The Chaos Report

On The Face Of It, It’s Meant To Look Like Something They Proposed In The Past…But It’s Not…

Just a few months ago, Democrats were ready to give Trump $25-billion in exchange for a permanent DACA fix. Now all he wants is his $5.7-billion for his wall, although the fix would only be temporary. Good deal, right?

We didn’t like that deal to begin with: Trump created the whole DACA mess on his own, by moving to kill the program that allows several hundred thousand children of undocumented immigrants to stay in the U.S. indefinitely. This weekend he also threw in temporary extensions for refugees allowed to stay in this country under what’s called Temporary Protected Status. But he’s also responsible for initiating actions to kill that.

So why should Democrats compromise to avert a crisis that is unnecessary and entirely of Trump’s own making? Why not instead offer Democrats something that doesn’t have Trump’s fingerprints all over it: like an assault weapons ban, or HR-1, the newly Democrat-led House’s massive campaign reform and voting rights bill?

And anyway, Trump’s “new” proposal is just a 3-year extension of the old DACA, in that it does not provide a path to citizenship. TPS extension is also 3-years. Which means the things Trump is putting on the table don’t really solve anything. (The President’s proposal is also not that different than something Republican Senator Lindsey Graham proposed just a little while ago, which Trump initially rejected, so Graham probably remains key to all of this.)

We also felt when Trump killed the original “DACA for wall” deal because his anti-immigration enthusiasts in the White House didn’t think it was enough, it would turn out to be one of his biggest personal regrets. So let him live with that. He shouldn’t get a do-over.

Trump also mentioned a commitment from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring his plan to the floor of the Senate for a vote next week. If it passes, that could put some pressure on Democrats. Question is: how much? So far, doesn’t seem like much: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling Trump’s pitch a “non-starter”.

And Trump also made sure to take fear-mongering to a whole new level: for the first time (at least that we’ve heard) Trump threw a new unsubstantiated statistic into the mix: that building his wall could bring the crime rate in this country down by 50%. Where’s he getting that projection? Not clear. He says “some say” that…

Just a few months ago, Democrats were ready to give Trump $25-billion in exchange for a permanent DACA fix. Now all he wants is his $5.7-billion for his wall, although the fix would only be temporary. Good deal, right?

We didn’t like that deal to begin with: Trump created the whole DACA mess on his own, by moving to kill the program that allows several hundred thousand children of undocumented immigrants to stay in the U.S. indefinitely. This weekend he also threw in temporary extensions for refugees allowed to stay in this country under what’s called Temporary Protected Status. But he’s also responsible for initiating actions to kill that.

So why should Democrats compromise to avert a crisis that is unnecessary and entirely of Trump’s own making? Why not instead offer Democrats something that doesn’t have Trump’s fingerprints all over it: like an assault weapons ban, or HR-1, the newly Democrat-led House’s massive campaign reform and voting rights bill? No amnesty there…

And anyway, Trump’s “new” proposal is just a 3-year extension of the old DACA, in that it does not provide a path to citizenship. TPS extension is also 3-years. Which means the things Trump is putting on the table don’t really solve anything. (The President’s proposal is also not that different than something Republican Senator Lindsey Graham proposed just a little while ago, which Trump initially rejected, so Graham probably remains key to all of this.)

We also felt when Trump killed the original “DACA for wall” deal because his anti-immigration enthusiasts in the White House thought he was giving away too much, it would turn out to be one of his biggest personal regrets. So let him live with that. He shouldn’t get a do-over.

Trump also mentioned a commitment from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring his plan to the floor of the Senate for a vote next week. There is some risk here: If it passes, which would meet picking up some Denocratic votes, that could put considerable pressure on Democrats (which might be Trump’s whole point). Question is: how much? So far, doesn’t seem like much: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling Trump’s pitch a “non-starter”.

And Trump also made sure to take fear-mongering to a whole new level: for the first time (at least that we’ve heard) Trump threw a new unsubstantiated statistic into the mix: that building his wall could bring the crime rate in this country down by 50%. Where’s he getting that projection? Not clear. He’s only saying “some say” that…

Here’s him explaining how criminal aliens go “all over our country” even “where you least expect them” (maybe he should get some credit for not including terrorists in the mix this time around). Click on the photo to play:

Here’s him talking about that and how criminal aliens go “all over our country” even “where you least expect them” (maybe he should get some credit for not including terrorists in the mix this time around). Click on the photo to play:

Meanwhile, Democrats are doing their part to sweeten the pot, but not in the way Trump wants. They include additional infrastructure at official ports of entry, since that’s how drugs mainly come in, and more immigration judges. Those things are included in Trump’s plan too, with slightly higher dollar amounts than Democrats are proposing. As we wrote last week, the President has been highly successful at getting Democrats to commit much more money to border security than they otherwise would’ve, because he’s forcing them to prove they’re not “for open borders” as Trump has often suggested, just not for a wall. Trump could walk away with that extra money that wasn’t there before, and take it as a win, which it would be. But he won’t.