Short thread:
1) Here @kasie reports that John Kelly killed the last-minute compromise that Trump and Schumer were close to negotiating, even though it gave Trump much of what he wanted:
1) Here @kasie reports that John Kelly killed the last-minute compromise that Trump and Schumer were close to negotiating, even though it gave Trump much of what he wanted:
2) As I've reported, after Trump rejected the Durbin-Graham deal, Dems repeatedly asked Rs and WH officials for a counter-offer.
What more, Ds asked, does Trump need to get to a deal? They got NO meaningful answer:
wapo.st/2mWcoCw
What more, Ds asked, does Trump need to get to a deal? They got NO meaningful answer:
wapo.st/2mWcoCw
3) Now we learn that Kelly intervened to stop a deal, on the grounds that it doesn't make enough anti-immigration concessions.
But at no point has the WH said what it *would* accept in order to get to Yes, let alone what deal might be acceptable that could get 60 in Senate.
But at no point has the WH said what it *would* accept in order to get to Yes, let alone what deal might be acceptable that could get 60 in Senate.
4) Rs and WH officials never presented any counter offer. The only time there *actually was* a deal that Trump might accept came when a *Democrat* (Schumer) tried to make a deal with him.
And Kelly stepped in to kill it, even as the WH still has not offered any alternative.
And Kelly stepped in to kill it, even as the WH still has not offered any alternative.
5) What's more, Kelly may have killed the deal because GOP leaders urged him to.
WaPo reports that Mitch McConnell told Kelly to hold the line and *not allow* Trump to compromise:
washingtonpost.com/politics/negot…
WaPo reports that Mitch McConnell told Kelly to hold the line and *not allow* Trump to compromise:
washingtonpost.com/politics/negot…
6) And as @kyledcheney reports, Paul Ryan privately told McConnell that if a last-minuted deal was struck in which Congress would vote on an immigration bill, the House might not even act on it:
7) So Trump's cynical anti-immigration hardliners, along w/GOP leaders and the right wing of the Republican Party, are vetoing any compromise.
It is inescapably clear that they don't actually want a solution that protects the Dreamers. That's why there's a shutdown. FIN.
It is inescapably clear that they don't actually want a solution that protects the Dreamers. That's why there's a shutdown. FIN.
CODA: All this flows back to Trump: He is easily manipulated. He has equivocated on what he really wants for Dreamers. First he vowed to sign "bill of love." Now Trump/WH are blasting Ds for shutting down govt over "illegal immigrants."
This shutdown is owned by Trump & the GOP.
This shutdown is owned by Trump & the GOP.
