Trump willing to shut down Government to get Immigration fixes passed...

I'd love to see a shut down 

President Trump said Tuesday that he would “love to see a shutdown” over immigration if Democrats don’t come to the table to negotiate on border security and other stiff enforcement measures, escalating the stakes with less than four weeks to go before a deadline for action. “If we have to shut it down because the Democrats don’t want safety … let’s shut it down,” the president said at a White House roundtable discussion on MS-13 gang violence and illegal immigration. 

 The tough talk seemed to upend congressional Republicans’ carefully crafted strategy of avoiding shutdown threats, hoping to pin blame on Democrats if the government did tumble into another stoppage.

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At this point, I don't believe it's about "blame" anymore. We have had so many threats of Government shut downs, we have had actual shut downs, and I really don't feel that most people really feel any personal impact, much less a major one. Other than politicians trying to blame each other, while the media takes sides, the shut down itself (if it happens) is likely to have little impact.

Ultimately people would rather we "not" shut down the government over politics. Most believe that our congress should see funding the Government as a responsibility that supersedes other legislative priorities. Polling almost always suggests that Americans don't like politicians holding the budget and spending allocations hostage over policy, regardless of the popularity of that policy.

Moreover, when it comes to immigration... both sides hold very popular positions. A vast majority of Americans support some form of a DACA fix. By two to one margins, people want to replace chain migration and the visa lottery system with a more targeted skill based immigration policy (even if this significantly lowers the number of immigrants). More border security is almost a universal issue that people agree with in some form or the other.

There is no reason why both sides cannot agree to a deal that includes everything that the American public wants. But there seems to be a growing "resistance" so to speak for doing just that. The Democrats are under a great deal of pressure from their rabid base to push through a DACA fix either as a stand alone deal, or with only minimal concessions to popular (but politically damaging) policies pushed by the GOP.

The President is pushing for a DACA fix that would include a pathway to citizenship. In doing so he is standing up to the most conservative of his base. But for him to stand up to his base, he needs to know that Democrats are willing to meet him halfway. They too should be willing to concede that the President has proposals that have widespread support (outside of the Democratic far left base)... and be willing to stand up to their base as well. Failure to do so, would show that they ultimately place partisanship above partnership.

If the President successfully frames this debate in this manner... he looks like the adult in the room. What does it say about the state of affairs in Washington, when Donald Trump becomes the voice of reason?