question.

Trump tweeted Sunday morning that he was "willing" to shut down the government if the Democrats blocked spending for his immigration policies:

As usual with Trump's tweets, it is unclear whether this was a serious threat or just a passing thought while his phone was handy.

Trump made the border wall a pillar of his presidential campaign, but at the time insisted that Mexico would foot the bill for the project. Just weeks before his inauguration in 2017, Republican leaders in Congress revealed that the wall would actually be paid for by U.S. taxpayers, not the Mexico. This prompted Trump to tweet a slight revision to his campaign promise, asserting that the funds would actually be "paid back by Mexico later."

One report says the wall would require an estimated $18 billion over the next 10 years. Maintenance costs would eat up an additional $48.3 billion during that decade decade. And these estimates largely depend on what the Cato Institute has called "unrealistically cheap construction costs."

NEXT: The Commerce Department's Tariff Waiver Process Encourages Cronyism, Creates Shortages


  1. And Reason isn’t completely on board with a shut down…why?

    Even if you hate the policy, a shut down should be applauded.

    Hell, Trump could easily show how pointless a shutdown is and how little it does so people stop freaking out about one.

    1. I seem to recall Reason posting some compiled information that government shutdown is very lose/lose. The machine is still very expensive even when shut down or something.



      1. It’s not a shutdown. These “shutdowns” end up costing more money than continuing to run the government.

        1. An Obama ‘shutdown’ ends up costing more.

          Big surprise I know.

          I suspect a Trump ‘shutdown’ might be a tad bit different.

          1. ThomasD|7.30.18 @ 3:45PM|#
            “An Obama ‘shutdown’ ends up costing more.”

            Yeah, paying the park rangers to keep paying customers out sorta has that effect.

        2. That’s for short-term shutdowns. Shut it down for the next 5 years and you save a bundle!

          I am all for Trump shutting the Fedgov down. He signed the last spending bill saying he would NOT sign another without wall funding. That’s fair warning. It gave Congress months to get its act together. Well, either they have, or they haven’t. Push come to shove – Trump was elected in large part on this promise.

          Build the wall. Either that, or station the military on the border and start shooting the criminal invaders.

          1. I would have Trump down as the best president ever if he sent all border patrol home and lined our southern border with Army troops.

            The open border people would shit a brick and there is nothing they could do since its actual naional defense.

    3. And Reason isn’t completely on board with a shut down…why?

      You think they aren’t…why?

    4. That’s just it, though: it isn’t real. It’s just a big song-and-dance. I wish they could at least change the tune, or sing it in a different key. And that Macarena thing is way over.

      1. Are you seriously dissing the Macarena? GTFO

        1. The macarena might actually be worse than the fed gov, shut down or wide open.

          1. Hang your head in shame

            1. Just Say’n does the Macarena before he reads Human Action in the nude, except he sings “Heeeey, my hoooomie from Vienna.”

        2. The Macarena is just the Hokey-Pokey of the 21st century.

    5. Why? The GOP controls the House therefore spending more or less money is up to them. The Senate is controlled by the GOP. Trump can get whatever he wants with just his party.

      And idiots like yourself believe this rabid con man when he blamed “Democrats” for not funding his stupid fucking wall.

      You have been conned.

      1. See, Lefties like Buttplugger never want the Nanny-State to shutdown as it threatens to show Americans how unneeded the federal government actually is.

  2. Merit-based. So we want foreigners taking the jobs of doctors and engineers instead of strawberry and tomato pickers.

    1. You’d see support drop like a rock if the illegals were, overwhelmingly, reporters and lawyers.

      Again, politicians and all love illegals because they aren’t a threat to THEM.

      1. So if undocumented immigrants were largely reporters and lawyers, you mean that the rest of the country would seek to dehumanize and scapegoat foreigners for the country’s problems, just like Trump’s base has done?

        1. Criminal invaders are criminals first, invaders second and possibly human (but in some cases that’s not clear) third.

          Criminal? Lock them up.
          Invader? Shoot them at the border.
          Human? Give them a decent burial.

        2. They’re illegal invaders who dont care about our laws or constitution.

          Fuck em.

      2. Look like another meeting of Libertarians For Authoritarian, Bigoted, Cruel Immigration Policies (Intertubes Incel chapter) is being convened . . .

        1. Oooh, look. Another complaint about authoritarianism from the guy that supports enlightened, educated, tolerant people who want to put other people in prison for using plastic straws.

          1. And prison time for wrongthink.

          2. I am not in the market for tips on libertarianism from right-wing bigots who embrace border walls, government womb management, conservatives, special privileges for superstition, Republicans, drug warriors, “papers, please” policies, military belligerence, religious states, abusive policing, toe-the-line policies about a song, pre-emptive invasions (of the wrong country), and country music.

            Carry on, clingers.

            1. I embrace none of those things, you statist pig.

              And you completely declined to take the opportunity to acknowledge that heavy-handed abuse of authority from the left is every bit as bad as it is when it comes from the right.

              I can only assume that you’re just fine with prison for serial straw abusers. So fuck off, slaver.

            2. Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland|7.30.18 @ 1:29PM|#

              You SHOULD be. You should be in the market for tips from passed-out druggies. You need ALL the help you can find, asshole.

      3. Trump is talking about changes to legal immigration, why did you bring up illegals?

        1. Trump tweeted about about them both (legal and illegal). The border wall is intended to keep illegal immigrants out, not legal ones.

          1. Tony wasn’t talking about the wall, he quoted Trump’s “merit-based” language, which he’s used to justify his changes to legal immigration (which would result in about a 40% reduction in legal immigration).


        I’m not so sure about that. We’ve had a flood of foreign college professors, and there’s been only quiet grumbling about it on the left, and most of that is focused on the universities for not paying enough the and government for not subsidizing education enough, rather than complaining about the immigrant academics themselves.


      The smartest thing we could ever do is import a ton of doctors and nurses. But the AMA will ensure that never happens.

    3. Speaking as an engineer, yes. All the strawberry and tomato pickers are doing is delaying automation of agriculture by means of an artificially depressed labor rate. We’ve been using cheap foreign labor instead of American built robots.

      1. Could we even make a strawberry picking robot without the robot destroying the strawberry? I didn’t think that we are capable of making robots to do delicate work like that. Also, Japanese made robots. Assembled in America.

        1. There have been considerable advances in compliant soft manipulators recently. So, sure, it would be challenging.

          But it’s the sort of challenge you never solve with an effectively unlimited supply of serfs on hand.

      2. And anyone defending the status quo is rightly criticized for favoring poor labor conditions and a lack of basic rights for migrant workers.

        1. You’re crying to Libertarians about workers who agreed to work under those terms?

          Fuck off Tony!

        2. migrant workers have the same rights as everyone else.

          what you’re bitching about is the lack of special privilege to allow you to demand-with-menaces money and resources from other people while you pocket a cut and use ‘teh underprivileged!’ as cover and justification for your depredations.

    4. If you want to lower the cost of medical care, you’ll take doctors and nurses wherever you can get them.

      1. Notice how Bernie, et al never talk about how much they intend to cut compensation of medical professionals?

  3. Ye gods, do we have to go through this bullshit every year?

    1. Looks like it. Almost as bad as elections.

      1. Imagine if the straw bans included plastic suction tubes used in abortions.

  4. I remember when a president was threatening shut-down over Planned Parenthood not being funded and that was different because there is nothing more libertarian than rent-seeking for Planned Parenthood or something.

    Conservatives say that no matter who threatens a shutdown, the GOP gets blamed. Well, in this case, there is no one to blame but the GOP since they control Congress and the presidency. The Stupid Party has really come into their own

    1. But don’t worry! The Trumpists have their narratives all lined up.

      If the shutdown happens and the Democrats cave, it’s because Trump is a “master negotiator playing 3-D chess”.

      If the shutdown happens, the Democrats don’t cave, and the blowback forces Trump & Republicans to acquiesce without funding for the wall, then it’s because of “GOP cucks” or “MSM lies” or some such.

      If there is no shutdown, and no border wall funding, then Trump’s tweets were all just idle posturing. “You can’t listen to what he says, you know!”

      1. But in no way is it ever Trump’s fault. It’s always the fault of everyone around him who let him down.

        1. He should just fire everyone else around him and appoint a horse as replacement.

          How John Kelly became ‘chief in name only’


        2. Nothing is ever Trump’s fault. Even when it’s Trump’s fault. Because then it’s your fault for not believing there is method to the mayhem.

          1. Everything Trump is 100% random.

            1. Everything Trump does is 100% random.

              Omitting *does* was random.

              1. But still true.

                1. nice one.

            2. aaaaaah, but that’s where the genius is. sure, he picks his next action by tossing a dart at a board, but *who do you think puts the options up on that board*?!

              he’s not playing 4d chess man, he’s playing paradox poker while everyone else thinks the game is checkers.

        3. Its Trump’s ‘fault’ that the government shut down.

          Another positive achievement for Trump.

    2. Sounds like a call to convene yet another meeting of Libertarians For Government Womb Management And State Micromanagement Of Certain Clinics . . .

      1. Is that held in the same meeting room as the Libertarians for Government Funded and Imposed Social Policy and Values?

        1. Bureau of plastic straw bans and paper cup punishment.

          1. The Department of Federal protect you from yourselves.

            1. Hillary definitely wanted to expand that Department.

      2. Let’s just clarify: refusing to provide something free is not the same as banning it (at least outside of Progressive Disneyland).

  5. OT:

    Since Cohen has stated the obvious that Trump knew about his campaign collusion with Russians the new narrative is HEY, COLLUSION IS NOT A CRIME!

    1. Actually, I think the new narrative is pretty much exactly like the old one: prove it. As of yet, Mueller has been charging people with nothing even remotely related to coordination with the Russians. And his indictments of foreign actors have floundering when those actors have responded to the accusations.

      1. There just has to be a pony under all this shit!

      2. The case against Concord Management is proceeding fine.

        What’s your insight into the evidence that Mueller has?

        1. Chandler Bing has an interesting definition of “fine”. Especially since he indicted a firm that never existed along with Concord Management and has been requesting a delay in the case of Concord Management since he did not expect the firm to answer his indictment.



          Fever dream on, Chandler.

          1. The only “insight” I have about Mueller’s evidence is that he doesn’t seem to have any. Manafort’s trial is centered on tax evasion and lobbying as a foreign agent of Ukraine without registering as such. All of which occurred well before the Trump campaign. Flynn is being charged with lying to the FBI about something that wasn’t even illegal and that’s about it on the collusion front.

            Cohen has nothing to do with the collusion myth. It has everything to do with a campaign violation of Trump paying women to not disclose his extramarital affairs with them and not disclosing these payments.

            So, yeah, I’d say there is a lot of explaining to do from fake libertarians who bought into Russia fever dreams if all we get is a campaign violation.

            1. It’s also a good sign that you have a super strong case when you argue that you need to hide your evidence from the defense, because of “national security”. I guess those tribunals at Gitmo are the crown jewel of liberty. “Guilty until proven innocent” is some Kafka-esque shit that is so suited to the stupidity of the 21st Century


      3. What’s that thing in the thingy about warrants being specific? Oh, that doesn’t apply to federal witch hunts? My bad!

        1. Some people think because government agents have a search warrant for a house that they can search the entire house. Warrants are supposed to be specific about who/what is to be searched and the particular things to be seized.


    2. Well, it isn’t, is it?

      If it were, acting in concert would be illegal. coordinating with other people would be illegal. business and government alike would be illegal. planning a party would be illegal.

  6. “As usual with Trump’s tweets, it is unclear whether this was a serious threat or just a passing thought while his phone was handy.

    Trump made the border wall a pillar of his presidential campaign”

    I wish Trump didn’t keep as many promises as he does–especially when they’re on positions I oppose. Is that different for you? Do you want Trump to keep his promises even if it means building a wall? If not, why fault him for not keeping his promises?

    I can think of a list of campaign promises Trump has kept.

    Pulled out of Paris Accord
    Ignored the Iran nuclear deal
    Kept his word on leaving marijuana laws to the states
    Opened renegotiation on NAFTA
    Stuck tariffs to China
    Buckled down on immigration

    If Trump’s tweets are inconsistent, I’m not sure his campaign promises are, and if this tweet is consistent with a campaign promise, I’d take it seriously.

    As a commercial real estate guy, maybe I know this better than most, but contentious negotiations are won by the party with the most leverage. If the Democrats want to bet their chances of retaking the senate by winning in North Dakota, West Virginia, and Indiana because they shut the government down because by refusing to build a wall, I think that’s probably a bad bet for them. Trump, on the other hand, has little or nothing to lose over this. He isn’t up for election for another two years.

    Yeah, I’d take the threat seriously.

    1. I would agree with your assessment Ken.

    2. Add:
      Cut taxes
      Reduced regulations

      And holy crap. You mean reducing the cost of business promotes economic growth. Amazing

    3. Trump promised to have a health care plan, cheaper than Obamacare that covered everyone with pre-existing conditions. Now, health care plans are more expensive.

      Trump promised:
      “The hedge fund guys won’t like me as much as they like me right now. I know them all, but they’ll pay more. I know people that are making a tremendous amount of money and paying virtually no tax, and I think it’s unfair.”

      Those people are now paying less taxes.

      He promised an infrastructure bill. Nothing has moved an inch there.

      1. Trump’s plan for healthcare is free market healthcare. Trump needs Congress to repeal ObamaCare, Medicaid, and Medicare.

        Everyone that pays taxes are paying less taxes. Trump’s campaign promise but Congress had to pass the tax reform.

        Trump needs Congress to pass a transportation bill. Congress has not done so.

        1. This is spin at best, disingenuous more likely. Hold OUR elected officials to account, don’t give them a free pass on obvious lies. This is a scientology level of devotion.

      2. Politicians promise a lot of things.

        My monthly healthcare expenses tripled upon passage of the ironically titled Affordable Health care Act.

    4. So … Trump threatens (WITH WORDS) government shutdown. You take it seriously.
      Rand Paul threatens (WITH WORDS)to not vote for the SC Justice nominee. You take it seriously.
      Trump threatens (WITH WORDS) trade wars, high tariiffs. You refuse to take it seriously, over and over, saying it is JUST WORDS, and you won’t take it seriously until it turns into ACTIONS, because so much of what he says is JUST WORDS and not serious.

      Folks, I present to you a classic example of Trump Derangement Syndrome.

      1. I take things more seriously when they actually happen, yes.

        If and when Trump actually refuses to sign a spending bill to keep the government running, I’ll take his threat even more seriously than I do now.

        Given the reasons I mentioned, however, I think his threat should be taken seriously, but there is some uncertainty associated with that. The question was whether his threat should be taken seriously, and I think it should–for the reasons given.

        But the future is all speculative to some degree.

        Some people have a hard time telling the difference between things that might happen in the future and things that have already happened. There were a lot of crazy people around here moaning about tariffs that hadn’t actually happened yet–as if they already had–and that’s different from speculating about what someone might do in the future. That’s pretending something has already happened that hasn’t actually happened yet.

        You see the problem with that, don’t you?

        1. I see the hypocrisy in when you think words are important.

          I have always seen the idiocy of thinking words have no affect.


      I doubt there are as many gullible, disaffected, half-educated, intolerant yahoos as you think there are, even in North Dakota, West Virginia, and Indiana. I also am content to await an election that should illuminate the point.

  7. “in 2017, Republican leaders in Congress revealed that the wall would actually be paid for by U.S. taxpayers, not the Mexico.”

    “Revealed.” LOL. Anybody who actually believed that Mexico was going to pay for the wall is too stupid to function anyway. Just casual bullshit from Trump, who appears to have a very limited connection to reality.

    1. Some people are that stupid.

      loveconstitution1789|7.30.18 @ 12:28PM|#

      Mexico is paying for the wall via Mexicans.

      1. Non-Americans are paying for the US border wall.

        Does that not hit you as hard?

        Haha. MAGA!

    2. I believed that Mexico could end up paying for the wall, but this was of course contingent on Congress enacting the right legislation. Basically a heavy tax on remittances, possibly refundable if you can demonstrate you’re present in the country legally. It’s always been obvious that this was a feasible approach to forcing “Mexico” to pay for the wall.

      Did I believe it was actually going to happen? Not without considerable staffing changes in Congress, since there’s currently a Congressional majority who want illegal immigration to continue; It’s just that the Republican part of that majority have to lie about it.

      1. Mexico will pay in some way if Trump seals the border, since that will make the pass-through of Central Americans impossible. Mexico will then have to build their own wall, or fund refugee camps.

      2. The tax on remittances is a terrible idea, unless you’re fine with denying American citizens and legal residents the right to do what they choose with their own money.

        The “Mexico will pay for the wall” stuff has always been bullshit, is currently bullshit, and will always be bullshit.

      3. I believed that Mexico could end up paying for the wall,

        But you weren’t quite sure about Pres. Obama’s place of birth.

        You also think you are a libertarian. Maybe a believer that fairy tales are true.

        Stay in the backwoods, Brett. You just aren’t equipped for modern society.

        1. Arthur L. Hicklib desperately tries to hide the fact that he’s a backwoods yahoo.

        2. But you weren’t quite sure about Pres. Obama’s place of birth.

          Everyone was sure about Obama’s place of birth–he explicitly stated it in a bio he wrote.

          It’ was just strange that it wasn’t the same as the place he explicitly stated when he was running for president.

          One was a lie.

          Do you get that it’s the lie that’s the problem, Artie?

  8. There’s a face-saving way out of this for Trump: appoint a Southern Border Security Czar, and have him assemble a blue-ribbon commission of border security experts to come up with a state-of-the-art plan to reduce illegal border crossings. Set a a specific goal, like, maybe a 60% reduction. Allow them to recommend a full range of options suited best to different border areas. In some places, a wall or improved fencing might be the best option; in other places, perhaps better surveillance technology, aircraft patrols, more agents on the ground, or other alternatives might be more effective. Then Trump can spin the new plan as BETTER than a wall, and more cost-effective.

    1. Oh no no no. The important thing here is not actually to find the most effective way to stop illegal border crossings. The important thing here is to “own the libs” and “drink liberal tears”.

      1. And keeping promises. That’s important now. Like if you like your plan, you can keep your plan. It wasn’t important then ,but it is now.
        Promises, man.

      2. Fuck the wall, but drinking their tears two years later is a delicious treat.

        1. I really didn’t think I would enjoy drinking their tears as long as I have, but they’re just so refreshingly tasty!

  9. Mexico is paying for the wall via Mexicans.

    Lefties assure Americans that illegals pay more in taxes than they receive.

    !Mucho gracias Mexico!

  10. I agree, shut it down.

  11. The USA has all of the leverage in regards to Mexico.

    I don’t give a shit about them paying for the wall. One agreement is all I ask. Anyone that crosses the border illegally is coming right back to you. I don’t give a shit if they are from Guatemala or whatever, they are coming back they way they came in. Total pile of crap that Mexico lets folks waltz across their country to enter the USA illegally.

    I don’t even care whether they agree, its just a courtesy.

    1. that’s . . . that’s how its always worked.

    2. Mexico managed to build a pretty good wall across their border with Guatemala….

      They should pay for a similar wall across the US border. And the way that Prime Minister Zoolander has f’d up Canada, we’ll need one there, too

  12. A lot of libertarians seem to forgot the old Friedman line: you can have open borders, a large welfare state, but not both. This is not to demean, but illegals, even given as hard as they work, don’t have the skills to pay their own way. Most need subsidies and a lot do. Or cut corners (no car/health insurance which ends up with costs the government has to mop up). Hell the Feds spend a billion every hour or 2. Who cares who pays for it? But not spending on these expensive guests, the wall pays for itself.

    1. Friedman was imagining a fantasy world in which people illegally immigrate and then somehow get on the government dole. The fact is Social Security’s lifespan increases with more illegal immigration, since they pay payroll taxes and don’t take services (and they tend to be younger than the legal population).

      On the other hand it is probably quite expensive to put them and their children in concentration camps and run them through the courts, but that’s not what he probably meant by welfare.

      1. Putting a roof over your head and getting 3 squares is kinda like welfare.

      2. Educating their children (or themselves) is clearly taking “services”. Using the roads (and thereby increasing wear on them) is using “services”. Etc.

        I’m not a mouth-breathing anti-immigration type, but saying that there’s no cost associated with illegal immigrants is not accurate.

        1. and the point Tony is (poorly) making is that these guys pay taxes for those services like everyone else. They’re paying taxes for that schooling like the rest of us.

          They aren’t a net drain on welfare and for some specific programs (like SS) they are free money.

          There are costs associated with illegal immigrants, there are benefits to them also – straight up free money benefits.

          1. Funny how identity theft is considered a “free money benefit”.

        2. Filling up the emergency departments for primary care is a service, that they take. And btw, I am an emergency physician, and fully 1/3 of the patients I see (that I have to see, thanks to EMTALA) simply don’t pay for the services they receive.

          There are various state and federal programs that would pay, but they ‘save the government money’ by not using those services. The net result: The prices go up for everyone else.

          The prisons are full of illegal aliens. Paying for the walls, bars and guards is a service they take. The people they prey upon (stealing, murdering, never mind dealing drugs to) pay. Even those they run into and kill while driving drunk pay.

          Some may say that lawful residents also commit crime, drive drunk. Yes, they do. But they are citizens, and here legally. There depredation is bad enough. We have no moral or legal obligation to have more criminals in our midst.

          Illegals provide no benefit to the nation.


        Funny, because my hometown, which is now comprised largely of Hispanic immigrants, is now providing up to three meals a day for free for their kids.

        I’d take this “hard working immigrant” line more seriously if they weren’t too fucking lazy to make meals for their own children.

        1. So you think your community would be better off if the children of immigrants were illiterate and starving?

          1. I think it would be better off if their parents took responsibility for feeding their own kids. As for the “illiterate” swipe, those schools are already amongst the lowest performing in the state, so it’s not like they could get any worse.

          2. Tony|7.30.18 @ 3:29PM|#
            “So you think your community would be better off if the children of immigrants were illiterate and starving?”

            Do you EVER offer an honest point? Are you even capable of know what one is?
            Fuck off, shitbag.

    2. so, get rid of the welfare state.

      but no, no one wants to do that. they want the welfare statr and refuse to accept that ‘securing the border’ doesn’t stop at a shitty wall (even while brushing off the damage to Americans the wall will cause – don’t want your property stolen by the government, don’t live near a bordet, amirite?) but continues with ever more intrusive controls.

      mandatory id
      warrantless searches

  13. So, no wall and a government shutdown?

    Libertarian moment!!!

    1. There already was a wall before Trump.

      Some government still runs even in shutdown mode.

      1. Entirely TOO MUCH government runs in ‘shutdown mode”.

        Entirely too much government runs all the time.

        Defense, post offices, post roads….not much else is required. The first to go should be the Congressional staffers.

    2. ThomasD
      Sounds like a plan to me! Plus, why is this fucking idea of a first century solution to a twenty-first century problem still on the backs of the American tax payer? Wasn’t it not so long ago the idea that Mehico was going to pay for this useless piece of architecture? Seems to me that the Canadian border is a bigger problem. Did we not learn anything from Super Troopers 2!

  14. So basically what happened is: The government is in danger of shutting down because Trump’s an idiot, so he’s going to blame it on the never-gonna-happen wall if that actually happens.

    Well, he’s getting well-versed in damage control, I’ll say that.

    1. A number of the yahoos who frequent this site still believe that wall will be built.

      Or, at least, they claim to believe it. They have faith, I guess.

      And not much else.

      1. Well, no one wants to admit that they willingly accepted the lies of a known swindler.

      2. I don’t believe it will actually be built, even though I would like to see one built. It’s not supported by any Democrat, who see illegals as a new reliable voting base, or two-thirds of Republicans, who publicly state that they want better border security but really want open borders in order to get cheap labor.

  15. 11 days? How about if those worthless collections of protoplasm actually work a 5-day/week schedule, for once in their worthless lives?

    Or better yet, ‘shut down’ the government. The roughly 25% that is not considered ‘essential’ is truly redundant, and our entire nation would be better off without them. PERMANENTLY.

  16. The tens (maybe hundreds) of billions of $ saved by not having to care for the millions of illegals crossing the border and their offspring into perpetuity will more than offset the cost of the wall.

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