Chuck Schumer Begs to Hand Drowning Trump a Lifeline

The United States government inched precariously closer to a full federal shutdown on Thursday, with Republicans—who control the House, Senate, and White House—seemingly incapable of cobbling together enough votes to pass a continuing resolution that would keep the lights on past Friday.

Among the most pressing issues being debated is if—and if so, how—the government will protect the hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants brought here as children. Now, with a federal shutdown looming, Democrats finally have some serious leverage to protect DACA recipients. They should use it! As my colleague Emma Roller put it, “The Democrats Should Shut Down the Government to Save DACA.”

And yet top Democrats seem dead set on giving it all up. On Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted to the president about an existing immigration proposal in which Democrats cave to many of Trump’s worst demands in exchange for a deal on DACA.

Chuck, why? Why are you attempting to placate a man who clearly has no serious interest in helping DACA recipients, whose potential deportation is down to his horrible decision in the first place? And why on Earth are you bragging about funding his wall? Shut down the government!

To make matters worse, Schumer’s “can’t we all get along?” plea came the same day as Trump proved to be hopelessly inept at actually locking in a deal to keep the government up and running. Look at these two tweets.

Huh, who would have thought a president who seemingly had no idea what was actually in his own party’s budget proposal would somehow botch a delicate fiscal negotiation?