…As Democrats Take Control Of The House Tomorrow
They’ve vowed to vote to reopen most of the government as one of the first things they do. Without a wall. Trump’s vowed he won’t sign anything without getting his wall. And he’s working to preempt the Democrats’ action by today inviting everybody over to the White House and convening what he’s calling a “briefing” on the border wall.
He also Tweeted:
The Democrats’ plan to reopen and fund most parts of the government through the end of the year will likely be very similar to a package that already passed the Republican controlled Senate, when Republicans thought Trump would sign it. So now those same Senate Republicans will be in a position of voting against, or not voting at all on a funding bill that is substantially similar to what they already approved just before Christmas.
There are some differences: the Republican proposal was short-term. Democrats would extend most government funding for most of the year, except for Homeland Security, which would only be extended for 5 weeks and not include the wall.
In some ways that seems like a pretty reasonable solution: leaving anything and everything regarding immigration open to discussion.
But that would require Trump back off his demand that he get a wall right now.
And despite what Trump says, Democrats seem open to negotiating comprehensive immigration legislation as long as it doesn’t include “the wall”. In fact, as we’ve discussed, 4 years ago, there was a bipartisan bill on the table that included most of the changes to immigration Trump is demanding (but not a wall). It passed by a huge margin in the Senate, but Tea Partiers killed it in the House.
But none of that may matter right now as long as the wall is the deal breaker for Trump. (And as we’ve also discussed, nothing’s more important to him, because it’s his lasting, visible legacy).
We do remain concerned Democrats may eventually give in on wall funding just because while it may be a waste of money, it doesn’t directly hurt anybody (as so many of the other things Trump wants to do), so it’s an easy thing to trade for something they really want. Even so, they shouldn’t. Unless they can get something really amazing.
They especially shouldn’t make a trade for something Trump also wants: like DACA, like infrastructure. He had that opportunity before. He had a wall for DACA deal on the table. (Even though the White House denied the deal existed at the time, Trump just confirmed it in a Tweet last week). He turned that deal down after pressure from his lackeys at the White House and on TV to do so. So now it should be too late. It’s time for Democrats to demand and get something more. Or not give in at all. And not give up something in order to rectify a crisis that’s completely of Trump’s making.
Fact is, Republicans haven’t been gung-ho about the wall either until recently. The only time they’ve overwhelmingly voted for it is in the last days of the Republican controlled House, when they knew it had no chance of passing,
We also hope this doesn’t become an issue of semantics, which is another maneuver Trump’s been trying; giving him something that might not be exactly a wall, but he can call a wall.
Look, we’re fine with Trump getting a “win” here and there. Just not on this. Because he’s the one who’s kicked up all this dust childishly and unnecessarily, and he doesn’t deserve any kind of victory for that.