The choices they have been given were things taken away by Trump. Now he's dangling them in front of their faces, a big tease? And no, Democrats don't want open borders!

No, they will leave them open so long as it serves their purpose. It has been months since Trump moved on DACA and there has been nothing to solve that problem. The demonrats aren't interested anymore, no political capital in it for the moment, and they don't want a Trump solution

What you have now is the big shutdown, or the really, really big shutup.

Someone doesn't want Trump to get kudos from the wall, good idea or bad idea, politically noone is going to salute it. This is the not made here syndrome.

He is offering to undo the stuff he has done for a border wall. This is the guy who walked away from a grand deal last year. And walked away from a BI_PARTISAN deal to avoid a shutdown in the first place, after the right wing loonies blasted him for being soft.

The dems proposals are very simple Tom, open government and secure the borders, and keep talking. Pelosi and the dems were elected just like the dufus was, so no need to spread the political charged open borders lie, on top of the dufus grand lie that a wall solves the problem of gangs and drugs, when the drugs come through the points of entry with legit commerce.

This is a repub senate that filibustered keeping sanctions on the Vlad money machine. This is a senate that refuses to open government until the dufus is happy. Forget the open borders slander, the real question is who runs the senate, MITCH or DUFUS? Never mind, it's obvious The dufus runs the senate in his own feckless style.

That's not how it's laid out in the constitution, only in the minds of loony dufus sycophants in the repub house and senate. America cleaned out the house, guess what's NEXT? Oh just to mention the right wing loonies still ain't happy with the dufus idea. No wall, no government is their position.

That's not how it's laid out in the constitution either.

tal that is not a proposal .Guess we wait until the heat gets to the Dems. Many of them represent districts that voted for Trump specifically because of his position on border sercurity . McConnell brokered Trumps latest proposal along with Pence and Kushner. The Senate is ready to vote on a bill the President will sign. The onerous and the shutdown now resides in the open border Dems' court .

I bet they are if you call that a proposal.

The dems need to respond to Trump's offer. You give a little, I give a little. It's called negotiating. I think the dems are grandstanding for political purposes and will continue to do so as long as they see it as a winning hand. Could very well be true for Trump as well.

Gratifying that you acknowledge the possibility that both sides are playing to their bases. I agree that dems should respond to the offer on the table, but I would have a huge problem with making the lives of real people, specifically DACA, and government workers a leverage point. His offer also reflects previous deals he has REJECTED more than once. Essentially permanent wall funding for temporary DACA relief (3 years) seems a non starter, even though Slick Mitch is reportedly to add "sweeteners" to the proposal. I heard he plans to vote on the house proposals they have passed, and essentially the same ones the senate has passed by voice vote last December.

I guess we will see in the coming days. Not to change the subject but today is Martin Luther King Day and I would be remiss not to acknowledge the birthday of such a great American civil rights activist.

This isn't a negotiation, it is a demand. As I recall the Demonrats attempted to give Trump half the money before the shutdown and he refused so there is no give in Trump. He isn't prepared to take one dollar less because the lives of those affected by the shutdown don't matter to him. He doesn't see them as voters or at least not his voters. Trump is grandstanding and the Demonrats know they have the House and therefore the veto on funding Anything Trump offers requires funding so he isn't giving anything

He hasn't moved on funding for the wall, but he has moved on the DACA situation. The dems have not offered half the money. Their stand is they will not give more than one dollar. The only proposal I recall from the dems is a vague offer to increase spending for the border, but not for a wall. Both sides are grandstanding. It is the nature of politics.

Release the hostages!!! There are enough dem, and repub bills to do that and open the government and stop good people from suffering. Dump the dufus and his feckless sycophants!

Fund the wall and it shall happen.

"And if you continue to refuse to fund the wall, you'll be really, really sorry, sorrier than you are now!"

You have that in quotes, but I can't find anywhere Trump said that. Are you saying that he did?

In your view, what would a reasonable compromise be in this situation, Wondergirl?

Compromise? The only compromise is to keep the invaders out and not use military force to do so.

Increased numbers of well-trained immigration agents plus clean, well-run housing and empathetic support services for the refugees and immigrants who have passed through the initial phases of the visa process.

You haven't been listening. What he did say was pretty much that.

He did say, "Walls work, whether we like it or not. They work better than anything.” He apparently hasn't studied what happened with Hadrian's Wall or the Great Wall of China or the Berlin Wall or the Walls of Troy or the Walls of Babylon.

OK. That's not a compromise, it's dictating terms. I would think the dems could offer 3 bil for the wall rather than 5, and ask for concessions for DACA and TPS.

Why is it that libs are always asking for "clean, well-run housing...support", paid for with someone else's money, or even worse with borrowed money?

I'm negotiating. That's my card on the table to counter tRump's.

Why is tRump going to use our money, especially MY tax money that I've/we've paid, so he can fund a wall I/we don't want? Let him use his own money.

Fair enough, but what would you propose as a genuine compromise?

Good reply. I think the difference is in giving money to individuals versus spending money on a project that will benefit us all.

We're not at the compromise stage yet. Trump stated his goal. I stated mine. Does he want to discuss, or will he storm out of the room, saying "Bye, bye!"

How will a wall benefit me? I have no problem with refugees and immigrants eventually becoming citizens, probably willing to do all those low-paying jobs (custodial work, harvesting crops, reroofing buildings, working in construction and rebuilding infrastructure, becoming CNAs) that our privileged white adult children and grandchildren won't do.

You're dithering.

Illegals consume billions upon billions of dollars in tax money every year. That's how it should concern you.

Funny how liberals can never stray far away from race.