'MAGA meltdown:' columnist explains why Trump and Mike Johnson fear border control bill

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is having a "MAGA meltdown," egged on by former President Donald Trump, over a bipartisan border control deal, according to a new analysis.

There are two key reasons why, wrote columnist Greg Sargent for The New Republic.

Johnson and his allies have put forward a number of specious reasons to oppose the bill, Sargent writes.

They argue it would "allow" 5,000 migrants to enter per day, when in fact it just uses 5,000 encounters with Border Patrol as the threshold for closing the border, and have falsely claimed Biden has the "authority" to shut the border down when he doesn't, Sargent notes.

"The bill would, in fact, do a great deal that Republicans say they want," wrote Sargent.

Sargent points to provisions tightening asylum requirements, speeding up removals, adding some due process protections for migrants, and granting work permits to those who pass initial asylum screening so they won't be as dependent on aid.

The reason they're fighting so hard, argues Sargent, is pressure from the top conservative presidential candidate.

"Republicans will have participated in passing a solution, making it harder for them to blame Biden for it," writes Sargent. "That’s plainly why Donald Trump keeps urging Republicans to kill the bill."

Another reason they are scared of the bill is that they think it might work, wrote Sargent — and eliminate a key issue they've used as a weapon in countless elections.

"Admittedly, the best political outcome for Dems may be that House Republicans kill the compromise, turning voters against Republicans and sparing Democrats from supporting something that alienates their base and threatens terrible humanitarian outcomes. Yet not doing anything new at the border — maintaining the status quo—while heading into a general election against Trump carries its own risks," wrote Sargent.

And this, he concluded, "is exactly the calculation that MAGA Republicans are making. Notably, Trump himself greeted the bill’s release by declaring it a 'great gift to Democrats,' laying that obvious truth bare for all to see. As Johnson has helpfully demonstrated, he’s simply operationalizing Trump’s scam."