Donald Trump just caved on his wall

| 6:18 pm EDT May 23, 2019
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This week we learned that for all his efforts, Donald Trump has managed to build a whopping 1.7 miles of his border wall. Trump continues to loudly insist that building the wall is a “national emergency” and that it’s his highest priority. The thing is, he had another opportunity to try to force the issue today, and instead he ended up caving.

Donald Trump cravenly demanded that a new disaster aid bill, which is supposed to help with the out-of-control fires and floods that have broken out across the nation, also include funding for his border wall. But that would have looked terrible, so even the Republican Senators decided they weren’t interested in going there. Sure enough, Trump backed down today and agreed to sign the relief bill without any wall funding. So why does this matter?

This morning Palmer Report pointed out that by insisting he wouldn’t do any more legislation or governing because he’s being investigated, Donald Trump was surrendering. Once a president announces that he’s no longer willing to do the job on any level, he’s unwittingly telling even the most nonpolitical of observers watching at home that they should call for his ouster. We were talking about precisely this kind of thing. Imagine if Trump had simply refused to sign this disaster relief bill because it didn’t help him politically. He’d have been raked over the proverbial coals for it.

The kicker is that Donald Trump couldn’t win on this one. He’s too unpopular and vulnerable to have enough leverage over Senate Republicans, let alone House Democrats, to force them to fund his wall. He’s also too unpopular and vulnerable to get away with refusing to sign a disaster relief bill. So he ended up caving on his wall today, after insisting it was his top priority. And he ended up agreeing to bipartisan legislation today, one day after insisting he would refuse to work with anyone on anything. It makes him look weak because he is weak.