Chuck Schumer and the Democrats were spoiling for a confrontation with Donald Trump over the border wall and stopping the migrant caravan.
They thought the politics and the polls were on their side.
But Schumer quickly realized picking this fight with Donald Trump was a mistake he will live to regret.
Donald Trump promised during the campaign that he would build a wall on the Southern border and that Mexico would pay for it.
Trump’s critics in the fake news media, including both the Democrat and Republican Party, slammed him for promoting a pipe dream.
But Trump found a way to deliver.
On the eve of a possible government shutdown over the Democrats failure to provide funding for the border wall, the President made a shocking announcement.
Trump stated that the trade deal he renegotiated with Canada and Mexico would save the U.S. enough money to cover the cost of the wall.
Trump tweeted:
“One way or the other, Mexico is going to pay for the Wall. This has never changed. Our new deal with Mexico (and Canada), the USMCA, is so much better than the old, very costly & anti-USA NAFTA deal, that just by the money we save, MEXICO IS PAYING FOR THE WALL!”
This led Chuck Schumer to think he had the President backed into a corner.
Schumer strode onto the Senate floor and rattled off an unhinged speech claiming Trump short-circuited his own demand for new wall funding.
“President Trump is willing to throw a temper tantrum and shut down the government unless he gets his way,” Schumer ranted during his speech. “I want to be crystal clear: There will be no additional appropriations to pay for the border wall. It’s done.”
The New York Democrat also claimed that because Trump said the U.S. will save money from a renegotiated trade deal, that it meant Trump’s demand for border wall funding in the spending bill was no longer relevant.
“Well, Mr. President, if you say Mexico is going to pay for the wall through NAFTA, which it certainly won’t, I guess we don’t have to,” Schumer ranted. “Let’s fund the government.”
But Trump had one more trick up his sleeve.
The President tweeted out a video where he addressed the nation from the lawn of the White House.
Trump took Schumer up on his challenge and pledged to fight to the bitter end to win money to finally secure America’s border.
“We need to have the wall. We need border security. Whatever it takes to get border security, I will do it,” the President pledged to the American people. “I pledged that a long time ago, and I will pledge it always.”
The video also included clips of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Chuck Schumer extolling the need for border fencing and security in the past.
Trump knows the Democrats are walking into a trap.
Democrats hold an absolutist position on the border wall.
They won’t support one dime of funding because many elected Democrats – as well as large swaths of their base – believe with all their hearts that any border enforcement is white supremacy.
But the Democrats are the ones in for a rude awakening.
Exit polls from key swing states in the 2018 midterm elections showed Trump’s positions on immigration are more popular than the Democrats pro-amnesty, open-borders extremism.
If both sides dig in their heels—which is expected—the public pressure will land squarely on the Democrats to compromise.
We will keep you up to date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
