President Trump speaks at the White House. Reuters.
President Donald Trump says he is close to closing a deal with the Democrats in congress on DACA and immigration. Reuters. The deal will provide protections to the so-called "dreamers" who are illegal immigrants brought here as children in exchange for increased border security funding. However, such a deal would not include funding for the border wall, a key election promise for Trump. Trump ended the DACA program due to legal challenges which would have likely ended the program and gave congress a six month window to fix it. Trump has shown willingness to work with Democrats after congressional Republicans have failed to implement his agenda.
Does anybody really want to throw out good, educated and accomplished young people who have jobs, some serving in the military? Really!.....— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 14, 2017
...They have been in our country for many years through no fault of their own - brought in by parents at young age. Plus BIG border security— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 14, 2017
My Comment:
It's amazing to me how crooked the media has been on the DACA issue. After Trump removed the order, which was going to fall in court no matter what, the media said he was a horrible racist and basically a monster that was probably going to round up all the poor "dreamers" and personally deport them, probably while saying something nazi-like.
What has happened instead? Donald Trump has become the "dreamers" biggest advocates, and he is doing so in spite of the fact that it probably hurts him a bit with his base, many of which, including me, don't like DACA and want the "dreamers" deported. He's working so hard to get some kind of deal in place that he's even working with the Democrats.
Regardless if you agree or disagree with keeping DACA, you have to admit that the press pretty much lied about what Trump was going to do with it. Indeed, if you have been paying attention, it was always clear that Trump had a soft spot for the "dreamers". This really shouldn't have surprised anyone and I think that the people that are acting surprised at this are either lying or were never paying attention in the first place. I mean, even though I don't like the "dreamers" I knew when I voted for Trump that deporting them was probably a non-starter and would have been for pretty much all of the GOP candidates.
I do think that Trump deserves some criticism though. I think DACA could have been a bigger bargaining chip that he could have cashed in for something bigger than just border security. Obviously funding for the wall would have been a great prize, but he could have also cashed it in on tax reform or any of the other things that he could potentially work with the Democrats on. I do think that DACA is one of those things we can compromise for, but I do wish we could have gotten more for it. I just don't think that Trump wanted to risk having to deport these people so he caved too quickly. On the other hand, Trump got a lot of bad press on the issue and any deal is probably better than the status quo.
So why is Trump so suddenly eager to work with Democrats? Well for one thing I think it shows he's not a complete partisan. He's willing to reach across when it benefits him and the country and I think that this is probably one of those times. Both Trump and the Democrats can get something they want from a deal, so it makes sense that they work together. This too is pretty far from the image the media likes to project onto Trump. Far from the radical far right crazy person that the media says he is, Trump is actually fairly centrist.
I also think that people saying that Trump should never work with Democrats are either concern trolling or are people that forgot how horrible it was when our last president pushed through legislation without bipartisan agreement. I hate purity spirals and if there is a rare case when we can get something we want from the Democrats that is beneficial for both of us, than we should do it!
It's also pretty clear that if Trump wants to get anything done in congress he is going to need help from the Democrats. Right now his own party is more reluctant to work with him than the official opposition party. Trump can get deals made with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi but can't do the same with Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell. That not bashing Trump, the fact is that the GOP has completely failed to back him on health care, immigration and other issues is their fault not his. Trump doesn't have much of a choice but to work with the Democrats.
I also think that this is incredibly damning for GOP leadership. The entire purpose of people like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell is to pull of deals like this but they haven't shown any leadership at all on this issue. Indeed, it seems as though GOP leadership cares more about hurting Donald Trump than they do about doing their jobs. Had they wanted to, they could have worked with Trump immediately and passed their own version of this without the help of the Democrats. The fact that they didn't is pretty much unforgivable.
I know that if I lived in a state where these guys were up for reelection, I would be supporting their primary opponents, and even though I don't want DACA to stay I'm way more mad at them for forcing Trump to work with Democrats than I am at Trump for giving up DACA cheaply. I mean Republicans control both the House and the Senate as well as the presidency and Supreme Court, but they still can't get anything done? Say what you want about the Democrats policies but at least they do things.
As for the deal itself, I think it has a pretty good chance of passing. With the Democrats largely on board, he should be able to convince at least a few members of the GOP in congress to go along with it. Supporting DACA has been fairly popular among GOP leadership, so I doubt they will resist it too much. My guess is that pretty soon the "dreamers" will be legalized in some fashion. It's not exactly what I wanted but if it has to happen I am glad that we got something out of it and did so in a way that exposed the GOP leadership as being useless.
What has happened instead? Donald Trump has become the "dreamers" biggest advocates, and he is doing so in spite of the fact that it probably hurts him a bit with his base, many of which, including me, don't like DACA and want the "dreamers" deported. He's working so hard to get some kind of deal in place that he's even working with the Democrats.
Regardless if you agree or disagree with keeping DACA, you have to admit that the press pretty much lied about what Trump was going to do with it. Indeed, if you have been paying attention, it was always clear that Trump had a soft spot for the "dreamers". This really shouldn't have surprised anyone and I think that the people that are acting surprised at this are either lying or were never paying attention in the first place. I mean, even though I don't like the "dreamers" I knew when I voted for Trump that deporting them was probably a non-starter and would have been for pretty much all of the GOP candidates.
I do think that Trump deserves some criticism though. I think DACA could have been a bigger bargaining chip that he could have cashed in for something bigger than just border security. Obviously funding for the wall would have been a great prize, but he could have also cashed it in on tax reform or any of the other things that he could potentially work with the Democrats on. I do think that DACA is one of those things we can compromise for, but I do wish we could have gotten more for it. I just don't think that Trump wanted to risk having to deport these people so he caved too quickly. On the other hand, Trump got a lot of bad press on the issue and any deal is probably better than the status quo.
So why is Trump so suddenly eager to work with Democrats? Well for one thing I think it shows he's not a complete partisan. He's willing to reach across when it benefits him and the country and I think that this is probably one of those times. Both Trump and the Democrats can get something they want from a deal, so it makes sense that they work together. This too is pretty far from the image the media likes to project onto Trump. Far from the radical far right crazy person that the media says he is, Trump is actually fairly centrist.
I also think that people saying that Trump should never work with Democrats are either concern trolling or are people that forgot how horrible it was when our last president pushed through legislation without bipartisan agreement. I hate purity spirals and if there is a rare case when we can get something we want from the Democrats that is beneficial for both of us, than we should do it!
It's also pretty clear that if Trump wants to get anything done in congress he is going to need help from the Democrats. Right now his own party is more reluctant to work with him than the official opposition party. Trump can get deals made with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi but can't do the same with Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell. That not bashing Trump, the fact is that the GOP has completely failed to back him on health care, immigration and other issues is their fault not his. Trump doesn't have much of a choice but to work with the Democrats.
I also think that this is incredibly damning for GOP leadership. The entire purpose of people like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell is to pull of deals like this but they haven't shown any leadership at all on this issue. Indeed, it seems as though GOP leadership cares more about hurting Donald Trump than they do about doing their jobs. Had they wanted to, they could have worked with Trump immediately and passed their own version of this without the help of the Democrats. The fact that they didn't is pretty much unforgivable.
I know that if I lived in a state where these guys were up for reelection, I would be supporting their primary opponents, and even though I don't want DACA to stay I'm way more mad at them for forcing Trump to work with Democrats than I am at Trump for giving up DACA cheaply. I mean Republicans control both the House and the Senate as well as the presidency and Supreme Court, but they still can't get anything done? Say what you want about the Democrats policies but at least they do things.
As for the deal itself, I think it has a pretty good chance of passing. With the Democrats largely on board, he should be able to convince at least a few members of the GOP in congress to go along with it. Supporting DACA has been fairly popular among GOP leadership, so I doubt they will resist it too much. My guess is that pretty soon the "dreamers" will be legalized in some fashion. It's not exactly what I wanted but if it has to happen I am glad that we got something out of it and did so in a way that exposed the GOP leadership as being useless.
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