Nancy Pelosi should negotiate with Ann Coulter
Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney, is the host of SiriusXM radio's daily program "The Dean Obeidallah Show" and a columnist for The Daily Beast. Follow him @DeanObeidallah. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion articles on CNN.
(CNN)Donald Trump made a public offer on Saturday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congressional Democrats in an effort to end the longest government shutdown. He proposed to extend protection for DACA recipients and individuals with Temporary Protected Status in exchange for funding for his beloved wall (yes, the same wall he promised that Mexico would pay for).
Pelosi swiftly rejected the offer as a "non-starter," and she was right to do so.
From the right, the reception for Trump's offer was equally scathing. Pundit Ann Coulter slammed it almost immediately. In a tweet, Coulter wrote, "Trump proposes amnesty. We voted for Trump and got Jeb!", as in Jeb Bush, the former GOP governor of Florida who she viewed as far too moderate on immigration issues. She quickly added, "Trade a wall for AMNESTY, and there's no purpose to having a wall."
While I don't usually care what Coulter says, when it comes to Trump's immigration policy, she and radio show host Rush Limbaugh might be the most influential voices. That's why if Pelosi wants to end this shutdown, she should start by speaking with Coulter and Limbaugh, not the President.
Just look at what we saw last month. Trump declared on December 11, in a meeting with Pelosi and Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer, that he would allow a government shutdown over funding for the border wall. He even said, "If we have to shut down the country over border security, I actually like that."
But by December 18, Trump had apparently retreated. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told Fox News then, "we don't want to shut down the government." She added, "We have other ways that we can get to that $5 billion [for a border wall]."
The very next day, with the apparent understanding Trump was on board, the GOP controlled Senate voted for a funding bill without including billions for the wall. At the time, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, John Cornyn, assured the media that Trump was on board with this bill, stating that the President would sign it.
It appeared that a compromise had been reached and the government would remain open. That was until Coulter and Limbaugh showed America who was really boss.
Coulter, who wrote the book "In Trump We Trust," publicly ripped into the President on a conservative media outlet, warning that if Trump didn't build the wall, he would have "a joke presidency." She even went as far to say, "he'll have no legacy whatsoever." Then Coulter wrote an article brutally slamming the President: "Either Trump never intended to build the wall and was scamming voters all along, or he has no idea how to get it done and zero interest in finding out."
Then there was conservative Limbaugh who took to his national radio show that boasts an audience of 14 million listeners daily to call out Trump for apparently "getting ready to cave" on wall funding. Limbaugh fumed, "Trump gets nothing, and the Democrats get everything." He then warned, "people's patience [with Trump] gonna wear out."
Well, Trump appears to have heard them and done as they demanded. The next day, on December 20, Limbaugh declared on his show that Trump had personally contacted him to signal he was backing off that position: "The President has gotten word to me that he is either getting funding for the border, or he's shutting the whole thing down."
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And just last week, Coulter appeared to be patting herself on the back for causing Trump to flip on the issue, noting that Trump had been seemingly losing his way but "we've reeled him back." Sure, others on the right, including Fox News anchors, slammed Trump on this issue as well, but Coulter and Limbaugh were the ones who lead this charge.
Given this history, why would Pelosi or any Democratic leader waste their time speaking to Trump about this issue, especially given that Coulter has already opposed Trump's latest proposal.
Pelosi needs to negotiate with those who really call the shots: Coulter and Limbaugh. In fact, at this point, with all the power they hold over the Trump administration, maybe Coulter and Limbaugh should get Secret Service protection. While it's unlikely Pelosi will truly find common ground with these two, if somehow she actually did, we would have a binding deal to re-open the government.
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https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/20/opinions/pelosi-coulter-limbaugh-immigration-negotiation-obeidallah/index.html
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