So It Turns Out He Was Talking About a Metaphorical Wall

By Charles Pierce, Esquire

15 September 17

If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding!

ll those rallies last year wouldn’t have been half as much fun had people been forced to chant, “Renovate Existing Structures With American Tax Dollars.” However, at least we know now why all those rallies ended with the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”

Before breakfast on Thursday morning, on the signature issue of his campaign, the president* undermined everyone who ever supported him, the Republican congressional majorities, the Democratic congressional minorities, and himself, twice. It’s got to be some kind of record. On Wednesday night, he had his good pals Chuck and Nancy over to the house for dinner and, after the plates were cleared away, Chuck and Nancy took to the electric Twitter machine and announced a deal whereby the DACA recipients would be protected from deportation, The Wall would be abandoned, and there would be appropriated additional money for tougher border security.

Upon awakening, the president* first pushed back hard against Chuck and Nancy, and then pushed back hard against his previous pushing back. The New York Times attempts to keep up with the play-by-play.

President Trump said on Thursday morning that he supports legislation that would protect young undocumented immigrants from deportation and would deliver a “massive” increase in border security — but not with a wall on the southern border. That appeared to confirm the broad parameters of an agreement that Democratic leaders announced had been reached Wednesday over dinner at the White House.

In remarks to reporters as he left the White House on Thursday, Mr. Trump said, “We’re working on a plan for DACA,” referring to protections for immigrants who are part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Mr. Trump’s comments contradicted his own Twitter posts early Thursday morning when he said, “no deal was made last night on DACA.”

Depending on what “massive increase in border security” turns out to be, this seems to me to be a completely sensible deal. At least, it gets the DACA people out from under the terrible uncertainty that has hung over their lives since last November. And, from the conventional Republican point of view, it gets the issue off the table so that they can get around to their true goal: reforming the tax code so as to shove even more of the nation’s wealth upwards.

Unfortunately, there are those unconventional Republicans who still are driving the train. From The Daily Beast:

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) tweeted that if the news is true, “Trump base is blown up, destroyed, irreparable and disillusioned beyond repair. No promise is credible.” Another GOP aide said, “Maybe tomorrow he'll support NAFTA.” Right-wing news site Breitbart, where Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon is back pulling the strings, didn’t mince words with a flurry of stories lambasting “Amnesty Don” for his decision to “cave” and “surrender” on the border wall. Fox News’ Sean Hannity also slammed the move, taking to Twitter to urge Trump to “stay the course and keep his promises or it’s over.”

There were bovines birthed all over the place last night. Sean Hannity blamed Chuck and Nancy for employing Democratic Jedi mind tricks on the president*. And then, there was this tweet below. Some cold and rainy day, when everything looks bleak, and the breaks are beating the boys, I will call up this tweet and be joyful once again.