Nobody has ever told Trump, apparently, that social media is not the place to conduct policy negotiations. If he wants to get an immigration policy deal done in his interests, then he should meet with Democrats with an open mind and hear their concerns.
Instead he just mostly sticks to ranting on social media and reportedly calling the countries Democrats want to accept immigrants from “shitholes.”
On Monday morning, he continued on with this trend, taking to Twitter to whine that Democrats won’t go along with his plans to build a wall in between the U.S. and Mexico.
He wrote:
‘Any deal on DACA that does not include STRONG border security and the desperately needed WALL is a total waste of time. March 5th is rapidly approaching and the Dems seem not to care about DACA. Make a deal!’
March 5 is the deadline for coming to an agreement with Congress on the way forward with the remains of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, which is meant to, as its name suggests, protect undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from deportation.
For now, the remains of that program, which the Trump administration moved to end last year, have been reanimated thanks to a court order for the administration to resume accepting renewal applications for DACA recipients. The future of the program is still in question pending the course of future court action, but for now, the protections are in place.
Even still, rather than working to protect those provided for by DACA, Trump seems to prefer hammering away at Democrats on social media as if that is ever going to make anything productive happen on the subject of immigration policy.
The president’s supposed grand deal-making skills are what pushed the federal government to a shutdown earlier this year. Democrats wouldn’t accept a spending bill without protections for DACA recipients guaranteed, and Republicans weren’t interested in such protections. The government could have maybe avoided the shutdown had the president not reportedly dismissed Democrats’ aims to protect immigration from certain nations as prioritizing “shithole countries,” but that outcome is relegated to the realm of fantasy.
He claimed not to have used the phrase, but one, it’s not like he should ever be believed about anything considering his history, and two, it’s not as though it’s outrageous to suggest that he did use the phrase. This is the guy who claimed populations of Mexican immigrants harbor rapists, after all.
Perhaps in that case it was projection at play on Trump’s part, considering the allegations against him.
In addition to all of this, Trump has long pushed for provisions for his proposed border wall as a necessary part of any immigration policy deal protecting those provided for by DACA, and at one point in connection with the government shutdown, Democrats even offered funding for the structure.
Since then, however, Democrats have walked back that offer, with the future of the hundreds of thousands protected by DACA remaining in limbo.
Check out Twitter’s response to the president’s latest ranting below.
Featured Image via MANDEL NGAN/ AFP/Getty Images
