Trump's Unsettling Morning Tweets

[Content Note: Nativism.]

Donald Trump has been tweet-ranting all morning about a government shutdown over his border wall, and he seems even more manic than usual:

Senator Mitch McConnell should fight for the Wall and Border Security as hard as he fought for anything. He will need Democrat votes, but as shown in the House, good things happen. If enough Dems don't vote, it will be a Democrat Shutdown! House Republicans were great yesterday!

The Democrats are trying to belittle the concept of a Wall, calling it old fashioned. The fact is there is nothing else's that will work, and that has been true for thousands of years. It's like the wheel, there is nothing better. I know tech better than anyone, & technology.....

.....on a Border is only effective in conjunction with a Wall. Properly designed and built Walls work, and the Democrats are lying when they say they don't. In Israel the Wall is 99.9% successful. Will not be any different on our Southern Border! Hundreds of $Billions saved!

No matter what happens today in the Senate, Republican House Members should be very proud of themselves. They flew back to Washington from all parts of the World in order to vote for Border Security and the Wall. Not one Democrat voted yes, and we won big. I am very proud of you!

The Democrats, whose votes we need in the Senate, will probably vote against Border Security and the Wall even though they know it is DESPERATELY NEEDED. If the Dems vote no, there will be a shutdown that will last for a very long time. People don't want Open Borders and Crime!

House Republican Vote, 217-185.

Shutdown today if Democrats do not vote for Border Security!

Even President Ronald Reagan tried for 8 years to build a Border Wall, or Fence, and was unable to do so. Others also have tried. We will get it done, one way or the other!

Mitch, use the Nuclear Option and get it done! Our Country is counting on you!

Thank you @SteveDaines for being willing to go with the so-called nuclear option in order to win on DESPERATELY NEEDED Border Security! Have my total support.

The fact that his last two tweets both contain the phrase "nuclear option" is really troubling to me. He's ostensibly just tweeting about the Senate using the "nuclear option" (i.e. the Senate parliamentary procedure that ends a filibuster with a simple 51-vote majority, instead of the otherwise required 60 votes) to pass legislation to fund his border wall, but it feels more ominous to me than that.

At best, this is the President of the United States publicly ranting about shutting down the entire government if Congress won't give him money to build a monument to his white supremacist nativism. It's a threat. That's ominous enough, without punctuating it by urging McConnell to use the "nuclear option."

On many occasions, I have noted that a cornered Trump is a dangerous Trump, and that I am just hoping every day we get through this safely. Never have I felt that more pointedly than over the last 24 hours.