At the conclusion of a week in which he insulted Scotland Yard for its failure to prevent the train subway bombing in London that took place early Friday morning, President Donald Trump has befriended liberal Democrat New York Senator Chuck Schumer.
The New York Senator was inadvertently overheard stating on a hot mic, "He (Donald Trump) likes me," according to ABC News on Saturday.
The remark was made after the White House denied that Trump had made "an agreement" with Democratic Congressional leaders pertaining to DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the "Dreamers), even though Attorney General Jeff Sessions had stated last week that the DACA program, which was implemented by President Barack Obama in an executive order, was about to be rescinded.
Why Schumer thought Trump liked him
Schumer also stated, (in reference to Trump), "He likes us. He likes me anyway," according to ABC News on Saturday. It seems apparent that the New York Senator thought that Trump liked him because he, Nancy Pelosi and President Trump had a "productive meeting." However, last Thursday morning, the White House issued a statement denying that an agreement had been made with the Democratic Congressional leaders, "No deal was made last night on DACA. Massive border security would have to be agreed to in exchange for consent. Would be subject to vote," according to ABC News.
It appears to at least some observers that the White House denial of having reached an agreement with Schumer, Pelosi and other Democrats in Congress, maybe a "face-saving" measure.
Trump had predicated his entire Presidential campaign around the issue of repealing DACA, deporting immigrants across the border, showing no compassion for others, and declaring undocumented immigrants rapists, criminals, and murderers. The White House, in a desperate attempt to hold onto the anti-immigrant base that got him elected President, may have gone into "damage control" mode and denied that any agreement had been reached with the Democrats in the first place.
On the other hand, it is possible that perhaps there was an honest misunderstanding between the White House and the Democratic Congressional leaders and that one side thought that an agreement had been made and the other side thought that no agreement had been reached. However, it is unlikely that seasoned, experienced Congressional leaders, and a President who wrote the book, The Art of the Deal, would "misunderstand" what was or was not agreed to in a deal.
As this observer sees it, the White House damage control scenario, after having made a deal, is more likely.
'The Donald' to campaign for Luther Strange
Meanwhile, the White House had announced that Trump will travel to Alabama this week to campaign for incumbent GOP Alabama Senator Luther Strange, who took Jeff Session's place when he became Attorney General. Strange is being challenged in the GOP primary election by former Alabama State Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, whose political base is the Christian right, or evangelical voters. The President referred to the Alabama Senator as "Big Luther,: and stated that he "is a great guy who gets things done," according to ABC News on Saturday.
Thus far in his short Senate career, the only thing that Strange can claim to have gotten done is to co-sign a letter to "the Donald" urging him to pull out of the Paris Agreement and expose the United States, which led the environmental war against Global Warming under the Obama Administration, as seriously lagging behind and engendering an environmental policy nightmare.
