Trump’s ‘Down Payment’ Trick
The president’s use of the term draws on a long tradition—a way for commanders in chief to connect with people via kitchen-table economics.
As the government shutdown meanders on with no clear end in sight, President Donald Trump’s proposals for ending the stalemate have been maddeningly imprecise. He says he wants Congress to earmark $5.7 billion for a wall on the border with Mexico, but the “wall” might just be barriers made of , and those barriers might just be in “.” (I that the nebulous nature of the border-security plan is evident in the way Trump and his administration often use as a mass noun, as in Homeland Security
