Donald Trump recently stated that he would "totally be willing" to shut down the government if he does not get the required funding for the wall. There was a recent bill that would allocate 5 billion dollars in government funds to build the wall to fight immigration. He also stated that the 5 billion is only for a physical barrier and more security would be needed. However, Trump has suggested that he is open to suggestions on what to do if the funding bill does not go through. There is a large gap to fill though as the Democrats are willing to put up 1.6 billion dollars but as you may know, President Trump can be rather stubborn. He has stood by his demand for 5 billion consistently. The president even stated that he "was in no mood" to reach a compromise with the Democrats on the deal. While he is being extremely stubborn, I almost have to respect the tenacity to do what he said he would during his campaign. This is something that is far too uncommon with today's politicians. Despite this, he has continued to show interest in keeping the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to protect young undocumented immigrants brought over as children. Both the Democrats and Republicans have had many years in recent memory where one party controlled the Presidency and both houses of Congress, yet they were unable to pass a comprehensive immigration policy. As far as all this current crisis goes, negotiations are underway and hopefully, they will be able to find a solution without a government shutdown.

I largely agree with the article posted by Nicanor Ruiz Jaimes titled “Fake News?”. However when Trump is saying that the fake news is causing violence, he means the way the media twists his already arrogant words. For example if Trump says that an issue was caused by gang violence the media might change it to say he blamed it on black gang violence. While this is not much different from what he said it implies a more racist connotation and makes him look more racist. This causes violence because it adds more tension to an already tense racial situation in America. Now I am in no way saying everything he is saying is true but I am saying that a lot of the commotion is amplified by the media. They are the cause of a lot of the racial violence in America.

Freedom of speech was one of the basic ideas that the United States was founded upon. Prior to the foundation of the United States, people could be imprisoned or even executed for words they said or wrote. What would happen if we didn't have free speech? One main issue if free speech was lost is: the incumbent house would have too much power over the country. Imagine if Trump had the ability to enforce punishment on those who spoke out against him. He could choose what the media reports and doesn't. If the government had the power to choose what was in the media they would ultimately have the power to decide the next election. This would defeat the entire purpose of a democracy.

This does not mean that our words do not have consequences. Public figures often deal with a great amount of backlash when commenting on controversial topics. They can often lose their job over comments that they made. However while freedom of speech protects people from legal persecution for their comments, it cannot protect them from the natural consequences for their actions.

The ability to openly criticize the government without fear of persecution is one of the things that makes this country great. Free speech gives people much more power over the government than just voting. Anyone can start a political movement for a cause that they believe in. Thanks to free speech, at the end of the day, the power remains in the hands of the people, just how our founding fathers intended it.