Campaign Action
Immigration has tied Republican congressional leadership in knots for years, since the base has devolved into a white nationalist party and effective, humane policy became politically untenable. It was complicated enough before the white nationalists seized the White House and Donald Trump began his ethnic cleansing. Now that he's ripping babies away from their parents and putting them in cages, their job has become even more complicated. Because they have no moral compass. So they're looking to Trump, of all people, for guidance on what to do about it, and not getting it.
But Trump touched on many topics during the meeting, including his historic meeting with the North Korean Kim Jong Un. He praised a few GOP lawmakers by name for defending him on TV, according to one Republican in the room. And he took a jab at Rep. Mark Sanford, congratulating the South Carolina Republican on his recent campaign, according to others granted anonymity to discuss the private meeting. Sanford, a frequent Trump critic, lost after his GOP primary opponent highlighted his criticism of the president.
When he actually got around to talking immigration, he told them that first daughter Ivanka told him that the images of children look bad. Trump's interpretation? "Politically, this is bad," according to a lawmaker in the room. So yeah, Trump said, do something and he'll sign it. Whichever bill they manage to pass, he says, he'll sign.
Meanwhile, some congressional Republicans are actually kind of horrified (or say they are) that children are being kidnapped by their government. Even Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) says so. There's a raft of efforts by Republicans to try to come up with some kind of way to both appease the white supremacists with extremist legislation (and both legislative options before them are extreme and will not gain any Democratic support) and to stop the ripping apart of families. They are looking, insanely, to Trump for some way to fix it.
Can you give $5 to help keep immigrant families together—or bring them back together after separation?
Trump's not going to give them that, though he has now said that if they fail at that, he'll consider signing a narrow bill that ends family separation. That makes it even more unlikely that leadership will be able to get the votes together for the so-called compromise bill. Rank-and-file Republicans need marching orders from him, they need him to "state point blank that he wants the compromise bill on his desk."
There's an alternative for them, of course. They can stop family separation with one simple vote, a bill that will pass. Both House and Senate Democrats have given them one. They could pass it today.