President Donald Trump has clashed with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi in an Oval Office meeting over funding for the US-Mexico border wall. In a heated debate in front of the cameras, Trump threatened that he will shut down the government if he doesn't get the $5 billion in funding from the Democrats.

Sputnik has discussed this with Elbert Lee Guillory, a former member of the Louisiana State Senate.

Sputnik: Following the unsuccessful meeting between the US president and the Democrats how likely are they to reach some deal before the government shutdown deadline, do you believe it's feasible?

Migrants reportedly attempting to storm U.S.-Mexico border © Photo : Blak Stone Hundreds of People From Migrant Caravan Breach US-Mexican Border - Reports I believe that it's feasible. I don't think it was unsuccessful if you study the president's negotiating style this is fairly typical of President Trump and it has delivered great success for him. I think that they will work out some deal, but even this shutdown will not be very harmful to the government. Most of the government is already funded and this is a small blip on the radar.

The president has always campaigned and won on the basis of building a border wall, of closing the southern border. The recent caravan issue that dominated the news for a long time solidified the American support for a wall. Some polls say as many as 70% of Americans strongly support the southern wall and greater southern security. Some people believe that it will hurt the president and the Republicans, actually the polls say and the news stories say that this will help the president.

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Sputnik: What's your take in terms of this massive void between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party?

Elbert Lee Guillory: I believe that the void is so wide and so deep and it's a sad and unfortunate situation, but America right now is quite divided. Democrats versus Republicans, Republicans versus Democrats. I don't see much cooperation. I do believe that some of the Democrats, some of the radical leftists, who will take over in January, want to impeach, and I believe that making a move towards impeachment will be disastrous for America.

Sputnik: No matter what we seem to throw at the president nothing seems to stick. I think we can probably give him the new name of the Teflon man, what's your take on it?

© AFP 2020 / ANGELOS TZORTZINIS Migrant Caravan Suffering Mass Outbreaks of Tuberculosis, Skin Infections The desperation of the Democrats to find something that will stick has hurt their own cause, by coming up with things that are really unrelated. In the Mueller investigation, for example, there are people who have been caught playing funny with their taxes, lying to the FBI, but no collusion, no real financial problems, and the weakness of their case.

It's like a prosecutor who continues to bring a very weak murder case when there's no body, no gun, and no evidence. I believe that they've hurt themselves by coming up with flimsy charges against the president instead of patiently putting together a genuine case, but they don't have one.

In Louisiana, and Louisiana is a very pro-Trump state, people are really tired of the Mueller investigation. They believe that after 18 months if you have not been able to produce some case against the president then something is wrong. I mean he has spent more than $40 million.

He has an army of lawyers, but still, he has not been able to produce anything against the president. He's found some of the president's friends and associates guilty of tax evasion or some other minor things. Lying to the FBI, lying to the police should never have been a crime in the first place, but that's the case that he has so far and people are tired of it.

Views and opinions expressed in the article are those of Elbert Lee Guillory and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.

The views and opinions expressed in the article do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.