1) One month ago, I did a tweet thread on Strategery. The TL;DR of that thread is, you don't defend, you attack. You attack your opponents ability to attack you, to render your position unassailable. Now, lets look at the Omnibus spending bill.
2) To call it unpopular would be to call AIDs mildly inconvenient. Universally, this thing is a travesty birthed from the darkest smoke-filled rooms of the DNC (the same rooms where they choose their preferred presidential candidates, point in fact).
3) So then, this drops out. Hmmm.
4) Quite the turnaround from this
5) But, words are mist. Rule 1 of dealing with @realDonaldTrump, NOTHING is certain until the signature is on the paper. A year of his presidency has taught that lesson repeatedly.
6) So, what is the strategery play? Well, after a quick discussion with @Peoples_Pundit (seriously, if you don't follow him already, do so, one of the best and most realistic out there), I THINK I've figured out the play.
7) Trump is facing a problem. He NEEDS the wall. He NEEDS a legislative win. The Tax Cuts were good, but has there been another one since then? No, and the GOP is heading into the midterm with an unfriendly media hyping their special election losses.
8) So what does he do? Does he go for one and forsake the other? Which objective does he go for? The Democrats and squishy GOP are trying to deny him or won't help him get either of those.
9) That's strategy. They're on the defense. Their strategy is to defend against Trump getting a legislative win OR the wall. So what do you do when your opponent is kind enough to go on the defensive? ATTACK.
10) Not just attack, but attack BOTH TARGETS. He only needs to get one. DACA, or the Wall. He's going to go for both.
11) Think about it. DACA was intended to ALWAYS be a wedge issue. It was ALWAYS intended to be a quasi-legal shoebox that Democrats kept stuffed under the bed until election time, so they could pull it around and wave Dreamers around like wedge issue puppets.
12) If Trump takes that away from the Democrats, he chips away at their hispanic voter base, he gets to take a win from them and take the credit for it since HE was the one who pushed for it while Democrats have remained silent since Pelosi's pointless tantrum.
13) And THAT'S NOT THE ONLY WIN. Remember Hodges v Obergfell, the gay marriage SCOTUS ruling? GOP got over it decently quickly, the details are being wrangled around in the courts but for the most part the Dems were robbed of a wedge issue. So what did they do?
14) Democrats found an even more EXTREME wedge issue which they could double down on. In the case of gay marriage, within a year they flipped to transgender bathrooms, driving themselves even further left.
15) Let's say that Trump forces through a DACA bill and claims credit for it. Can you even IMAGINE what kind of insane open borders wedge issue the Democrats will try to take up next and double down on?!?
16) Now, the wall, one of his biggest campaign promises, one of the most iconic campaign promises. He needs the wall to happen. He's on the offensive with that. All he has to do is to keep attacking on the wall.
17) Seriously. That might be all he has to do. The Democrats have taken as their winning condition 'Don't let Trump get his wall.' What did I say in the strategery thread? On the defense, you keep winning until you lose, because your opponent will just keep attacking.
18) He wants DACA, and he wants the WALL. He has stolen the Democrats' wedge issue and transformed it into a legislative objective for himself, and he's pairing it with the wall.
19) Yesterday, @LarrySchweikart said that the Omnibus bill was a trap, and that @realDonaldTrump would have to be clever to escape the trap. I think this is how he's going to do it. /end
