Rush Limbaugh gives blessing to possible border wall deal

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President Trump 'not happy about' tentative border security deal: 'It's not doing the trick'

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on Tuesday told show listeners not to underestimate President Trump’s desire to address illegal immigration and secure the border with Mexico, even if he does sign a compromise to avoid another federal shutdown.

“Anything that happens that solidifies and cements that effort as being undertaken and underway, the president can portray as a win. He can always hold out the card of a declaration of a national emergency to get the rest of it built and so forth,” Limbaugh said.

President Trump today expressed his dissatisfaction with the possible border-security compromise at a White House Cabinet meeting, though he stopped short of rejecting it.

“I’m not happy about it. It’s not doing the trick. But I’m adding things to it, and when you add whatever I have to add, it’s all gonna happen where we’re gonna build a beautiful, big, strong wall that’s not gonna let criminals and traffickers and drug dealers and drugs into our country,” Trump said.

“If the president signs anything that allocates, appropriates less than the $5.7 billion he was demanding or asking, how many of you look at that as a defeat or as a loss versus how many of you look at that as the completion of a stage of this?" Limbaugh asked. "The president has promised over and over that the wall is going to get built. Nobody can say he has caved on the premise of controlling illegal immigration and shoring up the border.”

TRUMP 'NOT HAPPY' WITH DEAL BUT WANTS TO AVERT ANOTHER SHUTDOWN

Limbaugh also laid out a potential line of reasoning for the White House, should the president sign a compromise.

“If he signs this, he’s gonna have to make the case that you never get everything you want all at once in Washington. We’ve got a divided government. We got ’em off the zero, we’re moving in the right direction. We’re continuing to build the wall,” Limbaugh said.

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As for those critical of the president, the radio host reminded them and listeners who would be disappointed with a compromise that they'd be underestimating Trump.

“I just think somebody is so out of their gourds on this because of their ongoing belief that Trump is some ogre and not sophisticated, not capable, not an individual thinker, and he just -- they still don’t know who the man is. They still don’t know who they’re dealing with,” Limbaugh said.