Trump to GOP: No Deals on Border or Ukraine Aid they are ‘Meaningless’ & Help Biden

 

Trump Orders GOP as if He Were President

GOP will get self-inflicted blame for no border fix and for abandoning Ukraine and for basically blessing Putin in Russia. Article here from MARKETWATCH via this AP headline:

“Bipartisan deal on border and Ukraine at risk of collapse as Trump presses Senate Republicans to walk away”

WASHINGTON — A bi-partisan Senate deal to pair border-enforcement measures and Ukraine aid face potential collapse as Senate Republicans grew increasingly wary of an election-year compromise that Trump, the GOP likely Republican presidential nominee, is pressing congressional allies to abandon.

Senate negotiators have been striving for weeks to finish a carefully negotiated compromise on border and immigration policy that is meant to tamp down the number of migrants who come into the U.S. from Mexico.

Now the negotiations have dragged for weeks and with election-year political demands from Trump weighing it down.

At stake is a plan that both President Joe Biden and Senate GOP Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have worked on for months to broker in hopes of cajoling Congress to approve wartime aid for Ukraine.

Fact: The U.S. has run out of money to supply Ukraine, potentially leaving the country stranded without robust supplies of ammunition and missiles to fend off Russia’s unprovoked full-scale invasion as its second anniversary nears.

Trump ramped up his criticism of the potential compromise, writing in two lengthy posts on his social-media platform that it would be “meaningless in terms of border security” and “would be another Gift to the Radical Left Democrats” as Biden seeks re-election.  

Trump said the Senate is better off not making a deal, even if it means the country will “close up” (shut down) while not proposing any options, just simply blame to hurt Biden.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) says: “I think that 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.”

In a closed-door Republican meeting, McConnell acknowledged the reality of Trump’s opposition and that Trump is the party’s likely presidential nominee – all the while he discussed other options, including separating Ukraine and the border (according to two people familiar with the meeting who spoke anonymously).

Punchbowl News first reported the remarks, describing McConnell as acknowledging he faces a quandary. McConnell’s comments raised fresh doubts in the Senate about his level of commitment to the border deal, though advocates for moving forward countered that the leader’s remarks were being misinterpreted when he told reporters: “We’re still working on it.”

He also reassured the conference at a Republican luncheon that he still personally supports pairing the border and Ukraine; that according to Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD).

Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), the GOP head negotiator, said the group is still working on the package. He said McConnell was advocating for the proposal while simply acknowledging the political reality that the presidential primary season is fully underway, saying: “I think that’s the shift that has occurred, that he’s just acknowledging. That’s just a reality.”

Lankford has been working with a small bipartisan group and White House officials in an effort to close out the border deal. But release of the legislation has been held up by haggling over the price of the new policies and continued disagreements over limiting the president’s ability to allow people into the country under special circumstances, such as fleeing war and unrest.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) has been central to the talks said:  “We’re really focused on making sure we get the bill out and that we get it through the Senate.”

White House spokeswoman Olivia Dalton told reporters aboard Air Force One: “The Biden administration has been working with the negotiators in good faith and he feels that progress has been made, and hopes it will continue.”

Sen. John Thune (R-SD), second-ranking Senate Republican said: “We are at a critical moment, and we’ve got to drive hard to get this done. If we can’t get there, then we’ll go to Plan B.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), DEM Majority Leader said: “We know that if Putin prevails in Ukraine, the consequences for Western democracy and for the American people will be severe, and haunt us for years. We know that if Putin prevails in Ukraine, the consequences for Western democracy and for the American people will be severe, and haunt us for years. Democrats are also resolute on reaching an agreement on securing the southern border.”

But congressional leaders have not identified any other way to push wartime funding for Ukraine through the darkening political prospects of the cause.

Plus, scores of House Republicans are unwilling to send more money to Ukraine even as longtime party stalwarts, such as McConnell, have tried to convince them that preventing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s advance in Europe is directly in America’s interest and that the cost to the U.S. of providing military aid is a bargain given its capacity to degrade the Russian military and deter further territorial ambitions.

Related to the House stance is this from Speaker “MAGA” Mike Johnson (R-LA) now firmly lip-locked on Trump as seen in this article from ROLL CALL with this headline [click link for the full story].

Speaker Mike Johnson now Trump MAGA Lackey

(“Deadman Walking & Useless”)

“Johnson calls Senate border deal ‘dead on arrival’ in House” 

Advocates of sustained Ukraine aid say that much of Washington’s expenditures go to U.S. defense contractors and thereby supports domestic jobs and GDP.

Trump has loomed large over the talks, first skewering American support for Ukraine and now potentially upending any compromise.

That is true especially on the border part that he believe would hand President Joe Biden new policies meant to contain the historic numbers of migrants making their way to the country. With Republicans continuously raise the issue on the campaign trail, the border will likely remain central to elections this year.

Although many in Congress are anxiously awaiting the bill text, Trump has already said on social media that there should be no bipartisan border deal “unless we get EVERYTHING needed to shut down the INVASION of Millions & Millions of people.”

The lead Democratic negotiator, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said he still has hope that Republicans will decide to accept the compromise — even though Democrats didn’t want to tie Ukraine aid and border security together in the first place, adding: “A lot of Republicans have become used to this being just merely a political issue, not an actual policy problem. And that’s hard for them to get over. But there is a big group of Senate Republicans who do want to solve the problem.”

Seeking to hold off objections from Trump, Republican senators have argued that the policies under discussion would not have an immediate effect on problems at the border and would even give Trump greater border enforcement authority if he is reelected. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said: “The issue will still be a live issue and I’d think it’d be one of the defining issues in the campaign. So we need to do our job here.” A GOP vocal contingent raised objections, including during a heated exchanges during a closed-door Republican lunch.

They argued that presidents already have enough authority to implement hardline border measures and Trump should have his say as Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) noted saying: “If we expect him to be able to secure the border, he ought to be able to see this bill, and he ought to be able to be engaged and say, is this going to help me secure the border or not. What we know is, he doesn’t need it.”

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) who has evolved into a staunch Trump ally and Ukraine critic, said he spoke with Trump about the deal last week and he expressed worry that it would be “too weak” adding: “When it fails, as it will, it allows the president to blame quote, unquote ‘MAGA Republicans’ for the failure of a border security package when in reality what failed was very weak border security package that didn’t actually do anything.”

But some Republicans worried walking away from an opportunity to enact border policy could backfire.

For example, Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) said: “If we were given an opportunity, and we decided for political purposes, not to do it, yeah, I think we could be in serious trouble. A lot of our candidates could be in serious trouble back home.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and staunch Trump confidant, said: “The contours of the bipartisan package, even if sealed under Biden, would equally create border-security tools for a second Trump administration.”

My 2 Cents: Typical GOP blame game or just silly game: “Break things in government and then run on a platform that only we can fix it.” This is a classic example of a good bi-partisan deal that helps Ukraine and hinders Putin, or if the deal fails, it fails the people of Ukraine while favoring Putin – how sick is that prospect?

We shall see – hopefully both parts pass – it certainly should so, stay tuned.

Thanks for stopping by.