President Donald Trump’s decision to give in on his border wall demand and end the government shutdown fight is not going over well with some of his staunchest supporters.
On Friday, the president signed a short-term spending bill which passed the Senate and House, ending the nation’s longest partial federal government shutdown. And immediately he was accused of caving in and losing the battle to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over his demand for funding a wall along the southern U.S. border.
While Fox News’ Sean Hannity backed Trump, telling his audience on Friday that “you don’t really know the Donald Trump I know,” his Fox News colleagues were blunt about their disappointment. Fox Business’ Lou Dobbs declared that Pelosi “whipped” the president on the issue.
“You know I’m an animated, energetic supporter of this president,” Dobbs told his guests, former acting ICE director Thomas Homan and former adviser Sebastian Gorka, on “Lou Dobbs Tonight” Friday.
“But you’ve got to call it as it is. This president said it was going to be conditional border security, building that wall, and he just reversed himself,” Dobbs said. “That’s a victory for Nancy Pelosi. It will be perceived as such on every television monitor and screen in the country. And to deny it is to try to escape from reality. And that we ain’t going to do here.”
In announcing the deal, Trump reiterated that he had a “very powerful weapon” which he opted not to use at this time, presumably referring to declaring a national emergency to secure the border. After conservative supporters accused the president of giving in to Democrats, he tweeted that the measure, which temporarily opens the federal government for three weeks, is ‘in no way a concession.”
I wish people would read or listen to my words on the Border Wall. This was in no way a concession. It was taking care of millions of people who were getting badly hurt by the Shutdown with the understanding that in 21 days, if no deal is done, it’s off to the races!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2019
Gorka came to Trump’s defense, explaining that the deal only funds the government until February 15th and it is actually a “masterstroke” that extends the standoff for another three weeks. But Dobbs was not buying it, calling Pelosi the “winner” because “the President of the United States made a condition precedent that that border funding would be there, he withdraw that condition precedent, the government is opening.”
“I believe in the president,” Dobbs concluded, but added that “I think he got rolled on this.”
Conservative commentator Ann Coulter tweeted her disappointment after the president’s announcement.
Good news for George Herbert Walker Bush: As of today, he is no longer the biggest wimp ever to serve as President of the United States.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) January 25, 2019
Fox Nation host Tomi Lahren also echoed the sentiments in tweets on Friday criticizing the president who “just allowed Nancy to walk all over him.”
I’m happy federal workers will be paid but @realDonaldTrump just allowed Nancy to walk all over him. It’s President Trump, not President Pelosi. Act like it. #BuildThatWall
— Tomi Lahren (@TomiLahren) January 25, 2019
Giving in on his original demand for funding the border wall will prove disastrous for Trump’s reelection efforts, Lahren warned in another tweet.
If @realDonaldTrump backs down on the $5.7 billion he will face an uphill battle in 2020. Bad move.
— Tomi Lahren (@TomiLahren) January 25, 2019
Trump “will face an uphill battle in 2020,” Lahren predicted. “Bad move.”
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Frieda@bizpacreview.com
Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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