[Hoot Gibson]

I get it now. RINOs are the reason that President Trump made empty threats to veto spending bills that did not contain money earmarked for his "beautiful wall." I am still struggling to understand why RINOs are the reason Trump made empty threats when Republicans held majorities in the House an Senate for two years, but a partial shutdown of the government was a good idea after Republicans lost control of the House and Trump had almost zero chance of getting a bill to his desk that included money for a border wall.

Are there really people who voted for Trump who see logical consistency in those decisions?

The Gang of Eight, which included RINOs Lindsey Graham(nesty) and (Little) Marco Rubio, were awaiting Donald Trump when he was elected. We were assured that only Donald Trump was tough enough to get the wall built. In fact, both "Little Marco" and Donald Trump agreed that Ted Cruz's Senate position on illegal immigration was identical to Little Marco's and the other three RINOs of the Gang of Eight who attempted to pass off amnesty for illegal aliens for "comprehensive immigration reform." Does any of this ring a bell?

I never expected Trump to make good on his promise to build a southern wall and make Mexico pay for it. That pledge was pure showmanship. I did expect him to make a good faith effort to build a border wall and to make it his top priority.

RINOs and Democrats are a perfectly valid explanation of why Trump did not secure border wall funding during his first two years in office. Their existence, which predated Trump's border wall promise, does not explain why he made empty threats for two years before (partially) shutting down the government over the absence of border funding before later caving on the issue.

The truth is that nothing stopped Trump from forcing RINOs to vote for or against a border wall ahead of the 2018 elections. That was the time when he had the maximum leverage with Senate Republicans and he chose not to use it.

If, in three weeks, Trump decides to build the wall over the objections of Congress using Defense funding, I will support him - even though the federal courts are very likely to block the action. But let's be honest here - President Trump's performance on securing our southern border has been a disappointment thus far and neither Democrats nor RINOs are responsible for his poor timing in dealing with this very important issue.