The occupier of the Oval Office once again has bigfooted his way into the difficult negotiating process underway on Capitol Hill, giving the hardliners who love a good shutdown another excuse to dig in their heels. "Great to see how hard Republicans are fighting for our Military and Safety at the Border. The Dems just want illegal immigrants to pour into our nation unchecked," he tweeted this morning.
I'm going to take that half of the tweet first to note how the Dreamers—those young people Trump said back in September he would treat "with heart," that "I have a love for— have now become "illegals." His fundamental racism—"shithole countries"—has prevailed over any impulse he has foe acting like an actual president. This is what the fight is about—not about our military, not about CHIP kids. It's about fundamentally changing our nation's immigration system to not just stop people of color from entering the country, but expelling them.
Okay, back to the other really unhelpful part of the tweet: "If stalemate continues, Republicans should go to 51% (Nuclear Option) and vote on real, long term budget, no C.R.'s!" Now he's escalating the civil war between the House and Senate Republicans! Because immediately, one of the dimmer lights of the Freedom Caucus, Idaho's Rep. Raúl Labrador took the opening to (what else) tweet: "It's time to change the rules in the Senate (go nuclear) or to force Senators to speak on the floor to sustain a filibuster. The filibuster is not a veto. Senate disfunction must end. The Constitution does not require 60 votes in the Senate."
Never mind Trump's (and the Freedom Caucus's) ongoing basic math problem. There aren't 51 united Republican votes in the Senate without progress on immigration. And there sure as hell aren't 51 votes to go nuclear. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was forced to reiterate that Sunday morning, issuing a statement that "The Republican Conference opposes changing the rules on legislation." But now the House Freedom Caucus, which has thus far been controlling House Speaker Paul Ryan, really has something to sink their teeth into—a president backing up their unrealistic demands.
Because that's exactly what this stalemate needs—Republicans digging a deeper hole. The state of play thus far is summed up well in a tweet thread from NBC's Kasie Hunt. Neither Trump nor his Chief of Staff John Kelly—who apparently single-handedly nixed the deal Trump and Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer were crafting—has spoken with Schumer since Friday. McConnell and Schumer haven't spoken directly since Friday either, with Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham (SC) and Jeff Flake (AZ) shuttling between them. If there's been any progress made, it's a very well-kept secret.
And now, thanks to Trump's tiny tweeting thumbs, even if they do come up with an agreement, it's likely to be even harder to get the House to go along. The Senate is going to convene today at 1 PM ET, and the House will come in an hour later.