President Trump took his fight for a wall to the U.S.-Mexico border on Monday night, promising a crowd in El Paso, Texas, that he would press forward for its construction — even as news was breaking in Washington that a deal reached between congressional negotiators would fall far short of his funding demands.
And in a near-showdown that seemed to mirror the ongoing political dispute over the border, Trump was greeted by a counter-rally led by Democrat Beto O’Rourke. The former Texas lawmaker failed last year in his effort to unseat GOP Sen. Ted Cruz but could parlay his newfound celebrity with Democratic voters into a 2020 bid to unseat the president — a White House bid that could especially challenge Trump over immigration policy, border security and the propriety of building a Southern border wall.
But the bigger threat to the message about the need to secure the border that Trump was trying to deliver was coming from many miles away. As another partial government shutdown loomed, bipartisan negotiators on Capitol Hill emerged with a deal Monday night for $1.375 billion for “physical barriers” at the border (the same level that was agreed to in last year’s Department of Homeland Security funding bill). This will fund about 55 miles of fencing.
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