Democrats must be ready to take this drastic step against Trump
Today  various groups in the Senate will move toward putting forth proposals that would legalize as many as 1.8 million dreamers in exchange for concessions. Axios reports that a âsenior administration officialâ says  President Trump  will veto anything that does not advance all of  his  demands: a wall on the border and an end to the diversity visa lottery system and family-based migration  which would mean deep cuts to legal immigration.
 That senior official  claimed that this constitutes âthe mainstream  middle ground on immigration.â GOP senators are making similar claims. John Cornyn (Tex.) says  the president  shouldnât budge  because  his  proposal is âenormously generous â while Democrats are being âheartlessâ toward the dreamers by failing to accept it. Sen. Roger Wicker (Miss.) insists that  Trumpâs  proposal is a âsweet bipartisan deal â and that if Dems reject it  Republicans are âlooking pretty good from a PR standpoint.â
 Trump  is the one who ended protections for the dreamers to begin with.  Trump  then said  he  wanted Congress to come up with a bipartisan solution protecting them in a more permanent way.  Trump  has repeatedly said protecting the dreamers is the right thing to do. Whether  he  means this or not is beside the point; perhaps entirely because  he  doesnât want to be blamed for driving them underground   he  wants to be associated with an outcome in which they are protected. Dem and GOP senators produced a version of the deal  Trump  asked for  one in which the dreamers would be legalized in exchange for cutting diversity visas and nixing any possibility of legalization for the dreamersâ parents. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer even expressed openness to giving  Trump  money for  his  wall.  Trump  rejected those offers. Dems repeatedly asked administration officials what further concessions they might accept and got no answer. Now officials are threatening a veto if  Trump  doesnât get everything  he  wants  and Republicans are describing this as the middle-ground position.
It is true that Democrats wonât give  Trump  everything  he  wants. As Dylan Scott and Tara Golshan lay out  numerous proposals legalizing the dreamers will likely be voted on this week. One is close to what  Trump  wants and would cut legal immigration by huge amounts. Another wouldnât cut legal immigration but would give  Trump  the border security money  he  wants. Still another would shift some visas toward the skills-based system  he  wants but probably without cutting overall legal immigration flows. Many people following the debate also expect a proposal to emerge that gives  Trump  money for the wall in exchange for protecting the dreamers. Yes  Democrats will vote against plans that deeply cut legal immigration. But they will likely support bills that make at least some of these other concessions  and perhaps more. (Time will tell.)
By contrast   Trump  and most Republicans will very likely oppose the bills that give both sides some of what they want and continue to insist on basically giving  Trump  all of what he wants. This is not a balanced situation  particularly since  Trump  wants to be associated with protecting the dreamers anyway. It is true that many congressional Republicans donât actually want to protect the dreamers and view doing this as a concession. But they are nonetheless going along with  Trump  in demanding far more in concessions than Democrats are. The Republicansâ position is that they wonât protect the dreamers unless Democrats give  Trump  all the border-security money and deep cuts to legal immigration he wants â while calling that a compromise.
If  Trump  and Republicans are going to stick to this position  Democrats really have no choice but to say no. This way of doing business must be flatly repudiated. If  Trump  and Republicans donât want to protect the dreamers  then so be it. And by the way  if Dems do walk away  they will have the support of many of the dreamers themselves.
âIf theyâre going to demand the Stephen Miller wish list  Democrats should say no â Greisa Martinez Rosas  the director of advocacy and policy for United We Dream  told me this morning. âThereâs a line for how much we will allow  Trump  and Miller to extract for our protection.â
It had been held by a Republican in Sarasota County  where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by 12 000  or about 10 percentage points.  â¦ Trump  had carried the district by 4.6 percentage points in a state that  he  won by just 1.2 points â¦ Goodâs win was the 36th Republican legislative seat in the nation that a Democrat has won since 2016.
Amid all the chatter about the tightening generic ballot and  Trumpâs  slightly rising approval  we keep getting good signs like this one.
* REPUBLICANS FRET ABOUT DEM WINS: Dave Weigel puts the big Florida upset in context  pointing out that even Republicans will be worried about what it portends. Here âs Trump âs former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski:
âTheyâre winning elections in places where they shouldnât be. Weâve seen them win statehouse seats in Wisconsin. Weâve seen them win big mayor âs  races in New Hampshire. Fifty seats have already changed hands  from Republicans to Democrats  since  President Trump  took office. Make no mistake: The Democrats are unified.â
And  Trump  is very likely to keep on giving.
*  TRUMP  WORRIES ABOUT HOW PORTER MESS AFFECTS HIM: The Post reports this remarkable tidbit:
 The president  has said little publicly about the Porter issue other than to praise the former aide for doing âa very good job.â But  he  has privately expressed frustration with the week-long fallout  peppering advisers and confidants with questions about the media coverage and how the controversy is playing for  him  personally.
See? Who says  Trump  isnât concerned about domestic abuse?
* DEMS BLAST TRUMPâS HANDLING OF PORTER: Related to the above  Schumer argues that thereâs an obvious deficiency in  Trumpâs  treatment of the Porter scandal:
Today  various groups in the Senate will move toward putting forth proposals that would legalize as many as 1.8 million dreamers in exchange for concessions. Axios reports that a âsenior administration officialâ says   [TGT] will veto anything that does not advance all of   [TGT]   demands: a wall on the border and an end to the diversity visa lottery system and family-based migration  which would mean deep cuts to legal immigration.
 That senior official  claimed that this constitutes âthe mainstream  middle ground on immigration.â GOP senators are making similar claims. John Cornyn (Tex.) says  the president  shouldnât budge  because  his  proposal is âenormously generous â while Democrats are being âheartlessâ toward the dreamers by failing to accept it. Sen. Roger Wicker (Miss.) insists that  Trumpâs  proposal is a âsweet bipartisan deal â and that if Dems reject it  Republicans are âlooking pretty good from  [TGT] 
is the one who ended protections for the dreamers to begin with.   [TGT] then said   [TGT]   wanted Congress to come up with a bipartisan solution protecting them in a more permanent way.   [TGT] has repeatedly said protecting the dreamers is the right thing to do. Whether   [TGT]   means this or not is beside the point; perhaps entirely because   [TGT]   doesnât want to be blamed for driving them underground   he  wants to be associated with an outcome in which they are protected. Dem and GOP senators produced a version of the deal   [TGT] asked for  one in which the dreamers would be legalized in exchange for cutting diversity visas and nixing any possibility of legalization for the dreamersâ parents. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer even expressed openness to giving   [TGT]   money for   [TGT]   wall.   [TGT] rejected those offers. Dems repeatedly asked administration officials what further concessions they might accept and got no answer. Now officials are threatening a veto if   [TGT] doesnât get everything  he  wants  and Republicans are describing this as the middle-ground position.
It is true that Democrats wonât give   [TGT] everything  he  wants. As Dylan Scott and Tara Golshan lay out  numerous proposals legalizing the dreamers will likely be voted on this week. One is close to what   [TGT] wants and would cut legal immigration by huge amounts. Another wouldnât cut legal immigration but would give   [TGT] the border security money   [TGT]   wants. Still another would shift some visas toward the skills-based system   [TGT]   wants but probably without cutting overall legal immigration flows. Many people following the debate also expect a proposal to emerge that gives   [TGT]   money for the wall in exchange for protecting the dreamers. Yes  Democrats will vote against plans that deeply cut legal immigration. But they will likely support bills that make at least some of these other concessions  and perhaps more. (Time will tell.)
By contrast    [TGT] and most Republicans will very likely oppose the bills that give both sides some of what they want and continue to insist on basically giving  Trump  all of what he wants. This is not a balanced situation  particularly since   [TGT] wants to be associated with protecting the dreamers anyway. It is true that many congressional Republicans donât actually want to protect the dreamers and view doing this as a concession. But they are nonetheless going along with   [TGT] in demanding far more in concessions than Democrats are. The Republicansâ position is that they wonât protect the dreamers unless Democrats give  Trump  all the border-security money and deep cuts to legal immigration he wants â while calling that a compromise.
If   [TGT] and Republicans are going to stick to this position  Democrats really have no choice but to say no. This way of doing business must be flatly repudiated. If   [TGT] and Republicans donât want to protect the dreamers  then so be it. And by the way  if Dems do walk away  they will have the support of many of the dreamers themselves.
âIf theyâre going to demand the Stephen Miller wish list  Democrats should say no â Greisa Martinez Rosas  the director of advocacy and policy for United We Dream  told me this morning. âThereâs a line for how much we will allow   [TGT] and Miller to extract for our protection.â
It had been held by a Republican in Sarasota County  where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by 12 000  or about 10 percentage points.  â [TGT] had carried the district by 4.6 percentage points in a state that   [TGT]   won by just 1.2 points â¦ Goodâs win was the 36th Republican legislative seat in the nation that a Democrat has won since 2016.
Amid all the chatter about the tightening generic ballot and  Trumpâs  slightly rising approval  we keep getting good signs like this one.
* REPUBLICANS FRET ABOUT DEM WINS: Dave Weigel puts the big Florida upset in context  pointing out that even Republicans will be worried about what it portends. Here âs Trump âs former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski:
âTheyâre winning elections in places where they shouldnât be. Weâve seen them win statehouse seats in Wisconsin. Weâve seen them win big mayor âs  races in New Hampshire. Fifty seats have already changed hands  from Republicans to Democrats  since   [TGT] took office. Make no mistake: The Democrats are unified.â
And   [TGT] is very likely to keep on giving.
*   [TGT] WORRIES ABOUT HOW PORTER MESS AFFECTS HIM: The Post reports this remarkable tidbit:
  [TGT] has said little publicly about the Porter issue other than to praise the former aide for doing âa very good job.â But   [TGT]   has privately expressed frustration with the week-long fallout  peppering advisers and confidants with questions about the media coverage and how the controversy is playing for  him  personally.
See? Who says   [TGT]   isnât concerned about domestic abuse?
* DEMS BLAST TRUMPâS HANDLING OF PORTER: Related to the above  Schumer argues that thereâs an obvious deficiency in  Trumpâs  treatment of the Porter scandal: