The One Thing Democrats Care About More Than Saving Dreamers

So the big question in Washington right now is whether or not the Democrats and Republicans can come together to pass a spending bill. Democrats are threatening the shut down the government if they don’t get some form of legislative protection for Dreamers, but the White House is signaling that President Trump will not sign any amnesty bill that does not include funding for the wall. And if neither side is willing to give an inch on these two fundamental issues, we could indeed be looking at a shutdown. Why? Because if there is one thing that Democrats care more about than protecting Obama’s illegal immigrants, it’s preventing even one brick of Trump’s fabled wall from being funded.

At the end of the day, we’re not even clear on why the Dreamers represent such an important political goalpost for Democrats. Are they going to be able to vote after they get their amnesty? We’re pretty sure the answer is no, unless there is some massive fraud along the way – which we’re certainly not discounting. Yeah, we guess it means something to liberal Hispanics, but we’re not convinced that the majority of rank-and-file Democrat voters really care THAT much about these illegal immigrants who came here when they were young.

The wall, on the other hand – that, we get. This was Trump’s big plan – the symbolic foundation for his entire campaign. We loathe Democrats for refusing to take border security seriously, but we can’t blame them politically for wanting to prevent that wall from being built. How would they explain it to their voters? Well, yeah…he won. We suck. We couldn’t do anything to stop him. What are ya gonna do? That’s a losing message if we’ve ever heard one. So Democrats don’t really have any choice but to dig their heels into the ground when it comes to funding the wall.

Which is really telling when you think about it. What does the wall actually mean? It means that it will be more difficult for future illegal immigrants to get into the country. Is that a concept the Democrats oppose? Is that why Nancy Pelosi last week called the wall “immoral?” Republicans should force Democrats to come out and explain their position on illegal immigration to the voters. Unfortunately, since their own position is so muddled (outside of those few who have woken up), they can’t really do that. Hell, sometimes it seems like Republicans want amnesty for Dreamers almost as much as Democrats. Explain THAT.

We have a bad feeling about this, to be honest. It ought to be a slam dunk. Use the Dreamers as bargaining chips and force Democrats to fund the wall. Or, call their bluff and let them explain why preventing the wall is more important than protecting Dreamers. Simple, clean, perfect.

But we really don’t think it’s going to work out that way.