Trump’s reelection campaign just got a lot tougher
By Paul Waldman
February 15 at 2:16 PM
After an utterly pointless government shutdown that lasted more than a month, President Trump has finally relented and will sign the budget agreement reached by Democrats and Republicans. As this controversy has worn on, it has been truly bizarre to watch him tie himself in knots over how to talk about his border wall: It’s a wall, it’s a fence, it’s steel slats, it has to be built, it’s already being built, it’s almost finished, it’s fantastic, we’re all gonna die.
Trump’s news conference on Friday at which he announced that he’s declaring a national emergency was a case in point: It was rambling, incoherent, angry and even contradicted what members of his own administration say about the border.
None of this seems to reflect anything resembling a strategy, at least not one that lasts for more than a day at a time. Trump’s own confusion about how to talk about it raises an important question. We all know how important the wall is as a symbol for his most ardent supporters. So what is he going to tell them next year when he runs for reelection?
In the short term, the consensus is that he’ll declare victory, because that’s what he always does. That’s despite the fact that he suffered a humiliating loss. A year ago, Trump could have had $25 billion for the wall in exchange for legal status for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, but he rejected that deal because it didn’t limit legal immigration. Then he began this negotiation demanding $5.7 billion, and in the end he got less than $1.4 billion. And even with his new national emergency, there’s no telling how long it will be tied up in the courts.
So Trump is trying to convince his supporters that in fact their dream is already coming true; at a rally this week in El Paso, he greeted the familiar chant of “Build that wall!” by telling his fans, “Now, you really mean finish that wall, because we’ve built a lot of it.” Oh.
Unfortunately, some of Trump’s most important supporters in the conservative media are not convinced. Fox personality Tomi Lahren tweeted, “I’m not gonna sugar coat it, if @realDonaldTrump takes this sham border deal from the Democrats, he loses in 2020 and we ALL lose for years to come.” Laura Ingraham agreed: “Total SCAM! @realDonaldTrump wasn’t elected for this.” Ann Coulter went with all caps: “IT’S OVER IF HE SIGNS THIS BILL.”
more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/02/15/trumps-reelection-campaign-just-got-lot-tougher/?utm_term=.77927380efa1
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