O Say Can You Please Entry 2

O Say Can You Please Entry 2: Wall-T

On January 3rd, 2019, the Democrats re-took control of the House of Representatives. From old standbys to young firebrands, the Democratic party has it all. With amazing representation of various groups and equally diverse policy ideas, this Democrat-led House could be quite productive, even at its worst. Unfortunately, their ideas will likely be blocked by Republicans in the Senate and White House, so maybe I’m exaggerating what they’ll actually get to do. Plus, one of the old guard is Nancy Pelosi from California, the House’s new Speaker, so this could very well be a more traditional Democratic agenda. Still, I’d argue it’s a step in the right direction, as one party having control of everything is efficient, but also a danger to our less explicitly stated freedoms. However, I’m getting ahead of myself.

However, one new Democrat Congresswoman stands out from the rest for both good and bad reasons. She is the tough-talker from New York named Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and she is making a splash on the political scene. In my honest opinion, I see a certain level of potential in her abilities, but I’ll admit that she has a lot to learn. Granted, our President still has a lot to learn, but he’s in his 70s, so the potential to learn is pretty much gone at this point. Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez is only nearing 30, making her much more of a learner, and therefore a potentially more competent (for lack of a better word) politician. Is her current skill level somewhat dubious? Absolutely! However, people grow and change over time, and Ocasio-Cortez needs a chance to do so.

Next on the docket is the potential national emergency that may result from the shutdown I mentioned in the last entry, and I’m not talking about our President (directly, at least). I’ll sum it up like this: The shutdown is over money for the wall, so this “emergency” predictably has to do with the southern border. On January 8th, President Trump gave his first address from the Oval Office, and he tanked it badly. His speech was just a bunch of repetition and cherry-picked examples of immigrant-committed violence. Granted, even I will cherry-pick certain quotes to use in my writing, but being that repetitive in eight minutes is not a good sign for your argument. Therefore, what I will do is that I will introduce the show’s first special feature, Fact Up. In this feature, I basically fact check a speech or series of statements and see how far off from the truth it all is on a scale from 1-10. We also take into account the quality of the speech in our score, and the higher the score, the better. Today, on Day 20 of the shutdown, I will examine the President’s speech.

For this fact check, we will be using statistics reported by the New York Times. First on the docket is Trump’s claim that heroin is coming into our country through the southern border. Unfortunately for Trump (and those who are supposed to detect those drugs), most heroin comes in through legal ports of entry on that border, which a wall is not going to stop. Still, he wasn’t completely off with this remark, so good on him, I guess.

Next, Trump said that “Customs and Border Patrol agents encounter thousands of illegal immigrants trying to enter our country.” While the statement is again rooted in reality, it’s misleading for two big reasons. For one, Customs and Border Protection is the proper name for the agency Trump was talking about. Also, according to the New York Times, the actual number is around 1,700 migrants apprehended daily. If he was saying that thousands cross and illegally enter our country every day, then maybe he’d be right. However, he did not quite say that, so the claim is misleading.

Finally, we investigate his claim that the wall will pay for itself one way or another. This is inaccurate, as he says that an (as of yet) unapproved trade deal will pay for the wall. And so, I ask: What happens if the trade deal fails? The answer to that is unknown at this time, but what we do know is that Trump is going to have to find an alternative, and fast. All in all, Trump’s speech gets four bricks in the wall out of ten.

Have a great day, everybody!