To the Editor:

In last week’s guest opinion column, Isaac Herrin invited us to think rationally about the government shutdown and the President’s wall. OK, challenge accepted. And what better things to ponder than the President’s own words. Let’s take a look at those, then come to rational conclusions, shall we?

Regarding Trump’s border wall, Mr. Herrin states “what he is fighting for is exactly what he campaigned on,” yet he doesn’t state exactly what Trump’s campaign promise was. We’ll let candidate Trump speak for himself. From a campaign memo, April 2016, “It’s an easy decision for Mexico: make a one-time payment of $5 to $10 billion.” From a campaign rally, April 2016, Trump: “Who’s going to pay for the wall?” crowd: “Mexico!” Trump: “A hundred percent!”  

Rational conclusion: the President should not be demanding that we and future generations pay billions of dollars for his wall when he repeatedly said during his campaign that Mexico will pay for it.

Mr. Herrin states “Democrats are unwilling to sit down with the President to discuss border security” yet he offers no proof of that. On January 10, Congressional Democrats did indeed sit down with the President for the sole purpose of discussing the shutdown and border security, but the President chose to walk out abruptly. Although there are differing accounts of exactly how the President left the meeting, no one, not even the President, disputes that he did leave on his own accord.  

Trump’s Twitter words about his departure: “I said bye-bye” (the equivalent of a six-year-old taking his ball and going home just because he isn’t winning the game). Rational conclusion: it is not Democrats who are unwilling to sit down and talk about border security.

In his last sentence, Mr. Herrin blames Democrats for the shutdown yet he doesn’t offer even as much as a suggestion as to how he came to that conclusion. In a televised meeting with Congressional Democrats on December 11, the President said “I am proud to shut down the government ... I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not going to blame you for it.” Rational conclusion: the President alone owns the shutdown. 

Although the word “rational” is a part of the word “rationalizing,” the two words can have nearly opposite meanings. Rationalizing can mean using plausible but untrue reasons in an attempt to justify a false conclusion. In that sense of the word, Mr. Herrin did a bang up job of rationalizing, but if he has any real interest in the truly rational, he will start listening to the words that come from the person he seems so desperate to defend.

Bruce Buchanan

Sylva