The last four words in the title are a riff on Barack Obama’s famous — and famously idiotic — military strategy of “leading from behind.”
I can’t say with certainty that the current president is taking a page out of his predecessor’s handbook, but reports on his dinner last night with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi have an ominous ring of capitulation to them.
The reports are especially instructive in light of Donald Trump’s recent “deal” with Democratic leaders in which he essentially gave away the farm in exchange for a handful of nifty-looking beans. After that negotiation culminated in Trump cutting a check for $8 billion in Harvey relief in exchange for keeping the government open through December (wow, that’s four whole months!), the “Art of the Deal” author spoke glowingly of the meeting he “took” with “Chuck” and “Nancy.”
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
Judging from the joint statement Chuck and Nancy released after leaving the White House last night, their second bargaining session went even better. Trump, they announced, had “agreed to enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that’s acceptable to both sides.”
Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was quick to tweet back that “while DACA and border security were both discussed, excluding the wall was certainly not agreed to.” We’ll see, I suppose. But what about “enshrining the protections of DACA into law quickly”?
This morning, Trump tweeted this:
…They have been in our country for many years through no fault of their own – brought in by parents at young age. Plus BIG border security
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 14, 2017
That sounds a lot like what Barack Obama had to say last week when he scolded Trump for “expel[ling[ talented, driven, patriotic young people from the only country they know solely because of the actions of their parents.”
That was still a lot nicer than the language Chuck and Nancy used when they heard the announcement that Trump would be ending DACA. See for yourself:
https://youtu.be/UPJQF0N5G4k
At least Trump can rest easy now, knowing that his newfound friends on the Left won’t call him vile names going forward. At least not to his face. Maybe.
