This oaf gave another sneering, racist speech.
This oaf gave another sneering, racist speech. Pool / GETTY IMAGES

In a speech from the White House on Saturday afternoon, the President delivered a new ransom to Democrats: take a deal to extend protections for Dreamers and Temporary Protected Status recipients for three years and give him $5.7 billion for a "strategic deployment of physical barriers—or a wall," he said, or else he'll continue to withhold paychecks from federal employees.

He also wants Congress to pony up $800 million in "urgent humanitarian assistance"—which I'm guessing means disaster relief funds, $805 million for "drug detection technology" at the ports of entry, permission to deploy 2,750 new border agents, only 75 new "immigration judge teams," and a new system to allow "Central American minors to apply for asylum in their own countries," which is such a dumb and cruel idea I can't even believe he said it out loud. Asylum-seekers are fleeing gang violence and domestic violence. They're in constant and immediate danger. Is he seriously suggesting that we should have kids in Guatemala filling out U.S. Govt. paperwork and waiting around for some judge to determine whether or not the claim for asylum is reasonable? He is.

Trump said Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised to bring the bill to the floor next week, but, like a cartoon villain, the President also threatened he'd build his wall "one way or another."

Once he opens the government "with a downpayment on border security," Trump also said he'll hold regular meetings with Democrats in an attempt to solve "that elusive immigration problem."

His speech said nothing about the 800,000 federal employees who haven't been given a paycheck since late December.

Well, I know how I feel about this. Let's see how it played with his crowd:


Not good!

An hour before the lying ramble, Axios broke some of the details of the deal, which they said was hashed out by Pence, Kushner, and McConnell after it became clear to McConnell that Pelosi wasn't going to budge. Before Trump even started speaking, top Senate Democrats were putting out dismissive statements. Axios quoted Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois:

First, President Trump and Senate Majority Leader McConnell must open the government today. Second, I cannot support the proposed offer as reported and do not believe it can pass the Senate. Third, I am ready to sit down at any time after the government is opened and work to resolve all outstanding issues.

In a statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Trump's offer a "non-starter."


House and Senate Democrats better hold that line. If they cave, Trump wins. And any time he wants to buttress another wall of institutional racism, he'll just hold government workers hostage again. That's not how this whole thing is supposed to work. McConnell and the Republicans need to gather up a veto-proof majority to open the government, and then all those idiots need to pass comprehensive immigration reform. It's either that or nothing.

Conservative Democrats who are even THINKING about accepting these new terms should remember that Trump is losing this battle on every level. Newly elected Democrats who won in Trump districts have no reason to cave, either. In the last few weeks of the 2018 elections, Trump and Republicans pushed out all kinds of racist attacks (like everyone thought they would), and voters still swept Dems into office. This ransom note is just as unacceptable as the last ransom note. Don't budge.