The only “fix” necessary to end Donald Trump's barbaric policy of separating families at the border is for him to reverse course on the sick policy he created. Yet Trump's GOP allies, suddenly feeling the strain of growing public outrage, are scrambling to put forth legislation that will give them cover from Trump's state-sponsored terror.
In the Senate, Politico writes Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas is working with a small cohort of his colleagues who have realized that Congress “may have to step in and do something if President Donald Trump won’t back down." In other words, even Trump's allies think he's headed off the rails.
The same goes in the House, where immigration hardliner Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia is arguing against taking up his own anti-immigrant bill because he thinks Paul Ryan's "compromise" bill has a better chance of passing, thereby restraining Trump to some extent. (In fact, the "compromise" bill won't end the administration's "zero tolerance" policy, but it would modify how officials enforce it in regard to housing families.)
"That is what has in my opinion the best chance of passing and getting 218 votes. We should focus on that," Goodlatte argued [on NPR], saying he supported setting aside his own bill to do so. "We don't need to vote on both of these at the same time," the Virginia Republican said.
And CNN reports Freedom Caucus chief, Rep. Mark Meadows, is putting a third GOP bill on the table that would more narrowly address the family separation issue, allowing children “to be detained indefinitely” with their parents.
The round of frenzied action signals desperation is settling into GOP lawmakers as they try to find a way of containing Trump without actually telling him to simply change his policy—god forbid they speak a shred of truth to the man. At the same time, Trump’s aides are busily showing him cheery pictures of detained kids so he can remain in his perpetually distorted news bubble.
What's left is a small and increasingly isolated group of endangered Republicans in battleground districts, some of whom are willingly admitting that Trump's diabolical policy could be ended immediately. GOP Rep. Will Hurd of Texas told NPR Monday morning that nothing he had seen in the "compromise" bill to that point would change Trump's "insane" policy. Kansas City Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions urging him to take "immediate action" to end the inhumane policy. And Colorado Rep. Mike Coffman reached out to Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein to discuss introducing a House version of her family unification bill, which all 49 Senate Democrats have already signed on to. Coffman, who suffered some of the health care debate's most withering constituent criticism, said he was "open to all reasonable options."
You know Republicans are desperate when they start talking bipartisanship. And here’s just how desperate they are.
Some might call that “panic.”