The Daily Fuckup: February 7, 2019

Edition · February 7, 2019

The Daily Fuckup: February 7, 2019

A day of border-wall shortcutting and shutdown hangover, with Trump-world still trying to bulldoze its way through the consequences.

On February 7, 2019, the Trump administration kept doing what it had been doing for weeks: treating the southern border like a branding exercise and federal law like a speed bump. The biggest move was another environmental waiver to accelerate border-barrier work in San Diego, a decision that underscored how far the White House was willing to go to force through wall construction even as the shutdown politics that produced the demand were still fresh. The day also sat in the shadow of the broader fallout from the shutdown and the administration’s increasingly shaky claims about what exactly was being built, where, and under what authority.

Closing take

This was not one giant implosion so much as a visible continuation of one. Trump-world spent the day using emergency-style tools, legal shortcuts, and rhetorical spin to keep a politically toxic wall fight alive, which only sharpened the case that the whole project was as much about ego and messaging as governance.

Ranked by how bad the fuckup was

5 stars means maximum fallout. 1 star means a smaller self-own.

Story

Trump’s border-wall shortcut runs straight through environmental law

Wall by waiver Confidence 4/5

★★★☆☆Fuckup rating 3/5 Major mess

The administration waived environmental review requirements to speed replacement of a 14-mile stretch of border barrier in San Diego, another reminder that the wall fight was now less about governing than about bulldozing obstacles. The move let the Department of Homeland Security sidestep a thicket of environmental and historic-preservation rules to keep the project moving after the shutdown drama that had dominated the previous weeks.

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