ANALYSIS – All or nothing!? Rightfully calling the waves of illegal migrants flooding across our southern border an “INVASION” (in all caps), former President Donald Trump, pressed Senate Republicans to reject any bill falling short of “everything needed” to stop the flow.
And Trump's call is enticing to many conservatives.
In his post on his Truth Social page, Trump said:
I do not think we should do a Border Deal, at all, unless we get EVERYTHING needed to shut down the INVASION of Millions & Millions of people, many from parts unknown, into our once great, but soon to be great again, Country!
Trump's hardline stance may be setting a battle with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his GOP leadership team over a compromise bill on border security that also includes funding for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific.
Trump's stand seems great on the surface, conservatives and America have been getting scr*wed on immigration for far too long, but there is much more to this.
Based on the current political balance in Congress, where Republicans have a razor thin margin in the House and are one vote short in the Senate, McConnell has been telling Senate Republicans that reaching a compromise is their best chance ever to actually secure the border.
This is true, he argues, even if Republicans won the White House and both houses of Congress.
As Newsmax reported, McConnell noted:
“One of the things I keep reminding my members is if we had a 100-percent Republican government — president, House, Senate — we would probably not get a single Democratic vote for border security reform,” he said. “This is a unique opportunity to accomplish something in a divided government.”
The Hill added that Senate Republican Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) reinforced McConnell's argument, responding to Trump's aggressive push by saying: “It's not helpful.”
According to Newsmax, Thune also said that “Republicans will not be able to pass strong border reforms next year, even should Trump win back the White House.”
The outlet continued:
“The Democrats will not give us anything close to this if we have to get 60 votes in the United States [Senate] in a Republican majority,” he said. “We have a unique opportunity here.”
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who is also on the McConnell leadership team, said Trump's “everything needed” demand is not possible.
Cornyn added that any border security deal needs to be a compromise that gets Democrat votes, noting that the Senate package could “give President Trump in his next term additional tools with which to secure the border.”
“I would think that would be something he would like,” he said.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) responded simply to Trump's demand: “I respectfully disagree with the president. He could not possibly see what we are negotiating.”
“To lose this opportunity to get it passed into law I think is malpractice,” he added.
At the same time, the new House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has been under pressure from both Senate Republicans and the Biden White House to accept a Senate deal. Johnson and House Republicans could kill any border security bill that passes the Senate.
However, Trump has also been pressing Johnson to reject any compromise bill. Johnson told Fox News on Wednesday that he “frequently” talks to Trump about the border crisis.
“President Trump is not wrong,” the Speaker said. “He and I have been talking about this pretty frequently. I talked to him the night before last about the same subject.”
Meanwhile, Republican senators think that Trump wants to deny Joe Biden a victory on Trump's signature issue of border security just before the 2024 election.
But as The Hill reports, Senate Republicans “think it would be a major policy and political mistake to miss an opportunity to reform the nation's asylum laws and give the president greater expulsion authority to deter the flow of migrants from Central America.”
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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