President Donald Trump cast a shadow of doubt about the pending compromise involving his demands for border wall funding.
Despite having three weeks to make a deal, his prognosis did not seem positive. In fact, the congressional negotiators — a mixed bag of bipartisan House and Senate members — enlisted to draw up negotiations could be in for a brutal three weeks.
Trump noted that he thought there was less than a “50-50” percent chance that an agreement will be made that includes funding for the border wall.
“I personally think that it’s less than 50-50,” President Trump told The Wall Street Journal, “but you have a lot of very good people on that board.”
Friday concluded with President Trump signing a bill that extended the re-opening of the federal government to Feb. 15th.
Democrats have three weeks to talk. But the left has been playing hardball, even going as far as voting down prospective deals that Democrats have supported in the past. So the verdict is out on how the Democrats will respond. But President Trump doubled down on his sentiment over the weekend:
BUILD A WALL & CRIME WILL FALL! pic.twitter.com/yDdCG5DCxn
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2019
Although he continues to compromise, he announced from the White House Rose Garden that if no deal is made by the 15th, the government is either going to shut down again or he will declare the crisis at the U.S. border a national emergency.
Some pundits claim that Trump lost the battle by conceding, those including a slew of conservatives, moderates and lefties alike — but his chief of staff is fully in his corner.
Mick Mulvaney said the end game was the real focus.
“Ultimately, he’ll be judged by what happens at the end of this process, not by what happened this week,” Mulvaney told Fox News.
Some pundits think Trump might be onto something.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffrie, D-N.Y., a vicious Trump critic, warmed up to the idea of improved fencing along the border, although he is still largely opposed to a large wall.
The conservative stance on border security is increasingly being felt by Democrats. But ultimately, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is the one who will need to be convinced.
She hasn’t budged.
But the longer she stubbornly shouts “NO!” from the House floor and the longer refuses to compromise, not only does she risk Trump getting his wall anyhow, but also not getting a single positive for Democrats coming out of the negotiations.
—The Horn editorial team