Republicans condemned for bowing to Trump on border deal: ‘Pathetically weak’

Republican lawmakers who have got behind Donald Trump‘s call to reject a bipartisan border deal sparked outrage on both sides of the aisle.

The one-term president privately directed some Republican senators to avoid making a bipartisan compromise over the US southern border, denying Joe Biden a campaign win, an anonymous source told HuffPost.

“Trump wants to kill it because he doesn’t want Biden to have a victory,” the source said. “He told them he will fix the border when he is president… He said he only wants the perfect deal.”

Punchbowl News reported that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told fellow Republican Senators that Mr Trump wants to run on immigration, and they, therefore, find themselves “in a quandary.”

Mr McConnell referred to the former president as “the nominee” and said, “We don’t want to do anything to undermine him.”

Mr Trump’s alleged demand — and some Republicans’ decision to heed it — has led to confusion, disappointment and condemnation.

“This proposal would have had almost unanimous Republican support if it weren’t for Donald Trump,” an anonymous Republican Senator told CNN on 25 January.

Utah’s Republican Senator Mitt Romney slammed Mr Trump in an interview with CNN.

“I think the border is a very important issue for Donald Trump. And the fact that he would communicate to Republican senators and congresspeople that he doesn’t want us to solve the border problem because he wants to blame Biden for it is really appalling,” he said.

“But the reality is that, that we have a crisis at the border, the American people are suffering as a result,” Mr Romney continued. “And someone running for president ought to try to get the problem solved as opposed to saying, ‘Hey, save that problem. Don’t solve