Everyone thought the government was going to avoid a shutdown, until President Trump decided to put his foot down, to the delight of The Daily Wire’s own Michael Knowles. He explained why Trump’s decision to stand firm over the border wall is the right move on Thursday’s episode of “The Michael Knowles Show.”
“President Trump, he was just going to have this perfunctory meeting today with House Republicans at the White House, and they’re going to get the continuing resolution, they’re going to keep funding the government until February eight,” Knowles said.
After playing a clip of outgoing Speaker of the House Paul Ryan explaining that Trump would not sign the Senate’s bill without more funding for border security, Knowles could not help but say, “Oh, don’t tell me Christmas came early. It’s only the 20th! Christmas isn’t supposed to happen for five days.”
Knowles broke down how Republicans were disappointed in Trump for seemingly caving on his signature campaign promise to “build the wall.”
“I mean, we were pretty tough on him on this show yesterday,” Knowles said. “At the same time that the signature campaign promise you’re caving on and not delivering on, you’re choosing instead to free thousands of prisoners from the clink through this first step act prison reform bill. It’s just a horrible moment, just a really low point for the Trump presidency. Especially as the economy starts tanking. I don’t know who it was exactly who was whispering in his ear, but today he totally turns around and says that we’re going to do it. He says he’s going to build the wall in a very specific way.”
Knowles referenced a Trump tweet from Thursday that said, “The Democrats, who know Steel Slats (Wall) are necessary for Border Security, are putting politics over Country. What they are just beginning to realize is that I will not sign any of their legislation, including infrastructure, unless it was perfect Border Security. U.S.A. WINS!”
“Now, you’ll notice in that tweet, the ‘Wall’ is in parentheses,” Knowles said. “The new phrase is ‘Steel Slats.’ Okay, so what do we mean by steel slats? You’ve probably seen a number of prototypes of this wall, one of them is these slats up and down. Conservatives are a little upset about this. I think the left is actually trying to pretend conservatives are a little more upset about steel slats versus the wall than they really are.
“I don’t care what the wall looks like. I don’t care if it has graffiti all over it. I don’t care if it’s made of steel or marble or concrete. I just want the thing to be built,” Knowles said.
Video and transcript below:
President Trump, he was just going to have this perfunctory meeting today with House Republicans at the White House, and they’re going to get the continuing resolution, they’re going to keep funding the government until February eight. Is that what happened Paul Ryan?
Paul Ryan: “We just had a very long, productive meeting with the president. The president informed us that he will not sign the bill that came over from the Senate last evening because of his legitimate concern for border security. So what we’re going to do is go back to the House and work with the members. We want to keep the government open, but we also want to see an agreement that protects the border. We have very serious concerns about securing our border. The President said he will not sign this bill, so we’re going to go back and work on adding border security to this.”
Oh don’t tell me Christmas came early. It’s only the twentieth! Christmas isn’t supposed to happen for five days. I told you, all I want for Christmas is five-billion dollars and a big, big beautiful wall and Paul Ryan is announcing this, that President Trump is delivering. We should have seen this coming. Yesterday, and you know that broadly I’m quite supportive of the administration, they’ve done excellent work, they’ve done so much better than everyone expected, but I was really upset yesterday and I was not alone in this. Ann Coulter was on a podcast at the Daily Caller and she said that President Trump, if he did not get the wall, that his presidency would be a joke, that there would be no reason to support him. She was really brutal toward him. She was so brutal that President Trump actually unfollowed her on twitter. Apparently, there’s a twitter bot that monitors the Trump family accounts and who they’re following. He actually unfollowed Ann. Ann Coulter has been pretty tough on Trump the whole time. She’s been tough on him in a way, to push him to do better. To push him to not alienate his base. To push him so that he doesn’t lose in 2020. I think she’s tried to maintain this tension where she wants to really really push him, but not so much that he’ll unfollow her. So, he did unfollow her, but then he listened to her as well. I mean, we were pretty tough on him on this show yesterday. At the same time that the signature campaign promise you’re caving on and not delivering on, you’re choosing instead to free thousands of prisoners from the clink through this first step act prison reform bill. It’s just a horrible moment, just a really low point for the Trump presidency. Especially as the economy starts tanking. I don’t know who it was exactly who was whispering in his ear, but today he totally turns around and says that we’re going to do it. He says he’s going to build the wall in a very specific way. He sent out this tweet and wrote:
President Trump: “The Democrats, who know Steel Slats (Wall) are necessary for Border Security, are putting politics over Country. What they are just beginning to realize is that I will not sign any of their legislation, including infrastructure, unless it was perfect Border Security. U.S.A. WINS!”Now, you’ll notice in that tweet, the “Wall” is in parentheses. The new phrase is “ Steel Slats”. Okay, so what do we mean by steel slats? You’ve probably seen a number of prototypes of this wall, one of them is these slats up and down. Conservatives are a little upset about this. I think the left is actually trying to pretend conservatives are a little more upset about steel slats vs the wall than they really are. I don’t care what the wall looks like. I don’t care if it has graffiti all over it. I don’t care if it’s made of steel or marble or concrete. I just want the thing to be built.
President Trump also went on, he wrote:
President Trump: “When I begrudgingly signed the Omnibus Bill, I was promised the Wall and Border Security by leadership. Would be done by end of year (NOW). It didn’t happen! We foolishly fight for Border Security for other countries – but not for our beloved U.S.A. Not good!”
Absolutely right. This is totally right.