As Senate negotiators started coming to terms on a compromise package that would overhaul border and immigration policies, while simultaneously assisting Ukraine, Donald Trump decided it was time to intervene — in the hopes of killing the agreement.
Early last week, the former president urged House Speaker Mike Johnson to help scuttle the emerging bipartisan deal. Two days later, Trump took aim at the compromise — the details of which he knew nothing about — by way of his social media platform.
This week, HuffPost reported that the GOP’s likely 2024 nominee has privately lobbied Republican senators to scuttle the deal — not on the merits, but because successful governing on the issue might help President Joe Biden’s re-election prospects.
Predictably, a variety of congressional Republicans responded to the former president’s efforts by saying they would follow his orders, regardless of the consequences. But as NBC News reported, not everyone in the party agreed.
Tempers flared Thursday as Republicans battled among themselves over whether to accept or reject a deal for tougher immigration laws, with some pushing back on colleagues who want to bow to former President Donald Trump’s wishes and kill it.
Sen. Thom Tillis, for example, said policymaking should matter.
“I didn’t come here to have the president as a boss or a candidate as a boss. I came here to pass good, solid policy,” the North Carolina Republican said. “It is immoral for me to think you looked the other way because you think this is the linchpin for President Trump to win.”
Sen. Mitt Romney went even further. “The border is a very important issue for Donald Trump. And the fact that he would communicate to Republican senators and Congress people that he doesn’t want us to solve the border problem — because he wants to blame Biden for it — is really appalling,” the Utah Republican told reporters.
Romney added, “The American people are suffering as a result of what’s happening at the border. And someone running for president ought to try and get the problem solved, as opposed to saying, ‘Hey, save that problem! Don’t solve it! Let me take credit for solving it later.’”
Trump apparently noticed the senator’s pushback and published a missive that said he hasn’t spoken to Romney in years. “[H]e knows nothing about me, or my views,” the former president wrote.
Even for him, this was odd. I haven’t spoken to Trump, either, but I know plenty about his views because he keeps talking about them. The Republican’s efforts to kill the bipartisan compromise are obvious because his efforts are playing out in public.
At this point, the question isn’t whether Romney is right or not. We already know that he is. Rather, the question is whether Trump will succeed in killing the not-yet-officially-released legislation over the objections of members such as Romney.
As of Wednesday night, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested that the package was likely to fail, due in large part to Trump’s opposition. Punchbowl News reported that the Kentucky Republican privately told his members, in reference to the party’s presumptive 2024 nominee, “We don’t want to do anything to undermine him.”
A day later, McConnell hedged, insisting that the negotiations were still ongoing, and leaving the door ajar to a possible breakthrough, at least in the upper chamber.
The editorial board of The Wall Street Journal — one of the most Republican-friendly spaces in American print media — published a piece overnight that will likely be circulated widely by McConnell’s office. Politico summarized its argument this way:
- “H.R. 2 can’t pass.
- “The right won’t get a better deal under Donald Trump.
- “Killing the deal to keep border chaos alive as an election issue would doom any Democratic support for an immigration deal next year.
- “Killing the deal at Trump’s urging could hand Biden a political weapon for the campaign.
- “Coupling Ukraine aid with a conservative border package ‘offers some cover for a hard Ukraine vote, and a political and policy victory to tout at home.’
- “If Republicans scuttle aid to Ukraine they ‘will share responsibility for whatever happens next’ there.
I don’t often agree with the Journal’s editorials, but all of this rings true.
As for what’s next, a Washington Post analysis concluded, “The next 72 hours will be crucial for the fate of a border deal and Ukraine aid.” Watch this space.
