Will there be true bipartisanship in January?

Since President-Elect Trump's convincing victory, there have been a few instances of Democrats making noises that sound like reasonability. It's almost like they're starting to learn lessons from 2024. This NY Post article has some of those utterances. Though they didn't identify the "senators, aides and sources" who criticized their fellow Democrats, it's obvious that these Democrats aren't happy with Democrat leadership. That might translate into voting support for legitimate immigration reform.

Until that happens, though, I'll still be skeptical. I'll take a 'Prove it' attitude to Democrats supporting immigration reform that includes asylum reform, pays for at least 900 miles of Trump's wall and eliminates sanctuary cities and states. Perhaps that's a little too optimistic but here's hoping. After all, Democrats are playing catch-up on immigration. By the time of the next presidential election in 20238, Republicans will have fixed most of the immigration problem so it won't be the hot issue it was this year.

“We destroyed ourselves on the immigration issue in ways that were entirely predictable and entirely manageable,” a Democratic senator confided to The Hill under the condition of anonymity. “We utterly mismanaged that issue, including our Democratic caucus here. That’s political malpractice. That’s not someone else’s fault. That’s not the groups pushing us around.”

Democrats definitely mismanaged the immigration issue. It likely cost them control of the House. If Democrats don't stand with the GOP on this, Trump will beat them bloody with immigration. The message will likely sound like this:

"Democrats simply won't join us in fixing immigration problems. They can't be trusted to govern. If they won't govern now, when will they?"

Check this out, too:

A House Democratic source suggested to The Post that the only way forward would be for party bosses “to get back to basics and simply admit to the American people ‘crime and illegal immigration are bad.'”

Trump campaigned on launching a mass-deportation effort, though he emphasized that his first targets would be those convicted of crimes — an initiative that polling showed a majority of Hispanic voters support.

If Sen. Schumer isn't willing to work with Trump, that will reflect poorly on Hakeem JEffries. In turn, that'll hurt Rep. Jeffries' opportunity to become Speaker. That's a ton of pressure on Democrats to work with Republicans on something important. This interview casts new light on Democrats to work with the Trump administration:

That Gov. Abbott thinks that there aren't enough ICE and CBP agents is stunning, especially in light of the fact that Democrats alone passed the Inflation Reduction Act with $$ for IRS agents but without $$ for ICE or CBP agents. If Democrats won't vote to rescind the money for the IRS agents or to hire ICE or CBP agents, then Republicans should beat Democrats over the head with that vote until Election Day. I'd specifically highlight the fact that there's a full-blown crisis of criminal aliens while there's no such crisis in getting taxes collected. As Ted Cruz once told Hannity, the one sentence that he's never heard from a constituent is that 'There just aren't enough IRS agents.'

If Democrats won't agree to cutting spending on the new IRS funding, Republicans should offer an amendment using the money for new IRS agents as a pay-for to pay for hiring ICE and CBP agents. That way, it's a simple up-or-down vote forcing Democrats to vote for IRS agents or ICE or CBP agents. Don't give Democrats any wiggle room.