Donald Trump and Kari Lake desperately want chaos, not solutions, at the border

I understand their logic. We all understand their logic, twisted as it is.

The best thing for the country is the worst thing for the political campaigns of Donald Trump and Kari Lake. And to them, campaigns come first.

It doesn’t matter that Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate have reached a bipartisan deal on border security and immigration, thanks to Arizona’s Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, working with Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and James Lankford, R-Okla.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson called the deal — even before knowing the details — “dead on arrival.”

Trump and Lake put their needs over country

We all know why he said that.

A bipartisan deal to address the border problem is the best thing for the country.

But it is the worst thing for Donald Trump, who has made the border crisis the key element — if not the only element — of his campaign. The same is true of sycophants like U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake, who follows, head bowed, in Trump’s footsteps.

Border Patrol keeps growing: But immigration remains broken

They want the chaos. They need the chaos. And Speaker Johnson goes along. These are Republicans putting Trump over party, and then putting party over country.

A border deal could help us, but also Biden

Democratic Rep. Becca Balint of Vermont summed it up well at a House hearing.

She said in part, “A bipartisan group in the Senate says we have a solution … The MAGA response has been, ‘Let’s keep the chaos. We’re good. Let’s keep the suffering. We’re good.’… So, again, forgive me for not taking this hearing seriously.”

Sinema’s office sent a statement to The Arizona Republic reading in part, “Arizona’s border is in crisis, and Arizona communities deserve real solutions — not tired partisan talking points. Partisans on both sides of the aisle should take this opportunity to solve the border crisis and support Arizona communities, instead of continuing to do nothing.”

President Joe Biden has said he is ready to sign the deal hammered out by Democrats and Republicans in the Senate.

Trump and Lake, along with their Republican enablers in the House, don’t want that to happen. They know that such a deal could begin to alleviate the border crisis, which would be a huge win for the country.

But they fear it also might be perceived as a win for Biden.

In that case, they’d rather have the country lose.

And lose big.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Donald Trump and Kari Lake want chaos, not solutions, at the border