Trump speech: President accused of 'stoking fear' over border immigration as he demands wall funding to end 'crisis'

The GOP have now hit out at top Democrats Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, seemingly channeling the president by embracing caps lock in a tweet calling Americans to “DEMAND BORDER SECURITY”.

The link included in the post leads to a website, which encourages readers to sign a letter addressed to Ms Pelosi and Mr Schumer.

The letter, once again in all caps, says: “AS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN, I AM DEMANDING THAT YOU FINALLY PUT ME ABOVE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AND BUILD THE WALL”.

“OUR SECURITY IS NOT A POLITICAL GAME AND I AM TIRED OF YOUR PETTY OBSTRUCTION.

“THE SAFETY OF MY FAMILY, MY COMMUNITY, AND MY COUNTRY IS AT STAKE.

“I AM STANDING WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP TO SECURE OUR BORDER AND DEMANDING THAT YOU DO THE SAME FOR THE SAKE OF OUR COUNTRY.”

The government shutdown may have been caused by a dispute over whether to provide $5.7bn (£4.5bn) in government funding to help construct Donald Trump's border wall, but no one is entirely sure exactly how much the project could cost to complete.

The president himself as previously insisted the wall can be finished for less than $10bn ($7.8bn), as long as it is not made “super-duper”, while other estimates have put the cost closer to $25bn (£16.6m).

The White House itself does not even appear capable of calculating the true cost of the project, while the US Government Accountability Office warned the wall could become something of an expensive white elephant, costing much more than initially planned and not performing as expected.

Pence backtracks on Trump ‘ex-presidents support wall’ claim

Former US presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter (pic: Getty)Vice president Mike Pence has admitted Donald Trump’s recent claim his predecessors approve of the construction of a border wall was just an “impression” he had gotten.

Mr Trump said last week several former presidents: “have told me that we should have done it”, in reference to building a barrier on the US border with Mexico.

However, the four living former holders of the office disagree with the president’s claims.

Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George W Bush have all said they have not discussed the wall with the president, while Barack Obama has gone a step further by reiterating his opposition to the policy.

Speaking to NBC’s Today show on Tuesday, Mr Pence said: “I know the president has said that was his impression from previous presidents.”

He added he had seen “clips of previous presidents talking about the importance of border security and the importance of addressing illegal immigration.”

Pence lobbies for Trump on tour of networks 

The vice president has also been busy today trying to sell Donald Trump’s address live from the Oval Office scheduled to take place later today.

Mike Pence has appeared on ABC, CBS and NBC so far on Tuesday in an effort to lobby for the president.

“The passion you hear from President Trump, his determination to take this case to the American people, as he will tonight in his national broadcast from the Oval Office, comes from this president's deep desire to do his job to protect the American people,” he said during an interview on ABC’s Good Morning America.

“We're going to continue to carry that case forward until the Democrats in congress come to the table and start negotiating, not just to end the government shutdown but to address what is an undeniable crisis at our southern border,” he added.

Donald Trump has been busy tweeting throughout the morning in Washington, but he has yet to address the issue of the government shutdown.

The president has however covered a wide range of other talking points, including boasting about the strength of economic growth, claiming trade talks between the US and China are “going very well” and congratulating the Clemson Tigers on their victory in the college football National Championship game on Monday evening.

Governors call for end to shutdown 

The National Governors Association, a nonpartisan coalition representing the 55 governors of US states and territories, has written a letter addressed to Republican and Democrat leaders calling for a swift resolution to the government shutdown.

“On behalf of the nation’s governors, we urge you to find a compromise and immediately end the partial government shutdown. A federal government shutdown is a failure in governance and a weight on our economy and the American people,” the letter states.

“A federal government shutdown should not be a negotiating tactic as disagreements are resolved. Governors stand united in telling the federal government to open the doors of currently shuttered agencies while you find a long-term, bipartisan compromise on the issues that currently divide Washington.”

“Approximately 800,000 federal employees in our states are working without pay or furloughed – impacting their ability to provide for their families, jeopardizing their credit, and potentially siphoning dollars from state economies.

“Due to the significantly reduced presence of federal park employees and security, our national parks are overflowing with trash, natural resources are endangered, and the safety of visitors is uncertain.

“Governors stand ready to help you navigate this situation and re-open the federal government.”

Trump is flirting with an emergency declaration to build his wall — but how would that even work?

Since Mr Trump confirmed last week that he has been considering an emergency declaration in order to build his wall, questions have swirled about how, exactly, that might work.

Broadly speaking, an emergency declaration would allow the president to redirect the military and to divert personnel and government funds in the name of national defence.

But, we have seen little indicator beyond Mr Trump's statements that he will try to use these powers. He has so far not told Republicans in Congress that he is going forward with the plan. And, should he invoke emergency powers, Democrats have already indicated that his actions will be met with a swift legal challenge — which could derail the efforts.

Left unsaid here is that we cannot know how the legal challenge would be seen in the courts, or how an emergency declaration would figure into re-opening the government. The whole shutdown has been predicated on Mr Trump's claim that a wall is needed for national security. Take away that stumbling block, and it is anyone's guess what happens from there.

Trump is getting air time to talk about immigration and border security. Did the networks give Obama that time?

Among the day's controversies are the decisions by America's major networks — including heavyweights like CNN, NBC, MSNBC, CBS, and Fox News — to run Mr Trump's first-ever prime time address from the Oval Office.

Mr Trump, who has frequently called news outlets "fake news" and toyed with calls for outright violence against the press, has sparked major debates within the networks about whether the president should even be allowed that sort of a platform. For some, the decision was a no-brainer (he is the president of the United States, after all), yet for others the decision appears to have come with a bit more consternation.

But, while Mr Trump is getting his air time — in spite of his repeated misleading our outright false claims about the situation — the predecessor he has so regularly denounced notably did not receive that same air time when making a major immigration announcement in 2014.

Before things get out of hand here: Yes, President Barack Obama was given time by the networks. But, he was notably denied that time when he announced that he was signing an executive order to expand the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Programme. 

Believe it or not, America is already in a state of emergency — 31 of them, actually

President Donald Trump is toying with the idea of declaring a state of emergency in order to divert funds and resources to build his wall, and while that may be somewhat unprecedented for a massive infrastructure like the president plans, the declaration itself is nothing new.

There are a total of 31 active emergency declarations in the US right now, with the oldest dating to the Carter administration, according to the Federal Register.

In some areas hit hard by hurricanes this past year, the shutdown is adding insult to injury

The sun sets on a wreckage-littered street after Hurricane Michael passed over Panama City, Florida on 10 October 2018 

The partial government shutdown is impacting federal prison workers, who have been asked to continue coming to work even though their pay checks are not being cut amid the funding lapse in Washington.

That is especially bad news for federal workers in areas like Marianna, Florida, that were ravaged by hurricanes this year, and where prison facilities were destroyed. Amid that destruction, prisoners were transferred hours away, forcing workers to make hours-long commutes to their jobs, according to a report by The New York Times analyzing the impact of the shutdown on prison workers there.

Things haven only gotten worse now that those workers may not get a paycheck.

"You add a hurricane, and it’s just too much,” Mike Vinzant, 32, a guard and president of the local prison officers’ union in Marianna, told the newspaper.