Senate Democrats not only sold out 800,000 Dreamers on Monday, they gave Donald Trump the chance to take a victory lap after he spent the weekend watching television and tweeting. According to Trump’s very dignified official White House statement:
I am pleased that Democrats in Congress have come to their senses and are now willing to fund our great military, border patrol, first responders, and insurance for vulnerable children. As I have always said, once the Government is funded, my Administration will work toward solving the problem of very unfair illegal immigration. We will make a long-term deal on immigration if, and only if, it is good for our country.
Republicans control the White House, the House, and the Senate, but Trump is again pinning the shutdown on Democrats. And does “once the Government is funded, my Administration will work toward solving the problem of very unfair illegal immigration” sound to anyone halfway sentient like he means doing right by the Dreamers? You can read that same scary message—that the Republican plan for law-abiding people brought to this country as children is deportation—in the list of attendees at a White House immigration meeting just after Democrats caved: Sens. John Cornyn, Tom Cotton, David Perdue, James Lankford, Chuck Grassley, and Thom Tillis. Talk about a list that contains the worst of the worst.
By the way, where Trump’s official White House statement says “I am pleased that Democrats in Congress have come to their senses,” a campaign email was a little more blunt, with the subject “Democrats CAVED.”