All Pain, No Gain

First Read: “So we went from Democrats once offering $25 billion for a border wall in exchange for protection for DACA recipients … to Dem leaders offering Trump $1.3 billion for border fencing … to a floated compromise of $2.5 billion during the shutdown … to a final deal of $1.375 billion for fencing.”

“For all the (valid) grief that Barack Obama got for his negotiating skills, how is this not substantially worse?”

“As a real-estate negotiator, Trump would apply maximum pressure to wear down the opposition. That tactic works when the stakes are low. But when the stakes are high – and the other side has almost the same power in the negotiations – it doesn’t work as well.”

“When it comes to this fight over the border wall/fencing/barriers, Trump lost. And he lost badly.”

New York Times: “In pursuit of a wall, President Trump ran into one.”