President Donald Trump has called Democratic leaders’ bluff on their mumbled threats to block the 2018 budget if it did not include the unpopular ‘Dreamer’ amnesty.

Trump’s high-pressure tactics on Tuesday prompted the Democrats to quit the scheduled 3 pm high-visibility sit-down with GOP leaders at the White House, where they would have been forced to escalate their threats or else to admit their bluff to the waiting media.

The retreat left amnesty advocates in the lurch, despite months — and years — of media-magnified claims that the American public wants a no-strings amnesty for the 3 million ‘dreamers,’ plus their millions of chain-migration relatives. Trump’s win sets the stage for debate over funding for the border wall and then — perhaps — for a February debate about an immigration rewrite that benefits Americans.

Trump dared “them to shut the government” and they folded, said Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies, adding:

The question is ‘Will the Republican leadership also call the Democrats’ bluff?’ I think they will – Ryan is no immigration skeptic, but he has said repeatedly that there won’t be any DACA measure in the [2018] spending bill.

The president opened the day’s negotiations with a morning tweet touting the Democrats’ open-borders immigration policies.

Meeting with “Chuck and Nancy” today about keeping government open and working. Problem is they want illegal immigrants flooding into our Country unchecked, are weak on Crime and want to substantially RAISE Taxes. I don’t see a deal! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 28, 2017

Trump’s tweet showed he was not going to accept a ‘dream act’ deal — without funding for a border wall — as he seemed to accept in September. Democrats quickly quit the 3 pm meeting, claiming Trump’s opening bid wrecked the budget negotiations.

Given that the President doesn’t see a deal between Democrats and the White House, we believe that the best path forward is to continue with our Republican counterparts in Congress instead. Rather than going to the White House for a show that won’t result in an agreement, we’ve asked Leader McConnell and Speaker Ryan to meet this afternoon. We don’t have any time to waste in addressing the issue confronting us, so we’re going to continue to negotiate with Republican leaders who may be interested in reaching a bipartisan agreement. If the President, who already said earlier this year that ‘our country needs a good shutdown,’ isn’t interested in addressing the difficult year-end agenda, we’ll work with those Republicans who are, as we did in April. We look forward to continuing to work in good faith, as we have been for the last month, with our Republican colleagues in Congress to do just that.

In response, Trump held the meeting with House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, inviting the media to show the empty seats left by the Democrats. “They’ve been all talk and no action …. and now it not even talk,” Trump said.

“It is regrettable that our Democratic colleagues and leadership chose not to join us today,” said Ryan.

“I can’t recall ever turning down an opportunity to go down to the White House,” said McConnell. “I think the Democratic leaders in the House and Senate need to understand the way the government works.”

“We’re very far apart because our views on crime, our views on immigration, the military … are different,” said Trump. If the government shuts down, he said:

If that happens, I would absolutely blame the Democrats. If it happens it’s going to be over illegals pouring into the country, crime pouring into the country, no border wall, which everybody wants. I got elected partially because of a border wall.

Remarks from the Roosevelt Room with @SenateMajLdr Mitch McConnell, @SpeakerRyan and Secretary of Defense, General James Mattis. pic.twitter.com/lZMqK5jBvh — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 28, 2017

Trump is on track to get 74 miles of new or upgraded border wall because the entire House and the relevant Senate committee have endorsed $1.6 billion in wall spending for 2018. Democrats may try to block the spending in a floor debate, where they have enough votes to maintain a filibuster.

Democrats responded to Trump’s pushback with invective — and by folding their cards on amnesty.

Schumer slammed Trump but buried the ‘dreamer’ demand under a pile of other priorities.

My President, it is time to stop tweet and start leading… As I said, there are serious issues in front of us. We don’t have time to waste. We don’t have games to play. We need to fund the military. We need to protect millions of American pensions, fund scientific research and student loans. We need to rebuild in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and California. And we need to protect the DREAMers. If the president reverses course and decides he wants to be a constructive force, working with both sides to forge a bipartisan deal, we’re happy to meet with him anytime, anywhere, any place. But as long as he remains a destructive force, it would be a waste of everyone’s time to continue working with someone who clearly has no interest in coming to an agreement… There is a whole bunch of issues that are important to us. The defense spending, making sure there’s parity, the children’s health initiative, and the disaster money, as well, of course, as dreamers. There are a whole bunch of issues out there that are very important to us and we believe there are some things they want, there are some things we want. If you are serious we can negotiate a very good timely deal and we can do it now. We don’t have to delay.

Pelosi tweeted out a complaint about “verbal abuse” from Trump, but she approved only one tweet about the ‘dreamers’ on Tuesday, and none during the prior two weeks.

.@realDonaldTrump now knows that his verbal abuse will no longer be tolerated. His empty chair photo opp showed he’s more interested in stunts than in addressing the needs of the American people. Poor Ryan and McConnell relegated to props. Sad! — Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) November 28, 2017

Pelosi’s deputy, Rep. Joe Crowley walked away from the dream-act-or-no-budget shutdown threat, and shifted the subject to health-care:

Democrats are working to ensure the extension of the CHIP program that will provide health insurance for children throughout our country, almost 10 million children throughout our country. Democrats are going to work towards keeping government open, and we think we can walk and chew gum at the same time.

Democratic Caucus Chair @repjoecrowley: "#DACA is a critical issue & Democrats are working to secure the future of the 800,00+ #Dreamers" #DreamActNow pic.twitter.com/Z8v6Wa9swB — Chris Golden (@chrisgolden) November 28, 2017

DACA “is a critical issue for Democrats, and I think, for some Republicans as well,” Crowley said when prodded by the persistent TV anchor. He blathered:

We believe we can find common ground here as it pertains to the dreamers and the DACA recipients. Their lives are incredibly important to the Democratic Caucus, and their future is important as well. We pledge to continue to work to keep there here in the United States as productive individuals for our country.

The Democrats “are not committing themselves to one position or the other,” said Krikorian, adding:

The only thing that really matters is whether 41 Democrats in the Senate will vote to shut down the government over the amnesty, and all the [media] coverage has not given any indication that 41 will vote that way. Who cares what 12 senators say? 41 is what matters, not 12.

The Democrats’ retreat from their amnesty-or-no-deal bluff left amnesty advocates adrift. A small group held a protest outside the White House, where they called:

What do we want?A clean dream act! When do we want it? Now! If we don’t get it? Shut it down! Ff we don’t get it? Shut it down!

Every day that passes without the #DreamAct, more people lose their status, their job, and their protection from deportation. Before going home for the holidays, lawmakers MUST pass the #DreamActNow. pic.twitter.com/qm5CB5U5fy — The Leadership Conference (@civilrightsorg) November 28, 2017

Amnesty advocates insisted the Democrats hold the upper hand. For example, Todd Schulte, the director of the investor-funded FWD.us group, responded to this tweet from a Bloomberg reporter:

If there's no deal by 12/8, it'll be the first time in the modern age that a party in control of the House, Senate and White House shuts down its government. — Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) November 28, 2017

Schulte responded by arguing that GOP’s opposition to an amnesty is the real bluff that will soon be called:

I’ve never seen a worse bluff get covered as an open question. Of the dozens of republicans I’ve spoken to about this in recent weeks, not a single one thinks minority party gets blamed here. They joke republicans always get blamed https://t.co/al6E0NqfVV — Todd Schulte (@TheToddSchulte) November 28, 2017

Schulte’s dismissive response was echoed in a tweet by Frank Sharry, the long-standing progressive advocates for greatly increased immigrati0n.

I so love this move. Pelosi and Schumer don't have to kiss the ring of a lunatic who doesn't understand the seriousness of his job. They can and should work with R leaders who know they're on the hook to the keep the gov't open. Leave the adult childcare to McConnell and Ryan. https://t.co/q7qguhRRMx — Frank Sharry (@FrankSharry) November 28, 2017

Schumer and his allies are threatening to shut down the government if Trump doesn’t provide a hugely expensive, hugely unpopular, no-strings amnesty to 3 million illegal immigrants plus roughly 15 million future chain-migration relatives just before the 2018 elections.

The last time Schumer tried to strong-arm the GOP on immigration was in 2014 when he lost nine Democratic Senate seats and the Majority Leader’s job. This time, he’s got 23 seats to defend in the 2018 election, including ten seats in states won by Trump’s immigration-reform agenda in 2016.

In this battle, Trump’s immigration principles are very popular in a nation that wants pro-American immigration rules.

Schumer is in a weak position also because Democrats embrace the industry-funded “nation of immigrants” polls which shame Americans to say they welcome migrants. But the alternative “fairness” polls show that voters put a much higher priority on helping their families, neighbors, and fellow nationals get decent jobs in a high-tech, high-immigration, low-wage economy. That political power of the voters’ fairness priority was made clear during the GOP primaries and again in November 2016.

Public support for Schumer’s ‘dreamer’ amnesty is also declining. Giving “children … protection from deportation” is the “top priority” for only 11 percent of American voters who identify as Independents, and “a top priority” for 23 percent of independents in a November poll by Morning Consult and Politico, which was headlined “Polling Shows Waning Enthusiasm for Congressional Action on Dreamers.”

The drop in support for the young illegals comes as a new report shows that only 1.7 percent of the ‘dreamers’ illegals have four-year college degrees. That rate is one-tenth of the 17 percent rate among Americans, and it ensures that nearly all of the migrants will rely on government aid — and on the Democratic Party’s tax-and-spend policies — throughout their lifetimes.

Moreover, Trump’s immigration policies are nudging up wages before the 2018 election. In Chicago, for example, a huge bakery is now hiring Americans at higher wages following an immigration enforcement action which forced the firing of 800 illegal immigrants.

Also, even business groups are giving up hope that they can bulldoze the GOP into approving the cheap-labor amnesty. A November 27 report by the McClatchy news service included an admission by an amnesty proponent that the push for a December amnesty is losing ground:

“Two months have now passed, and I’m sad to report that we’re arguably further away from a solution today than we were then,” said Neil Bradley, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s chief policy officer.

The Democrats’ push for amnesty will also be undermined by the sudden departure of the House Democrats’ leading amnesty champion, Chicago Rep. Luis Gutierrez.

Each year, four million Americans turn 18 and begin looking for good jobs in the free market.

But the federal government inflates the supply of new labor by annually accepting 1 million new legal immigrants, by providing almost 2 million work-permits to foreigners, by providing work-visas to roughly 500,000 temporary workers and doing little to block the employment of roughly 8 million illegal immigrants.

The Washington-imposed economic policy of mass-immigration floods the market with foreign labor and spikes profits and Wall Street values by cutting salaries for manual and skilled labor offered by blue-collar and white-collar employees. It also encourages discrimination against American workers, drives up real estate prices, widens wealth-gaps, reduces high-tech investment, increases state and local tax burdens, hurts kids’ schools and college education. It also pushes Americans away from high-tech careers, and reduces the work activity rate below the rate in foreign rivals, so sidelining millions of marginalized Americans and their families, including many who are now struggling with opioid addictions.