Why the Schumer Shutdown backfired

We all know how the government shutdowns usually go. Democrats demand something unreasonable. Republicans awkwardly try to push their agenda forward. The left-wing media act as the PR firm for the Democrats. The Republicans get blamed. The government shutdown is over. Not this time.

What was different? Several things. First of all, trying to tie the DACA demands to a continuing resolution to keep the government functioning was transparent. DACA doesn’t expire until March 5. There was no need to throw it in the mix of a spending bill. Times past, however, the Democrats would’ve gotten away with it. They didn’t this time.

One of the reasons is the brilliant framing of the argument by President Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget. Mick Mulvaney so cleverly labeled this particular government shutdown ‘The Schumer Shutdown.’ The alliteration was irresistible to even the left-wing media who picked up the phrase and ran with it.

There was also President Trump himself. Nancy Pelosi cackled that the president had nothing to do with the negotiations. He had everything to do with them. Speaker Paul Ryan said as much himself. He said they were passing a bill that Trump would sign. In reality, the person who had nothing to do with the negotiations was Pelosi.

After the Schumer Shutdown took hold in the minds of the American people it was simply a matter of time. The longer the government stayed closed, the worse it became for the Democrats. They were stunned. They’ve never lost one of these. No matter the outcome, they were always able to pin it on the Republicans. This time they couldn’t.

Had we had any other president it might have been business as usual. If Trump knows one thing it’s how to negotiate. What the Democrats failed to recognize is he doesn’t have to have DACA. To Trump, it’s a bargaining chip. To the Democrats it’s everything. What they don’t know is they already have it.

The one thing the Senate Republicans did screw up was pushing the continuing budget resolution down the road only three weeks. That pushes it up near the deadline for DACA and Democrats will surely try to tie the two together again. That’s why having Trump involved is so important.

Remember where this whole Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals thing started. It was a ploy by President Obama to put a different face on illegal immigration. He could find some girl who was dragged over here at six months old who spoke perfect English and was the valedictorian of her school. That was supposed to erase the image of the tattooed MS-13 gang member who was butchering people in the streets for kicks.

The DACA folks (and they’re not kids any longer) were never in danger of being deported. Think about it. The only person who could’ve deported them was Obama. And he issued an order to protect them. From whom? Himself? No, it was all a publicity stunt to get the American people to believe they were in imminent danger of being deported. The Democrats have told that lie so long they now believe it.

So, Trump wants the wall. He wants an end to chain migration. He wants an end to the lottery visa. In order to get it he’s willing to give the Democrats something they already have. As I’ve said, it’s like selling New York the Brooklyn Bridge. They already own it.

The cards have already been dealt to give Trump what he wants. The House and Senate Republicans have to just not screw it up.

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.

Don't fall in love with a DREAMer

President Trump made the right decision on DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that was illegally created by Obama’s pen. What Trump did was kick this issue back to where it belongs, the United State Congress. They are the ones tasked with passing immigration laws and this was an unlawful usurpation of an already existing law. The question now is what will Congress do?

This is where it gets scary. They have six months to come up with a solution. Few people argue that children brought here through no fault of their own should be rounded up and sent back to a strange country they’ve never known. I questioned the wisdom of doing something about it on the front end. It should’ve been saved for last. DREAMers were not being rounded up and thrown out of the country. In fact, during the Obama years few illegals of any description were being deported. The problem with granting this class of people amnesty is doing so without securing the border only invited more people to come here illegally thinking they would get to stay. And they did come by the hundreds of thousands. Remember all the kids streaming across the border? It became a crisis overnight. Had the borders been secured then this nightmare wouldn’t have happened.

Congress is the place to settle this issue, but it’s imperative that anti-amnesty hawks keep a close eye on the process. The old Gang of Eight is still eager to pass comprehensive immigration reform, better known as amnesty. There’s no doubt they’ll take advantage of this opportunity President Trump has given them to pass a law much broader than simply solving the problem of children brought here by their parents.

Here are some of the things I can see the pro-amnesty crowd trying to pull. Giving full amnesty to not only children brought over here but their parents. That would be a huge mistake. Their parents knowingly broke the law as adults when they came and they should be sent packing. If they still have minor children in this country then they’re going to have to take them with them. If those minor children were born in America and, legally, are considered citizens then these parents are going to have to make a choice. They can either leave and take their children with them or they can leave the children here to be put up for adoption. If that sounds cruel, it’s not. The onus is on the parents. They’re the ones who put themselves in this predicament. I suspect most loving parents will choose to take their children with them. No matter their decision, if they broke into this country as adults they have to go.

The Gang of Eight is most certainly going to exploit this opportunity to push for a path to citizenship for illegals already in the country. The fact that they have no idea why Donald Trump was elected president is already evident. They see him as weakened by his response to Charlottesville (which has turned out to be spot on, by the way), and they will see this as their opportunity. The saner voices in Congress must step up and kill this effort before it begins. Not one member of that Gang of Eight should be allowed by senate leadership to have any say-so in crafting the DREAMer bill. If something that atrocious does break out of Congress on its way to the White House then President Trump should veto it immediately.

We all remember why Trump was elected. I hope he still does.

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.