Did somebody hack the Washington Post website?

That was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the title of this WaPo editorial. Shortly after Nancy Pelosi declared that President Trump’s offer of a deal yesterday was “a non-starter,” the newspaper’s editorial board led with the title, “Make a Deal. Save the Dreamers.”

To be sure, the editorial goes to great lengths to include a barrage of insults to the President before getting to the meat of their argument. They ensure their liberal bona fides by declaring that he doesn’t deserve to be rewarded for “taking the government hostage” and building so much as one foot of new wall on the border would only reinforce his “hateful, anti-immigrant rhetoric.” But after they get all that out of the way, they explain their conclusion and why saving the dreamers is worth the price of having to make a concession to the president they hate with a burning passion. (Emphasis added)

Mr. Trump’s offer should be welcomed but not accepted as the final word. There should be room to talk about the amount of money; how border security will be defined and enhanced; which categories of dreamers and TPS beneficiaries are covered; what their legal status will be, and for how long. But to refuse even to talk until the government reopens does no favors to sidelined federal workers and contractors. Unquestionably a deal would contain galling elements for both sides; that’s the nature of compromise. But a measure of statesmanship for a member of Congress now is the ability to accept some disappointments, and shrug off the inevitable attacks from purists, if it means rescuing the lives of thousands of deserving people living among us.

I’ve pinched myself several times now but it appears that I’m actually awake and the Washington Post really did print this. Dare I utter the words and say that this sounds like a bit of … common sense?

Yes, I’m fully aware that making a deal such as the one Trump proposed it going to be galling (to borrow the WaPo’s term) to many on the right. I’m obviously not wild about it myself. People like Ann Coulter are going to freak out. In fact, she already has.

Why does everyone assume Trump is trading amnesty for a wall? ANSWER: Because it's the stupidest thing he could possibly do. https://t.co/7rv6UaVbDE — Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) January 19, 2019

But in the end, DACA was always going to be a power card in the Democrats’ hands. While most of the country doesn’t favor a general amnesty for illegal aliens, the polling numbers in support of specifically the illegals brought here as children and raised in this country are through the roof. While I’ll need a seriously large lump of sugar to swallow this particular medicine, it’s worth thinking of it in terms of the long game. If there were some sort of final fix for the DACA argument, such as permanent resident alien status for those with no other criminal record, that takes a big piece off the chess board for the Democrats in future illegal immigration and border security debates.

And as much as everyone is saying this would represent Trump and the GOP “caving,” Pelosi has drawn just as hard of a line in the sand over no more than one dollar for the wall. If she coughs up the $5.7B she’s eating a healthy portion of crow herself. And you get the wall/barrier on the most critical sections of the border.

The TPS issue is another question entirely. Democrats asking to make those refugees permanent residents are off base. The “T” in TPS stands for temporary. We are indeed a generous and caring nation. If your country has been wrecked by a tsunami or an earthquake, we can make room for you while the rebuilding takes place. But it’s been years now. The immediate emergency has passed and if the country hasn’t rebuilt by now you should probably go back and help them. That was the original plan to begin with.

Anyway, the bottom line here is that the President and the GOP leadership have come up with a more than reasonable offer. Perhaps it will require some fine tuning to get it over the finish line, but it’s a deal we can survive. And if Nancy Pelosi won’t even bother making an equally reasonable counteroffer, then she can own the shutdown from here on out.