bizarre this is. tomorrow, a new congress begins and its first business is dealing with a president shutting down the government to break his own campaign pledge. let s be clear about this. donald trump promised americans they would never pay for the wall because mexico would pay. then he failed to get that money from mexico despite two years when his party controlled washington. trump shuts down the government to break his pledge and try to make americans pay for the wall. believe me, this is not how it was supposed to go. believe me, mexico s paying for the wall. if i win, if i become president, mexico will pay for the wall. mexico will pay for the wall. they will pay for the wall. that i can tell you. mexico s going to pay for the wall. they don t know it yet. they re starting to have a very good idea. mexico s going to pay for the wall and they ll be happy to do it. they were not happy to do it.
now they should be paid for americans. is that really what the large center of the republican base wants or is there a zombie trump mind meld where they go i guess mexico was supposed to pay for it but it s a good thing we ll pay for it. they re not looking at it in that context. the president was saying mexico will pay for the wall. he is still repeating the same mantra. they are still believing and buying this idea that s going to happen. we have gone from a wall to slats. i m waiting for the president to come out and announce he will go with aluminum siding. this is how this thing is going to move. every step along the way that base will be with him which is why what mitt romney said was so important in creating a breaking point from this mind trap that a lot of republicans, especially in the senate, find themselves. mark thompson, is this any
this is having real impact. 800,000 americans missing their paychecks this week. federal offices that provide food for the hungry are now closed. key disaster assistance programs put on hold leaving 250,000 americans who fled those fires in thousands oaks in california now without help. and as the government shutdown grinds on, the stock market has seen the worst drops in a decade. this shutdown is a drag on the economy. it s hurting hundreds of thousands of americans. we have seen these effects in prie previous shutdowns but this is different than every other shutdown recorded in modern era. when presidents drew lines in each of those years to defend their positions on taxes or health care or spending. this is the first time a president has shutdown the government not to defend a pledge but to break a pledge. just stop there and consider how