If Trump thinks Ryan and McConnell are going to take the lead on this and then get hung out to dry when the base whines that the deal isn’t good enough, he’s kidding himself.
Let him put his reputation on the line for this one instead of cheerleading from the sidelines for action in the vaguest, most meaningless terms, as he did during the health-care slog.
Put a bill together, send it to McConnell, and he’ll try to get it done. If Democrats won’t bite then it’s Trump’s failure, not the Senate GOP’s. McConnell’s done being a whipping boy.
What Trump should have done, knowing that Schumer and Pelosi are implacably opposed to funding the wall, is named his terms from the beginning: “Sure, we’ll do DREAM — in exchange for the RAISE Act, straight up.”
Americans like DREAM but they also like components of RAISE, like reducing chain migration and implementing E-Verify.
Trump could have made that the starting point for negotiations, which would have put some pressure on Schumer and Pelosi to make meaningful concessions. Even if he had “only” gotten E-Verify or a new policy prioritizing skills-based qualifications for immigrants over family connections, that would have been a meaningful achievement arguably worth trading a limited amnesty for.
Instead he showed his cards — “I want DREAM too!” — and then immediately backed off his top demand, which is funding for the wall.