Asylum Deal Has Collapsed – A Crisis for Victory: Trump’s Trap Closes!

In his bestseller ‘The Art of the Deal’, Donald Trump wrote the more or less well-known sentence right at the beginning: ‘You can’t be imaginative or enterprising if you have too much structure.’ What is currently happening in the US – or much more is not happening – works surprisingly similar to this principle.

Because Republicans rejected a bipartisan bill that was essentially tailor-made for them. In recent months, the U.S. Senate has been working on a bipartisan basis on behalf of U.S. President Joe Biden on a $118 billion package to secure the U.S. border and support Ukraine. Connecting the issues was a basic requirement of the Republicans.

The draft was presented early this week and basically reveals everything the Democrats stand for when it comes to migration policy. Even the conservative Wall Street Journal found that Republicans will never get “a better deal.” The 370-page paragraph can be summarized in the following sentence: The Republicans demanded an extreme border policy and got it.

The Republican U-turn
The proposal includes changes to federal law to discourage asylum seekers. If too many people arrive at the same time, the processing of asylum applications will stop completely. The design is intended to send a signal to potential immigrants: reconsider your plans, rather return!

But to the surprise of many, Republicans in the U.S. Senate, who helped draft the plan, made a remarkable about-face on Wednesday and rejected the draft. The package of measures did not reach the required majority of 60 votes in the Senate. However, Republicans want to approve aid to Israel and Ukraine in a new vote. The question why is quickly answered.

Ex-president warned of ‘trap’
In recent days, Trump has raised his finger against the plan and warned of a “sophisticated trap” by Democrats. The Putin admirer (“He is very intelligent”) does not believe in aid payments to Ukraine anyway. Trump’s disciples then torpedoed the joint effort in both chambers.

New US aid to Ukraine has been stuck for months:

Republicans suddenly appear willing to maintain a status quo at America’s borders, which they have repeatedly described as an “invasion” and an “existential and national security threat.” Political observers from both camps consider it unlikely that the blockade can be broken before the elections.

The Republicans’ wrong play
What follows is a farce: Republican governors on their own initiative publicly deploy National Guardsmen at the border with Mexico to use force to repel immigrants. To divert attention from its own turnaround, impeachment proceedings should also be initiated in the US House of Representatives against the Democratic Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, because – no joke – he is not doing anything about the crisis.

It should have been a spectacular PR stunt in the election year, but ended in disgrace. A narrow majority of MPs in the House of Representatives voted against a motion for such a procedure on Tuesday evening, while Republicans in the House of Representatives have a narrow majority of MPs.

To put it in perspective, the last time there was an impeachment trial of a member of the U.S. Cabinet was about 150 years ago. An expulsion was considered unlikely in any case because the Democrats have a majority in the Senate. The Republican leader of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, has already announced that he wants to make a new attempt.

Migration as Trump’s core problem
Because Trump needs ammunition in the election campaign against Biden. Republicans seek chaos instead of cooperation. The bipartisan asylum-Ukraine deal would have deprived Trump of his core problem. Now the loudmouth can continue railing against migrants, whom he repeatedly labeled “drug dealers, criminals and rapists.”

It is doubtful whether Republicans are really concerned about the sometimes inhumane conditions at the US southern border. In fact, many Republican lawmakers agree that workers will continue to flow across the border, The Atlantic reports.

Young people have to work instead of studying
In Florida, 16 and 17 year olds are allowed to work eight hours a day during the school year. The Republican governor of Arkansas has signed a law that partially exempts the state from employment requirements when it comes to 14- to 15-year-olds. Ohio could soon pass a law that would allow school-age students to work until 9 p.m. on school days.

These laws serve to exploit poorer income groups and price the influx of migrants. Nearly 40 percent of recent cross-border commuters were under the age of 18, a fivefold increase since the late 1980s.

Biden is now in custody
US President Joe Biden is now in Trump’s trap. He probably cannot implement new billions in aid for Ukraine without the consent of his closest enemy. No matter how much the 81-year-old and his Democrats distort the content. Too many Republicans – some reluctantly – are putting their own preservation of power above the suffering of Ukrainians.

Any further concessions from Biden would minimize his re-election chances. The left wing of his party is already indignant about the presented package, which the American president wanted to sign “as quickly as possible”. There are concerns within the party about creating a legal monster that Trump could exploit during a possible second term.

Everything is going according to Trump’s script
The Republicans and Democrats are now so far apart that the legitimacy of any cooperation is being questioned. Trump is a master at selling the illusion to his voters that democratic politics can be replaced by the will of one man. The tamer of the “Grand Old Party” has already announced that he wants to contest his first day in office as “dictator”.

Trump demands a standstill and the Republicans serve him a standstill. The higher the level of suffering, the greater the chances of winning – in accordance with the essence of his book “Art of the Deal”. The finding: A negotiation often leads to an agreement. Sometimes, however, it reveals a party’s true motives.