[NB: Check the byline, thanks. /~Rayne]
About 3:00 p.m. EDT — any time now — in a special address we’re supposed to hear from Trump what he is willing to offer in exchange for funding the wall based on negotiations led by Mike Pence and Jared Kushner (yes, he of the middle east peace negotiations, that fine negotiator). Mitch McConnell is supposed to be in the mix somewhere; it’s funny how little has been said about his presence.
Current speculation: the White House will offer concessions on the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program which had ordered terminated in September 2017, and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program in exchange for the $5.7B funding Trump has demanded along with funding and reopening government.
In other words, Trump is going to add more hostages to make the Democratic Party looks bad.
And in other words, the Trump organization may benefit directly if it seeks more immigrants laborers for its businesses.
At least one Trump-owned resort has had undocumented workers in housekeeping staff, like those working construction on the Trump Hotel-DC who qualified for TPS. There are likely others who have not come forward as two did who worked at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Are there any DACA participants working in one of the Trump org facilities, too?
Trump and his team waited until after the Women’s March today to make this announcement, and until evidence of government workers’ desperation spread across the internet. We’ve seen copies of letters warning that rent was due in full — today in one case — regardless of the government shutdown, or eviction would begin. We’ve seen posts about food banks for federal law enforcement employees.
And now they want to add DACA and TPS hostages to this equation.
This doesn’t look like good faith negotiation to me. It looks more like an attempt to heighten tensions against immigrants, particularly undocumented immigrants.
No matter what terms Team Trump offers, George Lakoff is right:
Is it really too much to ask for a president and Senate Majority Leader to simply do the right thing by the country and reopen the government without fueling more political conflict?