President Trump put everyone on notice yesterday that he was going to be making a “major announcement” at the White House today regarding the shutdown and the southern border. And he was showing previews of what he might say at the same time.

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— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 19, 2019

After a heck of a week for Democrat optics and journalism fails, everyone was waiting to see what President Trump had to announce.

Except Nancy Pelosi. She already had a statement out BEFORE the president spoke and had already rejected what he might offer.

Democrats were hopeful that @realDonaldTrump was finally willing to re-open government & proceed with a much-needed discussion to protect the border. Unfortunately, reports make clear that his proposal is a compilation of previously rejected initiatives. https://t.co/MFwebWSevG pic.twitter.com/yMTm4iP27h

— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) January 19, 2019

Seriously. Her office tweeted that out at the same time that the president was supposed to start speaking. Sounds like she’s totally ready to negotiate, right? HA.

President Trump must have realized that Nancy Pelosi is not going to move, and is now appealing to Democrats in the House who are hearing from their constituents. He wants that $5.7 billion for a wall, but he is now willing to grant a three-year DACA extension and a three-year extension on TPS (temporary protected status) designations in order for CONGRESS to get actual legislation passed. And the president says that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is prepared to bring the legislation to the floor this coming week.

This is a strategic move for President Trump, because giving extensions on DACA and TPS does not hurt him politically and puts the legislative process back into Congress’s court. And how does it make Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and their cohorts look if they shoot down the offer without even counter-offering anything? They want the government opened, and only THEN will they consider any of the proposed border security measures?

That’s not how this works. If the Democrats haven’t noticed, this is exactly like a teacher’s strike. When the negotiations break down, teachers’ unions go on strike and refuse to work. They know that eventually, they will be paid. They know that they’ll get all the days of the school year in. Do unions agree to the “start working again and THEN we’ll negotiate your salary/insurance benefits package” proposals? As any parent who has lived through an extended teachers’ strike can tell you, HELL NO. It’s not until that contract is negotiated, approved, voted on, and signed that anyone walks back into the classroom to teach. Funny, I thought Democrats loved these union tactics.

In this scenario, Donald Trump is the teachers’ union that has just presented its contract offer to go back to the classroom. Nancy, Chuck, and the Democrats are the school district officials who are refusing to even look at the paperwork because they want the school back open first. Guess who looks more unreasonable in this scenario?

President Trump has painted the Democrats into a corner by offering them something they want, without budging on his demand. By refusing to even counter-offer, the Democrats now own the shutdown in its entirety. They know if they even concede a penny toward a wall of any kind, they lose politically. Trump is now counting on the American people to see the intransigence of the Democrats to create pressure on them. When the public sees this as something they can yell at their own Congressperson about, it might produce enough cracks in the Democrat coalition to undermine Nancy Pelosi’s power in the House and force a vote. If enough angry voters call their Congresspeople and tell them to counter-offer, they will be listening.

Great speech by @POTUS. Congress needs to seriously and genuinely act on his plan. Take “pride” and “ego” out of it and end this shutdown. It is time for Congress to act for the safety and security of the American people and for the 800k people who want to go back to work.

— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) January 19, 2019

By making this announcement directly to the people, President Trump gave the public the leverage to spur Congress into action. It’s time for the political theater to end and let the people’s voice be heard.

Featured image: President Trump in the Oval Office in 2017 – image cropped, official White House photo by Shealah Craighead, public domain