Here we go.

.@senatemajldr: "I've just had an opportunity to speak with President Trump…he's prepared to sign the bill. He will also be issuing a national emergency declaration at the same time." pic.twitter.com/iukGKjmoZ8

— CSPAN (@cspan) February 14, 2019

The view earlier this afternoon on the populist right…

As @JessicaV_CIS notes, there is a serious amnesty/sanctuary provision snuck into the spending bill.

Section 224(a) would make it so ICE cannot detain or remove anyone who has effectively any kind of relationship (even just as a "potential sponsor") with any unaccompanied minor: pic.twitter.com/QITiAEVw1w

— Center for Immigration Studies (@CIS_org) February 14, 2019

Remember, @realDonaldTrump signed that #omnibus last year, on promise he’d get his wall funding. They lied to him. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…

— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) February 14, 2019

This bill must NOT be signed by @realDonaldTrump.

— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) February 14, 2019

…and the view on the establishment right:

Sen. @ChuckGrassley: "Let's all pray that the president will have wisdom to sign the bill so government doesn't shut down." pic.twitter.com/phUQOfdYC7

— CSPAN (@cspan) February 14, 2019

If Trump finds the bill objectionable, and there are various reasons why he might, he could always reject it and offer to sign a clean short-term funding bill to keep the government open while negotiations continue. But would Pelosi agree to that? She might say “take it or leave it.”

In which case, I assume, Trump would say “leave it,” offer to sign a clean long-term funding bill to avert a new shutdown, and remove the border-wall fight to court by declaring a national emergency. There’s really no reason not to at this point. His fans would love it if he rejected a bad border compromise, and he stands a chance of winning a court battle that would allow him to reappropriate Pentagon money. What does he gain by signing legislation that his base dislikes if he’s resolved to invoke some sort of executive authority and have a fight over the wall in court anyway?

Per CNN, he’s allegedly been complaining to staff that Republican negotiators in Congress got outmaneuvered by their Democratic counterparts. I’d say that the outmaneuvering began in 2017, when Trump failed to turn up the heat on the Republican-controlled Congress to fund the wall for him, but fair enough:

[P]rivately, Trump has cast the GOP’s dealmaking efforts as inadequate and wondered why he, an experienced dealmaker, wasn’t consulted at more regular intervals as the two sides haggled over an agreement. The White House acted largely on the sidelines while congressional negotiators struck a deal.

That was intentional, according to people familiar with the process, who noted Trump’s attempts at brokering an agreement between lawmakers proved futile during the record-length government shutdown that ushered in the new year…

“I pray” Trump signs the bill, Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby told CNN Thursday.

He has a lot of nerve wondering why his mad negotiation skillz weren’t included in the process given that he’s tried and failed on this issue before and that he’s notoriously bad about changing his mind even after he seems to have staked out a position on an offer. Anyway, he seems convinced that his base will be okay with him signing the bill so long as it comes paired with an emergency declaration; after all, even though the legislation doesn’t deliver the $5.7 billion he’s seeking, he can get the rest that he needs from executive action. That’s not the chief problem that righties have with the bill today, though. (Right, Ann?) The problem is the Democratic goodies that were snuck in there, like the amnesty tidbit identified by CIS in the tweet above. He might win a court battle over the wall but if he signs the bill he’ll still be signing provisions like that one into law. This is why I say it’d make more sense to declare the whole immigration process over, offer a clean long-term funding bill, and have the wall fight in court. Why sign a bad bill if you don’t need to?

Democrats seem pretty chipper about the precedent an emergency declaration will set, meanwhile:

https://twitter.com/BenjySarlin/status/1096141611526955008

They might not need to pass the Green New Deal through Congress to get the Green New Deal implemented if Trump wins his court battle.

By the way, not every Democrat is voting for today’s bill. Some object to the fact that it … increases funding for Homeland Security. Guess who.

Update: Yup. The days of farting cows are over, my friends.

https://twitter.com/DougHeye/status/1096141432564396032

The idea of Trump declaring an emergency at the border also polled horribly throughout the shutdown, so at a minimum this should stop the recent rise in his approval rating, if not reverse it.