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U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the press about the $1.3 trillion spending bill passed by Congress early Friday, with Vice President Mike Pence (L), in the Diplomatic Room of the White House on March 23, 2018 in Washington, DC. After threatening to veto the legislation earlier today, President Trump announced he had signed the bill, avoiding a government shutdown. (Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Giving credence to those arguing his veto threat was either an impulsive "bluff" or a "temper tantrum," President Donald Trump signed the massive $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill on Friday afternoon, but immigrant rights groups and Dreamers were not even a little bit fooled that the president's bloviating and political head-fake had anything to do with protecting them.
"If Trump truly cared about a solution, he would push for a permanent solution and wouldn't have killed all bipartisan proposals," Paul Quinonez, an undocumented resident of Washington state and a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (or DACA), told Al Jazeera in the wake of Trump's veto threat.
Already approved by the House, the U.S. Senate rammed through the spending bill overnight, but on Friday morning Trump took to Twitter to say that despite the threat of a government shutdown if he failed to sign it by midnight, he was considering a veto.
Within hours Trump proved his veto threat was exactly that when he signed the spending bill at the White House, but Quinonez wasn't alone in calling bullshit on the way the president tried to frame the DACA issue in the context of the omnibus.
As Dara Lind writes at Vox, the "only thing more insulting than using DACA as a fig leaf for a veto threat was the fact that everyone knew he'd back down anyway."
Immigrants rights advocates were extremely unimpressed:
This country and this world are at a monumental crossroads. US voters have an opportunity to beat back the forces of fascism and confront the billionaires who are rigging the economy, our media system, and our democracy, making it increasingly impossible for ordinary people to get by. We’re not just talking about the election. We’re talking about what must be done once these fascist elements are vanquished from power. We need a bolder set of solutions than what either major party has so far been willing to offer and a working-class movement ready to fight like hell for it. Trump didn't emerge from nowhere. The conditions that fueled MAGA authoritarianism were created by decades of radical neoliberal economic policies and a corrupt political system dominated by corporate interests. They slashed taxes on the super-rich, promising that the benefits would trickle down. They said giveaways to the corporate titans would make life more affordable for the rest of us. It was all bullshit. And when a bitter, betrayed populace searches for someone to blame, right-wing demagogues have little trouble finding scapegoats. People know when they're being lied to, but you won't hear any of this from the corporate media. Only independent journalism—powered and funded by people who believe in building a better world—can deliver truly trustworthy daily news. If you share our vision, please contribute whatever you can to sustain our work. |
Giving credence to those arguing his veto threat was either an impulsive "bluff" or a "temper tantrum," President Donald Trump signed the massive $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill on Friday afternoon, but immigrant rights groups and Dreamers were not even a little bit fooled that the president's bloviating and political head-fake had anything to do with protecting them.
"If Trump truly cared about a solution, he would push for a permanent solution and wouldn't have killed all bipartisan proposals," Paul Quinonez, an undocumented resident of Washington state and a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (or DACA), told Al Jazeera in the wake of Trump's veto threat.
Already approved by the House, the U.S. Senate rammed through the spending bill overnight, but on Friday morning Trump took to Twitter to say that despite the threat of a government shutdown if he failed to sign it by midnight, he was considering a veto.
Within hours Trump proved his veto threat was exactly that when he signed the spending bill at the White House, but Quinonez wasn't alone in calling bullshit on the way the president tried to frame the DACA issue in the context of the omnibus.
As Dara Lind writes at Vox, the "only thing more insulting than using DACA as a fig leaf for a veto threat was the fact that everyone knew he'd back down anyway."
Immigrants rights advocates were extremely unimpressed:
Giving credence to those arguing his veto threat was either an impulsive "bluff" or a "temper tantrum," President Donald Trump signed the massive $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill on Friday afternoon, but immigrant rights groups and Dreamers were not even a little bit fooled that the president's bloviating and political head-fake had anything to do with protecting them.
"If Trump truly cared about a solution, he would push for a permanent solution and wouldn't have killed all bipartisan proposals," Paul Quinonez, an undocumented resident of Washington state and a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (or DACA), told Al Jazeera in the wake of Trump's veto threat.
Already approved by the House, the U.S. Senate rammed through the spending bill overnight, but on Friday morning Trump took to Twitter to say that despite the threat of a government shutdown if he failed to sign it by midnight, he was considering a veto.
Within hours Trump proved his veto threat was exactly that when he signed the spending bill at the White House, but Quinonez wasn't alone in calling bullshit on the way the president tried to frame the DACA issue in the context of the omnibus.
As Dara Lind writes at Vox, the "only thing more insulting than using DACA as a fig leaf for a veto threat was the fact that everyone knew he'd back down anyway."
Immigrants rights advocates were extremely unimpressed: