On the issue that the slavish devotees considered Numero Uno, Squirrel-Hair betrays them

Yesterday's daily White House presser put the finishing touches on the process begun when S-H tweeted his vision of a six-month window in which Congress would codify as Constitutional the Most Equal Comrade's unconstitutional DACA edict. Rather than just nix the executive order, S-H made it plain that the take-care-of-everybody approach with which he sees health care is also what drives his views on offspring of illegal aliens.

we had Donald Trump wrong all along. He’s always been a fan of amnesty. (The Daily Caller) 

President Donald Trump’s request that Congress protect illegal immigrants is not a change of heart, but something Trump has always supported, according to White House press secretary Sarah Sanders.

Trump presented a hard-line immigration policy on the campaign trail and said during an August 2016 campaign speech that “there will be no amnesty.”…

When asked during Tuesday’s White House press briefing about Trump’s support of amnesty, Sanders replied, “I think the president has spoken out very clearly that he wants us to make this decision based on a variety of factors. But the number one thing is that he wants responsible immigration reform and part of that is including that in the process.”

She went on to say that Trump “always wanted responsible immigration reform.”

This isn’t just a modification in policy. It’s a reversal. In fact the Daily Caller does a fine job of revisiting a 2016 campaign speech in Arizona where Trump went after Lindsey Graham and Jeb Bush on the subject, chiding them for just being politicians who think that “immigration reform” means “amnesty, open borders, and lower wages.”

Coming as it does on the heels of the Oval Office betrayal of Republicans on the debt ceiling, we get a further glimpse into the scrambled mind of Squirrel-Hair. He did a little asking around, ran some numbers, and concluded that more post-Americans were of the we-can't-just-jettison-these-teens-and-young-adults-who-have-never-known-Guatemala mindset than those embracing the ship-'em-all-back-and-right-now attitude.

And on the basis of that, determined that the quickest path to a "win" was the six-month window.

After all, the value he places on media adulation is so transparent that he had no qualms about calling Chuck Schumer to share his giddiness at the media coverage both of them were getting for the Oval Office non-negotiation on the debt ceiling:

"I got a call early this morning," Schumer told the New York Times. "He said, 'This was so great!' Here's what he said: 'Do you watch Fox News?' I said, 'Not really.' 'They're praising you!' Meaning me. But he said, 'And your stations' -- I guess meaning MSNBC and CNN -- 'are praising me! This is great!'"

Now, these recent events go far in dividing slavish S-H devotees into two camps: those who are, even if tentatively, willing to publicly acknowledge that they were played for putzes, and those who are still trying to find some other explanation for the current reality.

Like Kurt Schlichter, who still puts the onus on Congressional Republican leaders for the debt-ceiling cave:

Our friend Kurt Schlichter over at Townhall tried in vain to put a good spin on all of it, ultimately reaching the conclusion Trump had no choice because capitulation is only possible with the establishment. Or something. 

[snip]

It is the perfect illustration of the logical fallacy, in this case, avoiding the issue. His attempt to make Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell the focal point avoids the fact that Trump surrendered so fast, if he were Davey Crockett, the Alamo would have fallen just after the first shots were fired.

The issue is not the dreaded “GOPe.” The issue is Trump’s capitulation. The question is, “Did Trump do a good thing?” Kurt and others like him don’t want to answer that question, hence avoiding the issue somehow through osmosis, shifting blame to Ryan and McConnell.

And the slavish devotees, ever eager to see 5-D chess maneuvers in Squirrel-Hair's actions, want to claim that this really was a negotiation, and that now Freedom-Haters might be willing to look at some wall funding.

Let's hope they don't hold their breath until the turning-blue phase sets in:

As it turns out, the Trump administration knows their new best friends, Chuck and Nancy won’t go for border wall funding at all. Of course, this serves as a reminder that Trump was full of crap when he said he’d get Mexico to pay for the wall. Plenty of us knew that was a garbage promise before Trump secured the nomination. Now the administration is hinting they don’t want that fight:

White House legislative affairs director Marc Short told reporters on Tuesday that President Trump would not demand that border wall funding is tied to a legislative replacement for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Speaking at a roundtable event hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, Short said the administration didn’t want to “bind” itself by making a demand that would likely be a nonstarter for many lawmakers.

“We’re interested in getting border security and the president has made the commitment to the American people that a barrier is important to that security,” Short said. “Whether or not that is part of a DACA equation, or … another legislative vehicle, I don’t want to bind us into a construct that would make the conclusion on DACA impossible.”

There had been speculation that Trump would require any compromise on potential DACA legislation include money for a wall along the southern border.

Short went on to say that Trump is still committed to building the wall. Of course, they’re going to say that. What else are they going to say?
The problem is, the Democrats are never going to agree to provide funding for a border wall and they’ll thwart any attempts to do so. Trump, in alienating the people responsible for getting the legislation to the floor of both chambers, made it worse for himself. Trump can seek out the Freedom Caucus all he wants. As much as I like Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan, they can’t move the football without it being handed them by Ryan.

So actual conservatives now have the small, admittedly not too noble, consolation of watching the fools who still carry this charlatan's water desperately look for a favorable spin to put on his chaotic behavior.

I don't know that it ameliorates the anguish of knowing it could have been so different much, but it's kind of fun.