Trump Rails Against ‘Horrendous,’ ‘Death Wish’ of a Border Bill: ‘Only a Fool, Or a Radical Left Democrat’ Would Vote for It

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

Former President Donald Trump weighed in on the compromise border bill negotiated by a bipartisan group of senators on Monday morning, calling it “horrendous,” and even a ”Death Wish for the Republican Party” on Truth Social.

“Only a fool, or a Radical Left Democrat, would vote for this horrendous Border Bill, which only gives Shutdown Authority after 5000 Encounters a day, when we already have the right to CLOSE THE BORDER NOW, which must be done,” argued Trump. “This Bill is a great gift to the Democrats, and a Death Wish for The Republican Party. It takes the HORRIBLE JOB the Democrats have done on Immigration and the Border, absolves them, and puts it all squarely on the shoulders of Republicans. Don’t be STUPID!!!”

“We need a separate Border and Immigration Bill,” concluded Trump. “It should not be tied to foreign aid in any way, shape, or form! The Democrats broke Immigration and the Border. They should fix it. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

Trump had been pressuring Republicans to reject the bill — which also sends aid packages to both Ukraine and Israel — before its contents were even announced publicly. Late last month, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told his caucus that they were “in a quandary” because the party’s “nominee” [Trump] wanted to make immigration the centerpiece of his 2024 campaign against Joe Biden.

Senator James Lankford (R-OK), the GOP’s chief negotiator on the team that wrote the bill, summarized the legislation much differently on Fox & Friends Monday.

“It’s amazing to me, if I go back two months ago and say we had a shot under a Democrat president to dramatically increase detention beds, deportation flights, locked down the border, to be able to change the asylum laws, to be able to accelerate the process. No one would have believed it,” argued Lankford. “We have to decide as Republicans, what are we going to actually do about the border, leave it open or actually leave it closed?”